BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 815
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Date of Hearing: May 11, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 815 (Brownley) - As Amended: May 4, 2011
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:7-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the State Seal of Biliteracy (SSB) to
recognize high school graduates who have attained functional
proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing skills in one or
more languages in addition to English. It also requires the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to award the SSB and
specifies the program is voluntary. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires a high school graduate to attain proficiency in one
or more languages, in addition to English, and meets all of
the following: (a) completion of all English language arts
(ELA) requirements for graduation with a grade point average
of 2.0 or above in these classes; (b) achieve a proficient
score or above on the ELA California Standards Test (CST) for
grade 11; and achieved proficiency in one or more languages
other than English, as specified.
2)If a pupil's primary language is other than English, he or she
must attain early advanced proficiency level on the California
English Language Development Test and meet all of the
requirements specified above.
3)Requires the SPI to do the following: (a) prepare and deliver
to participating school districts an appropriate SSB insignia
to be affixed to the diploma or transcript, and (b) provide
other information necessary for school districts to
successfully participate in the program, as specified.
4)Requires participating school districts to do the following:
(a) maintain appropriate records to identify pupils that have
received the SSB; (b) affix the appropriate insignia to the
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diploma or transcript of a pupil who earns a SSB; and, to the
extent practicable, develop outreach strategies and an
application process in order to ensure that pupils know about
the SSB program. This measure also expresses legislative
intent that a fee not be charged to any pupil for this
program.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Unknown GF administrative costs to the SDE, likely less than
$125,000 annually. Actual costs will depend on the number of
students who qualify for this program and the number of school
districts that choose to participate.
2)GF/98 cost pressure to school districts, of approximately
$200,000, to develop outreach strategies and an application
process for the SSB program, as specified.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to information provided by the author,
this bill is an attempt to promote biliteracy. The author
argues that other countries, such as France, require students
to learn more than one language in order for them to be
competitive in the labor market. Even though California has
1.5 million English language learner pupils, who by nature
speak another language, the state does not recognize the
student's biliteracy. As a result, this bill establishes the
SSB program, a voluntary program, which recognizes high school
graduates who have attained proficiency in one or more
languages in addition to English.
2)The Golden State Seal Merit Diploma program recognizes public
school graduates who have demonstrated mastery of the high
school curriculum in six designated subject areas, four of
which must be mathematics, English language arts, science, and
United States history. The diploma was first awarded in 1997.
In 2010, approximately 45,000 students enrolled in 315 school
districts have earned the Golden State Seal Merit Diploma.
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Qualifying students must be receiving a high school diploma and
have earned designated results on the California Standards
Test in six qualifying subject areas (previous Golden State
Exam results may also be used). Each school district that
confers high school diplomas is responsible for maintaining
appropriate records in order to identify eligible students and
for affixing a Golden State Seal Merit Diploma insignia to the
diploma and transcript of each qualifying student. The initial
legislation appropriated $1 million to implement this program.
However, there have not been any additional funds allocated
for this program. As a result, SDE is utilizing approximately
$106,000 in carryover funds (from the initial allocation) to
contract for the printing of insignias.
3)Previous legislation . AB 280 (Coto), similar to this measure,
was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger in October 2007 with the
following message:
"While I support the attainment of literacy in foreign
languages, I am concerned that this bill could create a
precedent for providing special recognition for one specific
subject area. Students taking four years of math or science,
for example, would not receive special recognition, therefore
creating a bias of value toward foreign language above other
core curricula areas. Students should be encouraged to strive
for, and value high achievement in all of their academic
pursuits."
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081