BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1012 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 1012 (Jones-Sawyer) As Amended June 1, 2015 Majority vote ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes | | | | | | | | | | | |----------------+------+--------------------+--------------------| |Education |7-0 |O'Donnell, Chávez, | | | | |Kim, McCarty, | | | | |Santiago, Thurmond, | | | | |Weber | | | | | | | |----------------+------+--------------------+--------------------| |Appropriations |17-0 |Gomez, Bigelow, | | | | |Bonta, Calderon, | | | | |Chang, Daly, | | | | |Eggman, Gallagher, | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Eduardo Garcia, | | | | |Gordon, Holden, | | | | |Jones, Quirk, | | | | |Rendon, Wagner, | | | | |Weber, Wood | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- AB 1012 Page 2 SUMMARY: This bill prohibits, starting with the 2016-17 school year, a school district maintaining any of grades seven to 12 from assigning any students to any "course period without educational content" for more than one week in any semester, or to a course that the student has previously completed with a grade sufficient to meet the A-G requirements and graduation requirements, unless specifically authorized per requirements of the bill. Specifically, this bill: 1)Defines "course period without educational content" as one course period during which any of the following occurs: the pupil is sent home or released from campus before the conclusion of the designated school day; the pupil is assigned to service, instructional work experience, or to a course that has a different name, but involves the pupil providing assistance to a certificated employee in a situation in which the ratio of pupil to employee is greater than one to one; or the pupil is not assigned to any course for the relevant course period. 2)Sets forth reasons why a pupil may be assigned to a course without educational content and requires the principal or assistant principal to certify and place the rationale in the student's cumulative file. 3)Clarifies a school district is not prohibited from establishing and offering evening high school classes, independent study, courses of work-based learning or work experience, or distance learning if the program otherwise meets all of the requirements of law governing that program. 4)Excludes pupils enrolled in an alternative school, a community day school, a continuation high school or an opportunity school from provisions of this bill. AB 1012 Page 3 5)Makes these requirements subject to the Uniform Complaint Procedures (UCP), requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to respond to appeals within 60 days, and requires that if merit is found in an appeal the local educational agency to provide a remedy to the affected student. 6)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to annually prepare an annual report detailing actions taken regarding related complaints, and requires the SPI, by January 1 of each fiscal year, to submit the report to the report to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature. Requires the SPI to adopt regulations that set forth the procedures governing complaint procedures. EXISTING LAW: 1)Specifies requirements for graduation from high school, including: three courses in English; two courses in mathematics; two courses in science; three courses in social studies; one course in visual or performing arts, foreign language, or career technical education; and two courses in physical education. Authorizes school districts to adopt additional requirements for graduation. 2)Establishes course requirements for admission to the University of California and the California State University, known as the A-G requirements. 3)Requires that only the attendance of students under the immediate supervision and control of a certificated employee is counted toward the computation of average daily attendance. AB 1012 Page 4 4)Establishes the minimum day in middle school and high school as 240 minutes. 5)Through regulation, requires local education agencies to adopt uniform complaint procedures through which the public can register complaints regarding educational programs and rights. (California Code of Regulations, Title 5, Section 4600). FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, unknown, likely minor, Proposition 98 (1988) General Fund state mandated costs related to the expansion of the UCP, and unknown administrative costs to the CDE to process UCP appeals, likely not to exceed $300,000. COMMENTS: Need for the bill. The author's office states, "Thousands of high school students across California are tracked into so-called 'classes,' where they are given meaningless 'credits' for sitting at home, in the office, or taking a course they've already passed. School districts have given these courses different names ('home,' 'service,' 'work-experience,' 'college,' 'adult'), but they all have a common trait: they rob students of learning time and the opportunity for a real education. And many of the affected students need real, academic classes to fulfill graduation or college access requirements. The schools where this occurs serve almost exclusively low-income students of color. Although this is not the norm across California, it is all-too common in communities where students can least afford to lose learning time. It is time to ensure that all AB 1012 Page 5 of our schools have the support they need to provide real classes to every student until they graduate." Bill related to lawsuit filed by the sponsor. This bill is related to Cruz v. State of California, a class action lawsuit filed May 29th, 2014, in Alameda County Superior Court against the