BILL ANALYSIS Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair 651 (Romero) Hearing Date: 05/28/2009 Amended: 05/06/2009 Consultant: Dan Troy Policy Vote: ED 9-0 _________________________________________________________________ ____ BILL SUMMARY: SB 651 would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to prepare a report called the Annual Report on Dropouts in California and to submit the report to the Governor, Legislature, and the State Board of Education on or before August 1, 2011, and annually thereafter. The bill would require the report to include, among other items, specified data on dropout rates, graduation rates, pupil promotion rates, and information on school climate and pupil engagement. _________________________________________________________________ ____ Fiscal Impact (in thousands) Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund Dropout Report $175, annually, General commencing in 2011 _________________________________________________________________ ____ STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED. Current law requires each K-12 student to be assigned a non-personally identifiable Statewide Student Identifier (SSID), and requires the establishment of the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) that includes statewide assessment data, enrollment data, teacher assignment data, and other elements required to meet federal No Child Left Behind reporting requirements. The California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) is a confidential student and school staff report of attitudes, health risk behaviors, and protective factors. The survey gathers information on behaviors such as physical activity and nutritional habits; alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use; school safety; and environmental and individual strengths. The CHKS is a requirement of funding for districts that accept federal Title IV Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities funds or state Tobacco-Use Prevention Education funds. Commencing in August of 2011, this bill would require the SPI to submit an annual report a report that would include specified data concerning graduation rates, course enrollment patterns, nonpromotional school movement among pupils, and dropout rates for high school and middle school pupils, including pupils in alternative education. The report would also include behavioral data such as suspensions and expulsions and school climate information. Data, where possible, would be broken down to the state, county, district, and school levels. The bill further specifies that, if possible, the report shall also include key subgroup data. The report would include data for the most current year and, at a minimum, the two prior years. Page 2 SB 651 (Romero) The bill states legislative intent that the required report be usable by schools, policymakers, parents and others for purposes of identifying and understanding trends, causal relations, early warning indicators, and potential points of intervention to address the state's dropout rate. CALPADS includes student demographic, program participation, grade level enrollment, course enrollment and completion, discipline, and statewide assessment data. Most of the data required by this bill would come from this system. Currently, it is not possible to estimate a precise dropout rate as the state's data systems do not include enough years of longitudinal data to track the progress of individual students from 9th to through 12th grade. Depending on the method uses, estimates of California's rate of on-time graduation range from approximately 65 percent to 75 percent. By the date of the 2011 report, CALPADS will have enough years of longitudinal data by which to determine an accurate dropout rate. Much of the data concerning behavior and school climate required in the bill would come from the CHKS. In order to compile appropriate data and complete an annual report, the Department of Education (CDE) would need two positions and assorted other costs for printing and posting. These costs are estimated at between $300,000 and $400,000 per year. Author's amendments would make certain reporting requirements permissive or operative only when relevant data becomes available. Also, an amendment would delete a conditional operative date in existing law relating to adjustments of the Academic Performance Index.