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)








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          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  








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          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