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.