BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1012|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1012
Author: Jones-Sawyer (D), et al.
Amended: 7/15/15 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 8-0, 7/8/15
AYES: Liu, Runner, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan,
Vidak
NO VOTE RECORDED: Block
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/27/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 6/3/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Pupil instruction: course periods without
educational content
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill prohibits a school district serving any of
grades 9-12 from assigning students to any course without
educational content for more than one week in any semester, and
prohibits the assignment of any student to a course that the
student has previously completed and received a satisfactory
grade, unless specified conditions are met.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1) Requires each school district serving any of grades 7-12 to
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offer to all otherwise qualified students a course of study
fulfilling the requirements and prerequisites for admission
to the California public institutions of postsecondary
education and provide a timely opportunity to each student to
enroll within a four-year period in each course necessary to
fulfill those requirements and prerequisites prior to
graduation from high school. Existing law also requires each
school district to offer a course of study that provides an
opportunity for students to attain entry-level employment
skills in business or industry upon graduation from high
school, and encourages districts to provide all students with
a rigorous academic curriculum that integrates academic and
career skills, incorporates applied learning in all
disciplines, and prepares all students for high school
graduation and career entry. (Education Code § 51228)
2) Requires a student to pass both the English language arts
and mathematics portions of the California High School Exit
Exam and complete the following courses as a condition of
graduating from high school:
a) Three years of English.
b) Two years of mathematics.
c) Two years of science, including biological and physical
sciences.
d) Three years of social studies, including United States
history and geography; world history, culture, and
geography; one semester of American government and civics,
and one semester of economics.
e) One year of visual or performing arts, foreign language,
or until July 1, 2017, career technical education.
f) Two years of physical education. (Education Code §
60851 and § 51225.3)
3) Requires one of the two years of mathematics to meet or
exceed the rigor of the content standards for Algebra I. (EC
§ 51224.5)
4) Authorizes school districts to impose additional coursework
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requirements as a condition of graduation from high school.
(EC § 51225.3)
5) 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. (EC § 46300)
6) Establishes the minimum day for high schools as 240 minutes.
(EC § 46141)
7) Requires, through regulation, local educational agencies
(LEAs) to adopt uniform complaint procedures (UCP) through
which the public can register complaints regarding
educational programs and rights. (California Code of
Regulations, Title 5, Section 4600 et seq.)
The University of California (UC) and the California State
University (CSU) established minimum coursework requirements for
freshman admission, known as the A-G requirements.
[http://www.ucop.edu/agguide/a-g-requirements/]
This bill:
Courses without Educational Content
1) Prohibits, beginning in the 2016-17 school year, a school
district maintaining any of grades 9-12 from assigning any
student to any course period without educational content for
more than one week in any semester, unless all of the
following conditions are met:
a) A student is assigned to that course only if the
student or, for a student who is under age 18, the
student's parent, guardian, or educational rights holder
has consented in writing to the assignment.
b) A school official has determined that the student will
benefit from being assigned to the course period.
c) The principal or assistant principal of the school has
stated in a written document maintained at the school
that, for the relevant school year, no students are
assigned to those classes unless the school has met the
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conditions detailed above.
2) Defines "course period without educational content" as one
course period during which any of the following occurs:
a) The student is sent home or released from campus
before the conclusion of the designated schoolday.
b) The student is assigned to service, instructional work
experience, or to an otherwise named course in which the
student is assigned to assist a certificated employee, but
not expected to complete curricular assignments, in a
course the certificated employee is teaching during that
period and where the ratio of certificated employees to
students assigned to the course for curricular purposes is
less than one to one.
c) The student is not assigned to any course for the
relevant course period.
