BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 430|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 430
Author: Wright (D), et al.
Amended: 4/18/13
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 9-0, 4/10/13
AYES: Liu, Wyland, Block, Correa, Hancock, Hueso, Huff,
Jackson, Monning
SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE : 9-0, 5/1/13
AYES: Hernandez, Anderson, Beall, De León, DeSaulnier, Monning,
Nielsen, Pavley, Wolk
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 5/23/13
AYES: De León, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
SUBJECT : Pupil health: vision appraisal: binocular function
SOURCE : California Teachers Association
DIGEST : This bill requires the current vision appraisal of
students to also include screening tests for binocular function,
beginning in grade 3.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires school districts to provide
for the testing of the sight and hearing of each student
enrolled in the district. The test is to be given only by:
1. Duly qualified supervisors of health employed by the
district.
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2. Certificated employees of the district or county office of
education that possess the qualifications prescribed by the
Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
3. Contract with an agency duly authorized to perform those
services by the county superintendent of schools, under
guidelines established by the State Board of Education.
4. Accredited schools or colleges or optometry, osteopathic
medicine, or medicine.
Existing law requires, upon first enrollment in an elementary
school, and at least every third year thereafter until the child
has completed grade 8, the vision of students to be appraised by
the school nurse or other authorized person. The evaluation
must include tests for visual acuity and color vision, however,
color vision is to be appraised once and only on male students.
Gross external observation of the child's eyes, visual
performance, and perception are to be done by the school nurse
and the classroom teacher. The evaluation may be waived if the
parents present a certificate from a physician and surgeon, a
physician assistant or an optometrist.
Existing law requires a report to be made to the parent when a
defect other than a visual defect has been noted by the
supervisor of health or his/her assistant.
This bill requires the current vision appraisal of students to
also include screening tests for binocular function.
Specifically, this bill:
1. Adds binocular function to the list of tests included in the
existing vision appraisal given to students every three years
until the student completes
grade 8.
2. Specifies that binocular function appraisals need not begin
until the student has reached grade 3.
3. Authorizes the binocular function appraisal to include a
validated symptom survey developed during a National
Institute of Health clinical trial and published for use in
the public domain.
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4. Adds binocular function to the list of appraisals that may be
completed by a physician and surgeon, a physician assistant
or an optometrist in lieu of the appraisals completed at
school.
Comments
Governor's Local Control Funding Formula . As part of the
2013-14 Governor's Budget, the administration proposes to
restructure the existing K-12 finance system and eliminate over
40 existing programs while also repealing, what the
administration determines are countless "discretionary"
provisions of statute, while implementing a new formula known as
the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). The LCFF would
consolidate the vast majority of state categorical programs and
revenue limit apportionments into a single source of funding (12
categorical programs, including Special Education, Child
Nutrition, Preschool, and After School programs, would be
excluded). The LCFF proposal would also eliminate the statutory
and programmatic requirements for almost all existing
categorical programs - the programs would be deemed
"discretionary" and programs in any of these areas would be
dependent on local district discretion. To the extent that the
LCFF or a modified version of it is adopted as part of the
budget, the majority of currently required categorical
activities would be left to local districts' discretion.
Therefore, the changes proposed by this bill for vision
appraisals could be diluted, eliminated, rendered obsolete or
discretionary at the local level.
Prior legislation
AB 1095 (Wright, 2001) would have required every student, within
90 days of entering grade 1, to undergo a comprehensive eye exam
that includes, in addition to ocular health and distance and
near visual acuity, additional evaluations of visual skills such
as eye teaming, focusing and tracking that may impact a child's
ability to read. AB 1095 was held in the Senate Appropriations
Committee's suspense file.
AB 1096 (Wright, 2001) would have established a pilot program
for schools scoring in the bottom 20% on state achievement
tests, to administer to poor readers a comprehensive eye
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screening and remedial vision training. AB 1096 died on the
Senate Floor's inactive file.
SB 606 (Vasconcellos, 2001) would have required the existing
student eye examination to include screening for binocular
function, ocular alignment, ocular motility, and near visual
acuity. SB 606 was held on the Assembly Appropriations
Committee's suspense file.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill
could result in a significant new mandate on local educational
agencies (LEAs), whereby the state may have to reimburse LEAs
for every screening exam performed in compliance with this bill,
and any related staffing or training costs.
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/23/13)
California Teachers Association (source)
Advancement Project
California Federation of Teachers
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
California Teachers Association
Compton Unified School District
Congress of Racial Equality of California
Disability Rights of California
Hales Corners/Luthern Church and Schools
Hintha Consultant Company
Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA
Los Angeles Unified School District
Small School District's Association
The Willie L. Brown Jr. Institute
OPPOSITION : (Verified 5/23/13)
American Academy of Pediatrics
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "School vision
testing relates to distance vision, basic refraction, and eye
health but does not address vision needs for reading which are
closer to the face. Also, current testing is one eye at a time,
which cannot reveal problems of eye coordination that can impact
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reading. We have a significant number of students who are not
identified and cannot tell us they have reading problems. The
result is less reading, more time to do homework, behavior
problems and possibly poorer grades. The best teachers in the
world cannot help this student."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The American Academy of Pediatrics,
California writes, "The intention of this screening is to
address learning disabilities through identification of vision
issues that can be "treated" through so-called "vision therapy".
The American Academy of Pediatrics has found no evidence that
this intervention is helpful in addressing learning
difficulties. To mandate a universal screen that would lead to
diversion of children to unsubstantiated treatments would be a
tremendous waste of state and family resource-both money and
time. It could also lead to lost time in identifying and
addressing the real causes of learning difficulties."
PQ:d 5/23/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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