BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 491
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Date of Hearing: May 6, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
491 (Gonzalez) - As Amended April 30, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill extends, from January 1, 2014, to January 1, 2019, the
deadline for the California Department of Education (CDE) to
issue the report on English learner (EL) reclassification
established by SB 1108 (Padilla), Chapter 434, Statutes of 2012.
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Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the CDE to recommend, and the State Board of
Education (SBE) to adopt, best practices for the
reclassification of English learners, by July 1, 2022,
pursuant to the findings the new report.
2)Deletes the existing law requirement to report by January 1,
2017, changes in analysis and recommendations on
reclassification resulting from the adoption of the Common
Core standards in mathematics and the Next Generation Science
Standards.
FISCAL EFFECT:
One-time General Fund contract costs to the CDE in the range of
$450,000 to $670,000 to complete reporting requirements, likely
through a contract. According to CDE, data from an initial
report can be used as a foundation for the report required by
this bill, this suggests costs will likely to be at the lower
end of the estimated range.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. California K-12 public schools serve about 1.4
million English Learners (EL), representing about 22 percent
of the student body. The EL classification is meant to be
temporary, eventually leading to reclassified of a student as
Fluent English Proficient. School districts across the state
have different criteria for reclassification of EL students;
some have rigorous reclassification standards and lower
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reclassification rates, others have high reclassification
rates and more lenient standards. Many more fall in between.
SB 1108 (Padilla), Chapter 434, Statutes of 2012, required the
CDE to undertake a review of the reclassification system,
contingent on funding provided for that purpose. Cost
estimates for this report ranged from between $450,000 to
$500,000. Ultimately, no state funding was provided and CDE
could not use federal funds for this purpose.
The CDE entered into a memorandum of understanding with the
Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) to assist in
meeting the requirements of SB 1108. In January 2014, PPIC
issued the report; however, CDE believes it was not sufficient
to meet the requirements of SB 1108 or to form the basis for
recommendations to the SBE regarding reclassification.
This bill will build upon the PPIC report and provide a
framework, developed by the Department of Education, on the
best way to serve our English Learner population.
2)Prior related legislation. SB 1108 (Padilla) of 2014, similar
to this bill, would have extended the deadline for the CDE to
issue the report on English learner (EL) reclassification.
This bill also added "reclassified English learners" as a
numerically significant pupil subgroup for the purposes of the
Academic Performance Index (API). This bill was held in the
Senate Appropriations Committee on the Suspense file.
Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 491
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