BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1876
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1876 (Lopez)
As Amended May 18, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Education |5-2 |O'Donnell, McCarty, |Olsen, Kim |
| | |Santiago, Thurmond, | |
| | |Weber | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |14-6 |Gonzalez, Bloom, |Bigelow, Chang, |
| | |McCarty, Bonta, |Gallagher, Jones, |
| | |Calderon, Daly, |Obernolte, Wagner |
| | |Eggman, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Roger | |
| | |Hernández, Holden, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Prohibits the California Department of Education
(CDE), commencing January 1, 2019, from approving or renewing
AB 1876
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approval of a contractor or testing center to administer tests
for a high school equivalency certificate unless the contractor
or testing center provides the tests that have been approved by
the State Board of Education (SBE) in English, Spanish, and
Vietnamese, and provides that an examinee shall be permitted to
take the test in any of these three languages.
COMMENTS: The SBE has approved three high school equivalency
tests for use in California: the General Educational
Development Test (GED), the High School Equivalency Test
(HiSET), and the Test Assessing Secondary Completion (TASC).
The SBE has approved Spanish language as well as English
language versions of each of these tests. Testing fees vary
from test to test and from one test center to another, but are
generally around $140 to $150 per test.
In 2013 (the most recent year for which data are available),
64,983 Californians took the GED, 57,422 completed it, and
44,864 (69.0% of test takers and 78.1% of test completers)
passed it. Of the 64,983 Californians who took the test, 37,430
(57.6%) were reported as Hispanic, and 8,624 (15.3%) took the
test in Spanish.
Vietnamese is the second most frequently spoken language among
California's English learners in schools. According to the 2014
California Fall Language Census, there are 1.3 million English
learners in California public schools. The census shows 87% of
these students speak Spanish. The next language spoken most
frequently is Vietnamese (2.3% or approximately 30,000
students).
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, minor administrative costs to CDE to renegotiate
contracts with the current three test vendors.
AB 1876
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Any costs associated with the development of the tests will fall
on the testing contractors who will likely pass these costs on
to the test takers. Currently, all tests are provided in
English and Spanish, therefore, the only new costs are
associated with test development in Vietnamese. It is estimated
that costs could range from $200,000 to $2 million, depending on
whether the test is translated or developed as a new test.
Analysis Prepared by:
Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN: 0003058