BILL ANALYSIS Ó Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Kevin de León, Chair AB 1159 (Blumenfield) - Charter Schools: Pupil Achievement Data. Amended: As Introduced Policy Vote: Education 7-1 Urgency: No Mandate: No Hearing Date: June 24, 2013 Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Bill Summary: AB 1159 requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to provide school districts with individual pupil demographic, program, and achievement data, for pupils who attend a charter school for which a school district is the chartering authority, as specified. Fiscal Impact: Student achievement data: $50,000 (General Fund) in one-time costs to upgrade the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) system to share charter school pupil-level achievement data with the authorizing districts. Background: Existing law specifies that a school district may provide statistical data to a public agency or entity, private nonprofit college, university, or educational research and development organization, as long as no individual pupil may be identified from the data. (Education Code § 49076) Existing law requires every pupil to have an individual record of accomplishment by the end of grade 12 that includes the results of achievement tests administered as part of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program, the results of end-of-course exams, and any vocational education certification exams a pupil may have taken. Existing law further specifies that a pupil's record is private and may not be released to any person other than the pupil's parent or guardian, or a teacher, counselor, or administrator directly involved with the pupil, without the express written consent of either the parent or guardian if the pupil is a minor, or the pupil if the pupil has reached the age of majority or is emancipated. (EC § 60607) AB 1159 (Blumenfield) Page 1 Existing federal law, the Family Educational Rights and privacy Act (FERPA), generally prohibits the improper disclosure of personally identifiable information derived from education records. FERPA applies to all educational agencies and institutions that receive funding under any program administered by the U.S. Department of Education. Under FERPA, schools are required to provide certain privacy protections for the educational records they maintain. Proposed Law: This bill requires the CDE to provide to a school district individual pupil demographic data, program data, and achievement data, including but not limited to, the results of the standards-based achievement tests that are part of the STAR Program, the English Language Development Test, and the California High School Exit Exam, relating to pupils who attend a charter school for which the school district is the chartering authority, as specified. This bill further requires the CDE to provide this data, to the extent it is available, along with the unique pupil identification number of each of those pupils, to the school district in accordance with the FERPA. Related Legislation: AB 1919 (Brownley) 2011 was, in its enrolled form, virtually identical to this measure. That bill was vetoed by Governor Brown, with the following message: This bill would require the State Department of Education to send individual pupil level data to school districts that request the information. The data would cover each and every student attending a charter school the district authorizes. Authorizing districts may already collect this data, so another law is unnecessary. The locals can handle it. Staff Comments: This bill requires the CDE to share certain pupil achievement data, to the degree it can without violating FERPA. In 2010, LAUSD requested student level assessment data for pupils attending charter schools that it authorized. Then-Superintendent Jack O'Connell denied the request, citing current law, which does not allow a pupil's STAR results to be released to anyone other than the student, parent, law enforcement, or the school where the student is enrolled. This bill requires that districts be given CALPADS access to AB 1159 (Blumenfield) Page 2 view and download the pupil records. The CDE has indicated that this level of information sharing will require a one-time change to the CALPADS, which will cost $50,000 General Fund