BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                             Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
                            2015 - 2016  Regular  Session

          AB 1153 (Calderon) - School accountability: local control and  
          accountability plans: posting: evaluation rubrics.
          
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          |Version: April 20, 2015         |Policy Vote: ED. 8 - 0          |
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          |Urgency: No                     |Mandate: Yes                    |
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          |Hearing Date: June 29, 2015     |Consultant: Jillian Kissee      |
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          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.


          Bill  
          Summary:  This bill requires the State Board of Education  
          (Board) to consider revising the local control and  
          accountability plan (LCAP) template to include a section or  
          appendix sufficient to monitor a school district's or county  
          office of education's progress on outcomes related to the  
          evaluation rubric adopted by the Board.  If the Board does not  
          make this revision, this bill requires the populated evaluation  
          rubric of a school district or county office of education to be  
          posted on their respective websites, if it is available.


          Fiscal  
          Impact:  
           Department costs: The State Department of Education (SDE)  
            estimates that it would cost approximately $70,000 General  
            Fund to revise the LCAP template.
           Mandate costs: Potential, minor state mandate costs to school  
            districts and county offices of education to post available  







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            populated evaluation rubrics, if the Board does not revise the  
            template.  If the template is revised, potentially more  
            significant mandated costs could instead be incurred by school  
            districts and county offices of education through additional  
            reporting of actual progress.  These additional reporting  
            costs would ultimately depend on the revised template adopted  
            by the Board.  (Proposition 98)


          Background:  AB 97 (Committee on Budget, Chapter 47, Statutes of 2013) and  
          subsequent legislation created the Local Control Funding Formula  
          (LCFF), which consolidated most of the state's categorical  
          programs with general purpose revenue limit funding, with  
          additional funding to be phased in over the coming years.  One  
          of the main principles behind the LCFF is that English learners  
          and low-income students require more attention and resources in  
          the classroom than students who do not have these same  
          challenges.  
          In addition to the LCFF, the 2013 Budget established a new  
          system for school accountability.  Under the new system, school  
          districts, county offices of education, and charter schools are  
          required to complete an LCAP.  The LCAP must include a  
          district's annual goals in each of the following eight state  
          priority areas: 1) student achievement; 2) student engagement;  
          3) other student outcomes; 4) school climate; 5) implementation  
          of the Common Core State Standards; 6) course access; 7) basic  
          services; and 8) parental involvement.  Districts are required  
          to consult with stakeholders on their plans and hold at least  
          two public hearings before adopting or updating their LCAP.  


          The LCFF legislation also requires that on or before October 1,  
          2015, the Board adopt evaluation rubrics for the following  
          purposes:  1) to assist a school district, county office of  
          education, or charter school in evaluating its strengths,  
          weaknesses, and areas that require improvement; 2) to assist a  
          county superintendent of schools in identifying school districts  
          and charter schools in need of technical assistance; and 3) to  
          assist the Superintendent of Public Instruction in identifying  
          school districts for which state intervention is warranted.  The  
          evaluation rubrics are required to reflect a holistic,  
          multidimensional assessment of school district and individual  
          school site performance and to address all of the state  
          priorities described in the LCAP.  Additionally, as part of the  








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          evaluation rubrics, the Board is required to adopt standards for  
          school district and individual school site performance and  
          expectation for improvement with regard to each of the state  
          priorities. 




          Proposed Law:  
            This bill requires the Board to consider a revision to the  
          LCAP template to include a section or appendix sufficient to  
          monitor actual progress with respect to the Board-adopted  
          standards and expectations for improvement, as specified.
          This bill also requires the superintendent of a school district  
          to post on the school district's website its populated  
          evaluation rubric, if it is available, unless the Board revises  
          the template to include a section or appendix to monitor actual  
          progress on outcomes.  Similarly, this bill requires a county  
          superintendent of schools to post on the website of the county  
          office of education its populated evaluation rubric, if  
          available.




          Staff  
          Comments:  This bill would set forth in law two possible  
          scenarios for tracking local educational agency progress on  
          outcomes.  First, the Board is required to consider revising the  
          LCAP template to include a section or appendix to monitor actual  
          progress in the context of the Board-adopted standards and  
          expectations for improvement which are currently in development.  
           If the Board does not make this revision, this bill requires  
          school districts and county offices of education to post  
          populated evaluation rubrics, if available, on their respective  
          websites.
          If the Board decides to revise the LCAP template pursuant to  
          this bill, the SDE estimates costs of about $70,000 to redirect  
          existing staff.  Activities required to update the template  
          would include, staff time to collaborate with the Board to  
          determine revisions, attorney staff time to review the revised  
          template, updating the electronic LCAP and associated user  
          manual, implementation of the regulations process to remove the  
          existing template from regulations and adopting the revised  








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          template via the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, and providing  
          technical assistance to the field on the template modifications.


          Existing law requires that if any activities related to the  
          implementation of the LCAP provisions and regulations are found  
          to be a state reimbursable mandate, funding provided to local  
          educational agencies through the Local Control Funding Formula  
          must be used to directly offset any mandated costs.  To the  
          extent the Commission on State Mandates determines LCAP  
          activities are a state reimbursable mandate, this bill could  
          potentially expand the mandated costs.  Costs would be related  
          to posting populated evaluation rubrics online, if they are  
          available, or if the template is revised, additional reporting  
          required of local educational agencies in their LCAP.  The  
          extent of additional reporting would depend on the Board-adopted  
          revised template.  


          Staff notes that Chapter 13, Statutes of 2015 (AB 104), the  
          education omnibus trailer bill, extends the date by which the  
          Board must adopt evaluation rubrics by one year to October 1,  
          2016.  The SDE has indicated that the work required by this bill  
          would likely take one year from the date the Board takes action  
          to adopt the rubrics.




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