Assignment to Previously Completed Courses
3) Prohibits, beginning in the 2016-17 school year, a school
district maintaining any of grades 9-12 from assigning any
student to a course that the student has previously completed
and received a grade determined by the district to be
sufficient to satisfy the requirements and prerequisites for
admission to the UC and CSU and the coursework requirements
for high school graduation, unless either of the following
applies:
a) The course has been designed to be taken more than
once because students are exposed to a new curriculum year
to year and are therefore expected to derive educational
value from taking the course again.
b) For any course that has not been designed to be taken
more than once, all of the following conditions are
satisfied:
i) A student is assigned to the course only if the
student or, for a student who is under age 18, the
student's parent, guardian, or educational rights holder
has consented in writing to the assignment for the
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purpose of improving a lower grade.
ii) A school official has determined that the student
will benefit from being assigned to the course period.
iii) The principal or assistant principal of the school
has stated in a written document to be maintained at the
school that, for the relevant school year, no students
are assigned to those classes unless the school has met
the conditions detailed above.
Complaints
4) Authorizes a complaint of non-compliance with the
prohibition on assigning students to course periods without
educational content or to courses that the student has
previously completed and received a satisfactory grade to be
filed with the LEA under the UCP.
5) Authorizes a complainant who is not satisfied with the
decisions of a LEA to appeal the decision to the California
Department of Education (CDE) through the existing UCP appeal
process, and requires that the complainant receive a decision
regarding the appeal within 60 days of the CDEs receipt of
the appeal.
6) Requires the LEA to provide a remedy to the affected student
if the LEA or the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI)
finds merit in a complaint.
7) Requires the SPI to 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 appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the
Legislature.
8) Specifies that the SPI has all power and authority necessary
to effectuate the requirements regarding complaints, and
requires the SPI to develop regulations for adoption by the
State Board of Education regarding complaints.
Miscellaneous
9) Prohibits, under any circumstances, a school district from
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assigning any student to a course period without educational
content, or to a course that the student has previously
completed and received a satisfactory grade, because there
are not sufficient curricular course offerings for the
student to take during that period of the schoolday.
10)Provides that this bill does not limit or otherwise affect
the authority of a school district to establish evening high
school classes, independent study, courses of work-based
learning or work experience, distance learning, military
science, community service classes, driver's training and
similar courses or instruction if the program otherwise meets
all of the requirements of law governing that program.
11)Exempts from this bill students who are enrolled in an
alternative school, a community day school, a continuation
high school or an opportunity school.
12)Requires the SPI to adopt regulations to establish
procedures required by this bill, including the form for the
certifications regarding the assignment to course periods
without educational content and assignment to previously
completed courses.
Comments
Related lawsuit. 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 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. 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. The plaintiffs
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
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because of insufficient curricular offerings and a lack of
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.
5)Unaddressed student absenteeism, resulting in whole or part
from campus conditions.
[http://www.publiccounsel.org/tools/assets/files/0511.pdf]
On February 5, 2015, the plaintiffs filed a motion for a
preliminary injunction. On April 24, 2015, the court 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."
Course periods without educational content. This bill defines
"course period without educational content" to include "a
service, instructional work experience, or otherwise named
course where the pupil is assigned to assist a certificated
employee but not expected to complete curricular assignments in
a course the certificated employee is teaching that period, and
where the ratio of certificated employees to students so
assigned is less than one to one." This definition appears to
allow for the assignment to courses such as AVID, ROTC, study
hall, student government, student journalism, and similar
courses.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
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Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the CDE
indicates the need of eight full-time positions, one part-time
position, and about $794,000 ongoing funding as no office
currently exists to monitor schools for course content. Costs
also include addressing complaints of noncompliance and appeals
and providing technical assistance to the field.
This bill broadens the areas in which the CDE is required to
monitors schools. Though some of the identified costs include
workload to address complaints of noncompliance and appeals, the
actual level of staff needed is unknown as it depends on the
number of complaints received and the number of appeals filed
using the UCP.
The Commission on State Mandates has determined that specified
activities related to the implementation of the UCP are
reimbursable. However, it is unclear whether the Commission
would determine activities related to complaints of
noncompliance regarding courses without educational content
would be reimbursable since the activities would be triggered by
the LEAs' initial decision to place students in these courses.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/28/15)
None received
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/28/15)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 6/3/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
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Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,
Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle,
Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder,
Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina,
Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen,
Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron,
Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Thurmond
Prepared by:Lynn Lorber / ED. / (916) 651-4105
8/30/15 19:42:28
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