BILL ANALYSIS Ķ AB 1705 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 1705 (Silva) As Amended April 26, 2012 Majority vote EDUCATION 9-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Brownley, Norby, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, | | |Buchanan, Butler, Carter, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, | | |Eng, Halderman, Wagner, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, | | |Williams | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, | | | | |Hall, Hill, Lara, | | | | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, | | | | |Solorio, Wagner | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Delays implementation of the high school exit exam (HSEE) alternatives for eligible pupils with disabilities until July 1, 2015. Specifically, this bill : 1)Deletes the date of October 1, 2010, as the date by when the State Board of Education (SBE) is required to adopt regulations for implementing alternative means for eligible pupils with disabilities to demonstrate that they have achieved the same level of academic achievement in the content standards required for passage of the HSEE. 2)Delays from January 1, 2011, to July 1, 2015, the date by when eligible pupils with disabilities shall be allowed to participate in HSEE alternatives. 3)Revises the definition of "eligible pupil with a disability" to mean a pupil who meets specified criteria and has an expected graduation date on or after July 1, 2015, instead of January 1, 2011, and has satisfied all other state and local graduation requirements by July 1, 2015, instead of January 1, 2011. 4)Authorizes the SBE to extend the implementation date by one additional year after July 1, 2015, through the regulatory process. AB 1705 Page 2 EXISTING LAW : 1)Requires pupils, beginning with the Class of 2004, to successfully pass the HSEE as a condition of receiving a diploma of graduation. As a result of action taken by SBE, this requirement took effect beginning with the Class of 2006. (Education Code (EC) Section 60851) 2)Requires by October 1, 2010, the SBE, taking into consideration specified findings and recommendations, to adopt regulations for alternative means by which eligible pupils with disabilities, as defined, may demonstrate that they have achieved the same level of academic achievement in the content standards required for passage of the HSSE. (EC Section 60852.1) 3)Defines an eligible pupil with a disability as a pupil who has, among other things, an anticipated graduation date and is scheduled to receive a high school diploma on or after January 1, 2011, and the school district or state special school certifies that the pupil has satisfied or will satisfy all other state and local requirements for the receipt of a high school diploma on or after January 1, 2011. (EC Section 60852.2) 4)Authorizes an eligible pupil with a disability, commencing January 1, 2011, to participate in the alternative means of demonstrating the level of academic achievement in the content standards required for passage of the HSEE in the manner prescribed by regulations adopted by the SBE. (EC Section 60852.2) 5)Exempts, commencing with the 2009-10 school year, eligible pupils with disabilities from the requirement to satisfy the HSEE as a condition of high school graduation; and, specifies that this exemption shall last until the SBE makes a determination that the alternative means are not feasible or until the alternative means are implemented. (EC Section 60852.3) FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, no additional General Fund/Proposition 98 costs to school districts to comply with this measure. AB 1705 Page 3 COMMENTS : All California pupils are required to pass a high school exit exam, in addition to meeting all other state and local requirements, in order to receive a high school diploma. A temporary exemption for eligible pupils with disabilities was enacted in 2009 and is currently in place until the SBE makes a determination that alternative means are not feasible or until alternative means are implemented. AB 2040 (Nuņez and Silva), Chapter 666, Statutes of 2008, required the convening of a panel to make recommendations regarding alternative means to satisfy the HSEE graduation requirement for eligible pupils with disabilities. Current law specifies that eligible pupils with disabilities shall be allowed to participate in alternative means commencing January 1, 2011, and allows the SBE, by regulation, to extend this date by up to two years, if it determines an extension is necessary for appropriate implementation. The SBE determined that alternative means were feasible and adopted regulations establishing July 1, 2012, as the implementation date for the alternative means. However the California Department of Education (CDE) does not feel this implementation date is feasible given that very few districts had an opportunity to participate in the alternative means pilot and CDE feels not enough information was produced to truly evaluate the alternative means option, and to get a more comprehensive pilot underway would be costly. This bill extends the implementation date of the alternative means to July 1, 2015. New standards and future assessments: Since the passage of AB 2040 in 2008, other developments dealing with standards and assessments have emerged. In 2010, California adopted the common core state standards, replacing the set of standards in English language arts and mathematics that the HSEE currently assesses, hence any alternative means that are developed and implemented now could soon be irrelevant as they would not be based on the new standards. Furthermore, in anticipation of the upcoming reauthorization of the state's assessment system, AB 250 (Brownley), Chapter 608, Statutes of 2011, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to develop recommendations based on various elements, including a plan to transition to a new statewide pupil assessment system. The plan and the recommendations may address and may include recommendations about the HSEE. There is a level of uncertainty about what California's future assessment system will look like AB 1705 Page 4 and thus it may be prudent to provide more time to appropriately coordinate and align all assessment efforts particularly in consideration of the new common core state standards. The author notes that this bill is necessary because, "While the state has determined that it is feasible to create alternative means for eligible students to satisfy the CAHSEE requirement, it would be unlikely to complete its studies and fully implement it by the dates set forth in AB 2040 and it would be inefficient to do so while also implementing a different set of standards in the coming years that have been recently adopted." Pupils with disabilities exempted from HSEE: AB 2 X4 (Evans), Chapter 2, Statutes of 2009, Fourth Extraordinary Session, exempts eligible pupils with disabilities from the HSEE requirement until the SBE makes a determination that alternative means are not feasible or until the alternative means are implemented. Pupils with disabilities are still required, in grade 10, to take the HSEE to meet state and federal requirements. The SBE adopted regulations establishing July 1, 2012, as the implementation date for the alternative means which means that the HSEE exemption for pupils with disabilities expires on June 30, 2012. While the SBE has the authority to extend that date to January 1, 2013, this still leaves some pupils with disabilities with expected graduation dates after January 1, 2013, without an option for an exemption and without the ability to demonstrate competency through alternative means. Because the statute ties the HSEE exemption to the operative date of the alternative means, delaying implementation of the alternative means also has the effect of extending the exemption from meeting the HSEE requirement for eligible pupils with disabilities to July 1, 2015. Pupils eligible for this exemption are still required to meet all other state and local graduation requirements to obtain a high school diploma. The individualized education program (IEP) of the eligible pupil has to indicate that the pupil is scheduled to receive a high school diploma and that the pupil has satisfied or will satisfy all other graduation requirements. Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Aviņa / ED. / (916) 319-2087 AB 1705 Page 5 FN: 0003692