BILL ANALYSIS Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair 1357 (Steinberg) Hearing Date: 05/27/2010 Amended: 04/05/2010 Consultant: Dan Troy Policy Vote: ED 8-0 _________________________________________________________________ ____ BILL SUMMARY: SB 1357 would require the Department of Education to prepare the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) for the inclusion of data on pupil attendance, contingent upon the receipt of federal funding for this purpose. The bill specifies the system modifications will support districts in their efforts to identify pupils at risk of dropping out and would identify "chronic absence" as a circumstance in which a pupil is absent on 10 percent of the days within a school year. The bill would require the addition of information on chronic absences to a required annual report on dropouts the Superintendent of Public Instruction will provide commencing in 2011. Further, the bill states the intent of the Legislature to support the development of local early warning systems to identify and support pupils at risk of academic or of dropping out of school. These systems would utilize attendance, course grade and completion information, pupil achievement data, and other indicators for use in reports to principals, teachers, and parents to help identify and support at-risk pupils. The bill expresses intent that schools defined as persistently low achieving utilize these systems. _________________________________________________________________ ____ Fiscal Impact (in thousands) Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund CALPADS $300 Federal Early warning reports Unknown, potentially significant General _________________________________________________________________ ____ STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE. CALPADS is a major component of the state's K-12 education data system and includes data on assessment, enrollment, program eligibility, teacher assignment information, and other subjects designed to enable the state to meet federal and other reporting needs. When fully operational, CALPADS will be able to report a variety of information at the state, district, and pupil level. The system does not currently collect attendance data. Current law requires, commencing in 2011, the Superintendent of Public Instruction to provide an annual report on dropouts in California using data reported by CALPADS. By requiring information on chronic absences, the author hopes to draw attention and support to students at risk of dropping out of school. Page 2 SB 1357 (Steinberg) The Department of Education (SDE) estimates that the state costs of adjusting CALPADS to collect attendance would be approximately $300,000. Adding this component to CALPADS would allow the development of the early warning system described in the bill. SDE has applied for a federal grant (Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems Grant Program) that would include funds for this purpose. The state has requested a total grant of $19.9 million, and a decision is anticipated within the next month. Staff notes that the bill also allows local education agencies that choose to input attendance data in to CALPADS to request quarterly reports from the Department of Education related to the early warning system. It is unclear at this time if the department's workload related to the local reports could be funded by the federal grant. Even if that is the case, such funding would be short-term while the obligation would be ongoing. Costs for this activity are speculative as it is unclear exactly what information local agencies would request or how many districts would request them. With over 1,000 local education agencies in the state, it is reasonable to assume these costs are significant, perhaps in the hundreds of thousands, annually. Staff notes that the bill does not require districts to include attendance data into CALPADS. Presumably, it is hoped that districts would be willing to adjust their data collections systems to input attendance data into CALPADS to take advantage of the reporting options that would become available.