BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1935 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 13, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION Patrick O'Donnell, Chair AB 1935 (Kim) - As Introduced February 12, 2016 SUBJECT: Local control and accountability plans: posting in different languages SUMMARY: Requires Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs) and updates and revisions to the LCAPs to be posted on a school district's and county office of education's Internet website in languages other than English if specified conditions are met. Specifically, this bill: 1)Requires school districts and county superintendents of schools to post LCAPs on their Internet websites in English and each primary language other than English spoken by at least 15% of the pupils enrolled in a school of the district or county office of education schools. 2)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to post on the California Department of Education's (CDE) website links to the approved LCAP of each school district and county office of education in each language posted on the website of the district or county office of education. EXISTING LAW: AB 1935 Page 2 1)Requires each school district and county office of education to adopt and annually update an LCAP. 2)Requires the SPI to post links to each LCAP on the CDE website. 3)Requires all notices, reports, statements, or records sent to the parents or guardians of pupils in a school to be provided in English and the primary language of the pupils if at least 15% of the pupils speak a primary language other than English. FISCAL EFFECT: State mandated local program COMMENTS: Existing law requires school districts and county offices of education to adopt and annually update LCAPs using a template adopted by the State Board of Education (SBE). Charter schools are required to annually update their goals and actions to achieve those goals, also using the template adopted by the SBE. The template is designed to provide guidance to local education agencies (LEAs) in providing a listing and description of expenditures for implementing the specific actions included in the LCAP and a listing and description of expenditures that will serve the pupils who are low income, English learners, in foster care and who have been redesignated as fluent English proficient. The SBE -adopted template is a matrix-type document that consists of several columns and rows. Although the blank template is 15 pages long, most LCAPs are more than 100 pages long, and some are more than 300 pages long. Because many parents and members of the public have found the length of the templates to be daunting and confusing, many LEAs have produced AB 1935 Page 3 more "user friendly" summaries, which provide the basic elements of the LCAP, but without the same level of detail. Because the cost of translating the full LCAP into multiple languages is likely to be very high, and since the full translated LCAP may be less useful for its intended audience than a translated summary, staff recommends that the bill be amended to require a district or county office of education to translate either the full LCAP or the summary, if it has one, provided the summary contains, at a minimum, the following: A description of the annual goals and specific actions contained in the plan pursuant to Sections 52060(c) and 52066(c) of the Education Code. A description of how the plan addresses each of the state priorities pursuant to Sections 52060(d) and 52066(d) of the Education Code. This would be a minimum requirement. A district would still be able to translate the full LCAP is it chooses. Charter schools. Charter schools are not required to adopt LCAPs. Instead, they are required to annually update their goals and annual actions to achieve those goals that are identified in the charter petition. The same template that districts use for their LCAPs is also for use by charter schools when they update their annual goals and actions. Charter schools also enroll large numbers of students from families whose primary language is other than English. There is no analytical reason to believe that the parents of charter school students are any less deserving than the parents of traditional school students to have access to translated copies of their school's educational plans. One could argue that students attend charter schools by choice, and therefore have the option to not attend a charter school if it does not meet the students' and their family's needs. However, not accommodating the language needs of families could be a screen that discourages AB 1935 Page 4 attendance by some students, especially English learners. In such cases, the school would not be fulfilling the intent of the Legislature that charter schools "increase learning opportunities for all pupils, with special emphasis on expanded learning experiences for pupils who are identified as academically low achieving" (Education Code 47601). Accordingly, staff recommends that the bill be amended to apply to charter schools as well as to school districts and county offices of education. Arguments in support. According to the author's office, "Considering that the [Local Control Funding Formula] provides additional funding based upon the number of EL pupils in a district, parents should be able to view the accountability piece-the LCAP-so they can meaningfully participate in their child's education." In addition, the author's office provided data showing that only about a quarter of districts with an EL population of more than 20% provided a translated version of their LCAPs. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION: Support Advancement Project California Association for Bilingual Education California Federation of Teachers Californians Together Coalition AB 1935 Page 5 Education Trust West Opposition None received Analysis Prepared by:Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087