BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 124
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 13, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    AB 124 (Fuentes) - As Amended:  April 6, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              Education 
          Vote:9-1

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill establishes the English Language Development Standards 
          (ELD) Advisory Committee for the purpose of aligning the ELD 
          standards to the Common Core English language arts (CCELA) 
          standards adopted by the State Board of Education (SBE) in 
          August 2010.  Specifically, this bill: 

          1)Requires the advisory committee to consist of 13 members 
            appointed by the governor (4), the Senate Committee on Rules 
            (3), the Speaker of the Assembly (3), and the Superintendent 
            of Public Instruction (3).  This measure also requires at 
            least seven members to be classroom teachers with a minimum of 
            three years experienced instructing English language learner 
            (ELL) pupils, as specified.  

          2)Requires the advisory committee, on or before August 31, 2012, 
            to present its revised and aligned ELD standards to the SBE.  

          3)Requires the SBE, on or before September 30, 2012, to either 
            adopt the ELD standards as presented by the advisory committee 
            or reject the ELD standards.  If the SBE rejects the revised 
            standards, this bill requires the SBE to provide the 
            Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), the governor, and 
            the Legislature with a specific written explanation of the 
            reasons for rejection.  

          4)Requires the SPI and the SBE to present to the governor and 
            the Legislature a schedule and implementation plan for 
            integrating the revised ELD standards into the education 
            system, including revising the California English Language 
            Development Test (CELDT).  








                                                                  AB 124
                                                                  Page  2


           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)One-time GF administrative costs, likely between $150,000 and 
            $200,000, to the SDE to provide staff support to the ELD 
            advisory committee.  The committee notes that foundation 
            support was provided to the Academic Content Standards 
            Commission to complete their work on the Common Core Content 
            Standards in English language arts and mathematics.  

          2)GF/98 cost pressure, likely in the low to tens of millions, to 
            school districts to provide instructional materials and 
            professional development on the revised ELD standards.  This 
            bill requires the SPI and the SBE to provide the governor and 
            Legislature with an implementation plan, including costs, to 
            integrate the revised standards into the education system.  

           COMMENTS  

           1)Background  .  Since 1999, California schools have instructed 
            ELL pupils using both the ELA standards and ELD standards.  
            The purpose of the ELD standards is "to assist teachers in 
            moving ELL pupils to fluency in English and proficiency on the 
            California ELA Content Standards."  Specifically, the ELD 
            standards are designed to specify the English literacy skills 
            ELLs need to acquire to become proficient in the ELA academic 
            content standards.  The ELD standards are also the basis for 
            the CELDT.  The CELDT is used to identify, reclassify and 
            assess the proficiency of ELL pupils.    

            As a condition of applying for the federal Race to the Top 
            (RTT) grant program, states were required to adopt the Common 
            Core Standards in English language arts (CCELA) and 
            mathematics by the fall of 2010.  As part of California's RTT 
            application, SB 1 X5 (Steinberg), Chapter 2, Fifth 
            Extraordinary Session, Statutes of 2010,was enacted to 
            establish the Academic Content Standards Commission (ACSC), 
            consisting of 21 members appointed by the governor (11), the 
            Senate Committee on Rules (5), and the Speaker of the Assembly 
            (5), to develop academic content standards in language arts 
            and mathematics.  

            In July and August 2010, the ACSC held several meetings to 
            analyze the state's current ELA and mathematics content 
            standards in comparison to the CCELA and mathematics.  In 








                                                                  AB 124
                                                                  Page  3

            August 2010, the ACSC completed its work and submitted its 
            recommendations to the SBE for their approval.  The SBE 
            approved the revised standards submitted by the ACSC.  

           2)Rationale  .  There were 1.5 million ELL pupils enrolled in 
            California public schools in 2009-10.  Of these pupils, 1.2 
            million speak Spanish and 69% are enrolled in grades K-6.  The 
            author states: "Since the SBE adopted revised ELA academic 
            content standards in August 2010 and the ELD standards are a 
            critical tool used in instructing ELL pupils, the next step is 
            for the state to review the ELD standards for compatibility to 
            the newly adopted ELA academic content standards."

            This bill, sponsored by the Association of California School 
            Administrators, the SPI, and the Californians Together 
            Coalition, establishes the ELD Advisory Committee for the 
            purpose of aligning the ELD standards to CCELA standards.  

           3)Related legislation  .  

             a)   AB 250 (Brownley), pending in the Assembly Education 
               Committee, establishes a process for the implementation of 
               the Common Core Academic Content standards, as specified.  

             b)   SB 140 (Lowenthal), pending in the Senate Appropriations 
               Committee, establishes a streamlined process for the 
               state-level adoption of instructional materials that are 
               aligned with the Common Core Academic Content standards, 
               and expands the authority of local school boards to adopt 
               instructional materials to include K-8 schools.

            
           Analysis Prepared by  :    Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916) 
          319-2081