state on behalf of students in seven schools. The suit names as plaintiffs a class of current or future students attending Castlemont High School in the Oakland Unified School District, John C. Fremont High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), Nystrom Elementary School in the West Contra Costa Unified School District, Franklin S. Whaley Middle School in the Compton Unified School District, Fremont High School in the Oakland Unified School District, Florence Griffith Joyner Elementary School in the LAUSD, and Compton High School in the Compton Unified School District. The suit names as defendants the State of California, the State Department of Education, the State Board of Education (SBE), and the Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson. The plaintiffs allege that the state has violated the rights of the plaintiffs provided by the Equal Protection clauses of the state constitution "by failing to provide them with basic educational opportunities equal to those that other students elsewhere in the State receive" with regard to meaningful learning time. They allege that this lack of instructional time is due to several factors, including: 1)Assignment of students to administrative tasks or free periods instead of assignment to classroom periods of instruction because of insufficient curricular offerings and a lack of AB 1012 Page 6 available qualified teachers; 2)Violence or security disruptions, which result in cessation of instruction and traumatic after-effects, and insufficient access to mental health professionals to assist students and faculty in coping with these disruptions; 3)Late changes to the master course schedule requiring course and teacher changes well into the semester; 4)Unstable, transient teaching faculties and administrative teams (including principals, assistant principals, and counselors), resulting from under-resourced and stressful campuses not conducive to professional development and growth; and 5)Unaddressed student absenteeism, resulting in whole or part from campus conditions. The complaint requests that the court address the state's monitoring system and its intervention to prevent and remedy the causes of lost learning time. On February 5th of this year the plaintiffs filed a motion for a preliminary injunction. Last week (April 24th), Alameda County Superior Court Judge George C. Hernández, Jr. denied this motion, stating that, "If, at this stage, Plaintiffs cannot supply reliable evidence regarding the actual practices of most California high schools with regard to the use of contentless classes and the timely implementation of appropriate master schedules, the court lacks a fair standard against which to measure the performance of Plaintiff's own high schools and cannot determine, even preliminarily, whether Plaintiffs have some possibility of prevailing on their claims." AB 1012 Page 7 Districts respond to lawsuit by curtailing some practices. According to a reply brief submitted in support of the motion for preliminary injunction, Compton High School has ceased scheduling students in "home" periods and has placed "sharp limitations" on service periods since this suit was filed, and LAUSD has indicated that it will take some measures to limit "home" and "service" periods and produce timely, complete master schedules. 2014-15 scheduling problems in LAUSD caused by data system failure. In August, 2014 students at Jefferson High School in the Los Angeles Unified School district (LAUSD) walked out of class during their third week of school in protest over a new scheduling system which failed to assign students to classes and assigned some to classes they'd already taken. Students reported sitting in auditoriums all day for days while course schedules were worked out, and being assigned to classes they had already completed. Teachers found elementary school students listed on high school attendance sheets. The problems which occurred in LAUSD were related to a new data system, called MiSis, which was developed by the district and introduced this year. School district officials acknowledged significant problems with the system, and reported that nearly all scheduling problems were addressed by the end of 2014. Student declarations point to management problems. Student and staff declarations provided by counsel for the plaintiffs paint a picture of five high schools in the Oakland, Compton, and Los Angeles school districts with numerous management problems. These include: 1)Scheduling problems (evidenced by students being placed into courses late, being placed in courses already completed, overcrowding of courses, and cancelled courses). AB 1012 Page 8 2)Staffing problems, including high teacher and administrator turnover (evidenced by students being instructed by multiple substitute teachers, report of high administrator turnover). 3)Counseling services problems (evidenced by overwhelmed counselors and poor counseling). 4)Insufficient course offerings for A-G completion (evidenced by students not able to enroll in A-G courses). Some statements also indicated that the limited elective course offerings was associated with a decision on the part of the school districts to focus their resources on remedial instruction, which the plaintiffs acknowledge is necessary for many students in these schools. They state, "Fremont has invested its limited resources in providing intervention classes, which are necessary for many students to graduate, but this has come at the expense of offering sufficient classes and electives to fill the course schedules of students who are on track to graduate." Analysis Prepared by: Tanya Lieberman / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN: 0000814