BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 2491
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          Date of Hearing:   April 11, 2012

                           ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                                Julia Brownley, Chair
                 AB 2491 (Blumenfield) - As Amended:  March 29, 2012

           SUBJECT  :  Pupil instruction: gifted and talented pupil program.

           SUMMARY :  Prohibits a school district's application for a 
          proposed gifted and talented (GATE) program to be approved by 
          the State Board of Education (SBE), for a period of more than 
          one year unless the application describes the process used by 
          the school district to identify for eligibility in the program, 
          pupils of ethnic minorities and pupils of diverse socio-economic 
          status.

           EXISTING LAW:  

          1)Requires each applicant school district to submit an 
            application for approval for a proposed GATE program to the 
            SBE. The application shall be submitted in the form and manner 
            prescribed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI).  
            Applications shall be approved for a period of one, two, or 
            three years, or denied, based on the quality of the plan, in 
            accordance with criteria adopted by the SBE. Those criteria 
            shall be reviewed by the board at least once every four years 
            and shall address, but are not limited to, the elements of 
            program design, identification, curriculum and instruction, 
            social and emotional development, professional development, 
            parent and community involvement, program assessment and 
            budgeting. (Education Code 52212)

          2)Requires the school district application to include budget 
            information including separate data on identification and 
            program costs, and any other data required by the SPI to 
            administer and evaluate the program effectively. Each time a 
            school district submits an application for renewal of its GATE 
            authorization, the school district shall submit a program 
            assessment in accordance with criteria adopted by the SBE. 
            (Education Code 52212)

          3)Authorizes the state to approve an application for a period of 
            five years, if following a site validation of the application 
            by the department, it determines that the district's program 
            for GATE pupils is exemplary. (Education Code 52212)








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          4)Requires each district to use one or more of the following 
            categories in identifying students for GATE: intellectual, 
            creative, specific academic, or leadership ability; high 
            achievement; performing and visual arts talent; or any other 
            criterion that meets the standards set forth by the SBE; and, 
            requires the school district's identification procedures are 
            equitable, comprehensive, and ongoing. (Education Code 52202 & 
            California Code of Regulations, Title 5, Section 3822)

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown

           COMMENTS  :   Background on GATE  : According to the California 
          Department of Education (CDE), the GATE program provides funding 
          for local educational agencies (LEAs) to develop unique 
          education opportunities for high-achieving and underachieving 
          pupils in California public elementary and secondary schools who 
          have been identified as gifted and talented. Special efforts are 
          made to ensure that pupils from economically disadvantaged and 
          varying cultural backgrounds are provided with full 
          participation in these unique opportunities. 

          LEAs may establish programs for GATE pupils consisting of 
          special day classes, part-time groupings, and cluster groupings. 
          GATE curricular components are required to be planned and 
          organized as integrated differentiated learning experiences 
          within the regular school day and may be augmented or 
          supplemented with other differentiated activities related to the 
          core curriculum, including independent study, acceleration, 
          postsecondary education, and enrichment. For all programs for 
          GATE pupils, including those programs for pupils with high 
          creative capability and talents in the performing and visual 
          arts, each participating LEA shall concentrate part of its 
          curriculum on providing GATE pupils with an academic component 
          and, where appropriate, with instruction in basic skills.  GATE 
          programs are operated in approximately 800 school districts 
          located in all 58 counties. There are over 480,000 public school 
          students that have been identified as gifted and talented in the 
          state.


          According to the author, it is crucial that we provide an 
          appropriate education for gifted children living in 
          disadvantaged situations.  While many parents can afford to 
          provide extracurricular enrichment for their gifted children, 








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          low-income parents lack the resources to provide these 
          opportunities.  If schools also lack the funds necessary to 
          identify and appropriately educate our gifted low-income youth, 
          the gifts and talents of these children may never be realized.  
          The reasons are varied for the under-identification of gifted 
          and talented students who are poor or don't speak English.  
          Parents may be so stretched financially that opportunities for 
          enrichment and development are almost non-existent, and school 
          staff may base their judgments in part of the benefits of such 
          enrichment. The focus on English language acquisition may 
          obscure the recognition of high intelligence or talent.  
          Cultural differences or poverty may preclude some parents from 
          active involvement in the schools and from helping their 
          children access appropriate programs.  The Los Angeles Unified 
          School District (LAUSD) has a large concentration of low-income 
          and minority students and the GATE program is notoriously 
          homogenous and concentrated in the higher-income student 
          population, for various reasons including access and cultural 
          differences.  The goal of this bill is to encourage better 
          integration of those students who are not in the GATE program 
          but would otherwise qualify.  

           Demographics in GATE  :  Below is a chart that illustrates the 
          demographic differences between the general student population 
          in California and the student population identified for GATE.   
          The chart shows an over-identification of White, Asian and 
          Filipino students and an under-identification of Hispanic and 
          African American students in the GATE program state-wide.

            ------------------------------------------------- 
           |                   |GATE Student |   Statewide   |
           |                   | Population  |    Student    |
           |                   |             |  Population   |
           |-------------------+-------------+---------------|
           |Hispanic or Latino |    30.6%    |     51.4%     |
           |                   |             |               |
           |-------------------+-------------+---------------|
           |White              |    40.0%    |     26.6%     |
           |-------------------+-------------+---------------|
           |Asian              |    17.8%    |     8.5%      |
           |-------------------+-------------+---------------|
           |Filipino           |    4.3%     |     2.6%      |
           |-------------------+-------------+---------------|
           |African American   |    4.0%     |     6.7%      |
           |-------------------+-------------+---------------|








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           |American Indian or |    0.6%     |     0.7%      |
           |Alaska Native      |             |               |
           |-------------------+-------------+---------------|
           |Pacific Islander   |    0.6%     |0.6%           |
            ------------------------------------------------- 
              (Source: California Department of Education 2010-11 Data)
           
          Funding Flexibility  :  There are approximately 60 categorical 
          programs that serve specific goals or specific programs.  The 
          fiscal year (FY) 2009-10 budget had an important impact on 
          categorical programs.  The budget agreement imposed a 20% 
          reduction on 39 programs and gave local education agencies 
          (LEAs) that received those funds in FY 2007-08 the flexibility 
          to use the funds for any educational purposes from FY 2008-09 
          through FY 2012-13.  This flexibility was extended to FY 2014-15 
          by SB 70 (Committee on Budget), Chapter 7, Statutes of 2011.  
          This reduction and flexibility provision is commonly known as 
          "Tier 3" flexibility, which essentially gives LEAs $4.5 billion 
          in additional unrestricted funds.  Tier 1 protected four 
          categorical programs from cuts and flexibility while 11 
          categorical programs sustained reductions but were given no 
          flexibility under Tier 2.  For Tier 3 funds, school districts 
          receive their allocations for five years based on the applicable 
          percentage the programs received in FY 2007-08.  As a result, 
          until 2015, LEAs are not required to justify or report average 
          daily attendance (ADA) in order to receive the specified 
          categorical funds.  GATE is one of the categorical programs 
          included in Tier 3 flexibility, therefore, districts are not 
          required to submit an application to the CDE for approval.  This 
          mean AB 2491 would not be implemented until Tier 3 flexibility 
          expires in 2014-15, or later if it is extended again.

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          None on file.

           Opposition 
           
          None on file.


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087 









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