BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1012 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 1012 (Jones-Sawyer) As Amended September 3, 2015 Majority vote -------------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: | 79-0 | (June 3, |SENATE: |39-0 | (September 8, | | | |2015) | | |2015) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: ED. SUMMARY: Defines "courses without educational content," prohibits a school district serving any grades 9-12 from assigning students to a 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. Specifically, this bill: 1)Defines a "course period without educational content" as a 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 school day. b) The student is assigned to a service, instructional work AB 1012 Page 2 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. 1)Prohibits, commencing with the 2016-17 school year, a school district maintaining grades 9 to 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 requirement are met: a) A student is assigned to that course only if the student or, for a student who has not reached the age of majority, 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 conditions specified in a) and b) above. 1)Prohibits, commencing with the 2016-17 school year, a school district maintaining grades 9 to 12 from assigning any student to a course that the student has previously completed and received a grade sufficient to satisfy the requirements and prerequisites for admission to the California public AB 1012 Page 3 institutions of postsecondary education and the minimum requirements for receiving a diploma of graduation from high school, unless: a) The course has been designed to be taken more than once because students are exposed to a new curriculum from 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 has not reached the age of majority, the student's parent, guardian, or educational rights holder has consented in writing to the assignment for the 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 specified in a) and b) above. 1)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. 2)Excludes students enrolled in an alternative school, a AB 1012 Page 4 community day school, a continuation high school or an opportunity school from provisions of this bill. 3)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. 4)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 year, to submit the report to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature. 5)Requires the SPI to develop regulations for adoption by the State Board of Education (SBE) to establish procedures governing these requirements. The Senate amendments: 1)Change the applicability of the bill from school districts offering grades 7-12 to those offering grades 9-12. 2)Streamline the process by which exceptions may be made to the prohibition on placement in courses without educational content and placement in courses which have been satisfactorily completed. 3)Clarify the definition of "service," "instructional work experience," or otherwise named course. 4)Clarify that the provisions of the bill apply to course AB 1012 Page 5 placement of students enrolled in grades 9-12. 5)Clarify that the provisions of the bill do not limit or otherwise affect the authority of a school district to authorize dual enrollment in community college. 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. 4)Establishes the minimum day in middle school and high school as 240 minutes. 5)Through regulation, requires LEAs 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 Senate Appropriations Committee, the California Department of Education (CDE) AB 1012 Page 6 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. COMMENTS: Need for this 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 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 AB 1012 Page 7 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 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 AB 1012 Page 8 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. On 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." 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 AB 1012 Page 9 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 in the 2014-15 school year. School district officials acknowledged significant problems with the system, and reported that nearly all scheduling problems were addressed by the end of 2014. According to media reports, the system worked smoothly for the start of the 2015-16 school year. 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) 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 AB 1012 Page 10 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: 0002202