BILL ANALYSIS Ó Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair AB 1719 (Fuentes) - English Language Development: Supplemental Materials Amended: August 6, 2012 Policy Vote: Education 9-0 Urgency: No Mandate: No Hearing Date: August 6, 2012 Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Bill Summary: AB 1719 provides for the development and review of supplemental instructional materials for English learners to serve as a bridge between the revised and aligned English language development (ELD) standards to the California Common Core language arts standards. Fiscal Impact: Staff/workload: Approximately $140,000 in 2013-14, and $140,000 in 2014-15. Contracts: Up to $500,000 to contract with local entities to provide teachers and other content experts to review materials, including the cost of travel and substitute teachers. Background: Existing law establishes the Academic Content Standards Commission which was required to develop common core academic content standards in language and mathematics, as specified. Pursuant to these provisions, the standards were presented to the State Board of Education (SBE) which adopted the proposed common core academic content standards in English language arts and mathematics in August 2010. (Education Code § 60605.8) Existing law also requires the SBE to approve ELD standards for students whose primary language is other than English and also requires that these standards be comparable in rigor and specificity to the Common Core content standards adopted for English language arts. (Education Code § 60811) Existing law also requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, in consultation with the SBE, to update, revise, AB 1719 (Fuentes) Page 1 and align the ELD standards to the Common Core standards for English Language Arts by August 31, 2012, and requires the SBE to adopt, reject, or revise these standards by September 30, 2012. (Education Code § 60811.3) Proposed Law: AB 1719 provides for the development and review of supplemental instructional materials for English learners to serve as a bridge between the revised and aligned ELD standards to the California common core language arts standards. Specifically, it requires the CDE to: 1) Recommend, and the SBE approve, evaluation criteria to guide the development and review of supplemental instructional materials for English learners; 2) On a one time basis and by January 1, 2014, develop a list of supplemental instructional materials for use in K-8, that are aligned with the revised ELD standards adopted pursuant to specified law; 3) develop supplemental instructional materials that provide a bridge between the revised and aligned ELD standards to the California common core language arts standards; 4) Recommend, and the SBE to approve, content review experts, to serve without compensation, to review materials submitted for this purpose using an open and transparent process, and further specifies that the majority of content review experts approved should be credentialed teachers who meet specified criteria regarding English language learner instruction and experience, and should also include administrators with specified English learner experience and expertise; and, 5) maintain a list of SBE approved supplemental instructional materials on its website. This bill also authorizes a school district governing board and a county board of education to approve supplemental instructional materials other than those approved by the SBE if they determine that other supplemental instructional materials are aligned with the revised ELD standards and meet the needs of their English learner students, as specified. This bill's provisions sunsets on July 1, 2014. Related Legislation: SB 140 (Lowenthal) Ch. 623/2011 required CDE to develop a list of supplemental instructional materials for grades K-8 aligned with Common Core standards in ELA. The purpose of the supplemental instructional materials is to provide a bridge between the Common Core Standards in ELA and the ELA content. AB 124 (Fuentes) Ch. 605/2011 established the ELD Advisory AB 1719 (Fuentes) Page 2 Committee for the purpose of aligning the ELD Standards to the CSS in ELA. Staff Comments: This bill builds on the requirements of AB 124 (Fuentes) which required the CDE to revise and align ELD standards to Common Core standards in ELA. It provides a process by which the CDE will review and approve supplemental instructional materials to serve as a bridge between the standards. That work is scheduled to be completed in November 2012. In order to develop and review supplemental instructional materials, the CDE estimates it will require approximately .25 time from 5 PYs from January 2013 to July 2014, to support this work, at a total cost of $280,000. The CDE will contract with LEAs to provide the content experts (most of which will be teachers) to participate in the content review process. The CDE estimates the total contract costs to be approximately $390,000, including paying for substitute teachers, and meeting materials. Another $20,000 will be needed for travel expenses for all involved parties.