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