BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair


          AB 2193 (Lara) - Long-term English Learners
          
          Amended: As Proposed to be AmendedPolicy Vote: Education 8-0
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: Yes
          Hearing Date: August 16, 2012                               
          Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez                       
          
          SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.

          
          Bill Summary: AB 2193 defines "Long-term English Learner" (LTEL) 
          and "English learner at risk of becoming a long-term English 
          learner" (At-risk EL), and establishes notification, reporting, 
          intervention requirements, as specified.

          Fiscal Impact: 
              Data collection: Approximately $50,000 for .5 PY to compile 
              specified data for each school district. 
              Local assistance: $100,000 - $200,000 to support the 
              expanded role of regional consortia required by this bill.
              Mandate: Potentially significant reimbursable mandate to 
              expand requirements for existing notifications.

          Background:  Existing law defines "English learner" as a child 
          who does not speak English or whose native language is not 
          English and who is not currently able to perform ordinary 
          classroom work in English. (Education Code §306)

          Both federal and State law require that each school district 
          with English language learners annually assess these students' 
          English language development until they are redesignated as 
          English proficient. (Education Code § 313)

          Under No Child Left Behind, the California Department of 
          Education (CDE) and each local educational agency (LEA) must 
          identify any school that has not made adequate yearly progress 
          (AYP) for at least two years as in Program Improvement (PI). 
          Schools that remain in Program Improvement are subject to 
          increasing requirements and sanctions. 

          Existing law further requires that the CDE develop a statewide 
          system of school support to provide for intensive and sustained 








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          support and technical assistance for school districts, county 
          offices of education, and schools in need of improvement. 
          Current law requires that the system of support consist of 
          regional consortia, as well as district assistance and 
          intervention teams, and other technical assistance providers. 
          Regional consortia are required to work collaboratively with 
          school districts and program improvement schools to: 1) review 
          and analyze all facets of the school's operation: 2) assist the 
          LEA or school in developing recommendations for improving pupil 
          performance and school operations; and, 3) assist the LEA or 
          school in efforts to eliminate misassignments of personnel. 
          (Education Code § 52059)

          Proposed Law: AB 2193 codifies definitions of an LTEL and an 
          At-risk EL. With regard to those groups, this bill expands the 
          duties of the CDE and LEAs, as follows:

          1)   Expands data gathering responsibilities of the CDE to 
               require that it annually ascertain the number of pupils 
               under the jurisdiction of each school district, charter 
               school, or county office of education (COE) who are LTELs 
               or At-risk ELs, and to post that information on the 
               department website.

          2)   Expands existing parental notice requirements to include 
               information on whether their child is an LTEL or At-risk 
               LTEL. 

          3)   Expands the explicit responsibilities of regional consortia 
               established to assist schools needing support pursuant to 
               federal and state law requirements to additionally require 
               that they target students that are not meeting federal 
               academic targets, including ELs, LTELs, and At-risk ELs.

          4)   Expands the standards and criteria that a district 
               assistance and intervention team or other technical 
               assistance provider uses in assessing LEAs to address 
               specified areas that include alignment of curriculum, 
               instruction and assessments to target pupils not meeting 
               the federal academic targets, and specifically includes 
               ELs, LTELs, and At-risk ELs.

          Staff Comments: This bill expands the CDE's data gathering 
          duties, and website display requirements. The CDE estimates that 








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          .5 PY could complete the annual workload to ascertain the number 
          of LTELs and At-risk LTELs in each district, as specified. It is 
          unclear if this bill requires student level data to be posted on 
          its website, or only school site-level data. Depending on the 
          level of disaggregation, posting student level data may violate 
          federal privacy law. 

          This bill expands existing parental notice requirements to 
          include information on whether their child is an LTEL or At-risk 
          LTEL, as defined in this measure. There are nearly 1.5 million 
          K-12 English learners in California schools, and the majority of 
          grades 7-12 English Learners are LTELs or At-risk LTELs. If even 
          10% of the total English Learner population is covered by the 
          expanded notification requirements, it would result in 150,000 
          expanded notifications per year. This new mandate on school 
          districts will likely be deemed reimbursable by the Commission 
          on State Mandates.  

          This bill expands the responsibilities of regional consortia to 
          include in their reviews of academic programs and 
          recommendations for improving pupil achievement (among other 
          required activities) a specific focus on the success of LTELs 
          and At-risk LTELs.
          Regional consortia were established to assist schools pursuant 
          to federal and state law. When a school enters into Program 
          Improvement status, it is required to contract with regional 
          consortia or district assistance intervention teams to evaluate, 
          support, and improve school operation and performance. Thus, 
          requiring more activities of the regional consortia is a cost to 
          the affected school and/or school district. This is a new 
          mandate likely to be deemed reimbursable, as well. Additionally, 
          it is unclear whether all regional consortia are equipped to 
          take on the newly required activities.

          The CDE will require 1-2 PYs to provide training and support to 
          regional consortia and district assistance intervention teams in 
          their newly expanded and specialized roles under this bill.

          Proposed Author Amendments: Remove the expansion of regional 
          consortia duties. Remove the requirements that CDE host 
          specified student information, and instead require the CDE to 
          share that information with schools.










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