BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1935
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Date of Hearing: April 27, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
1935 (Kim) - As Amended April 21, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
Yes
SUMMARY:
This bill requires Local Control and Accountability Plans
(LCAPs), and updates and revisions to the LCAPs, to be posted on
school district and county office of education (COE) websites in
languages other than English, if the primary language other than
English is spoken by at least 15% of the pupils enrolled in a
school of the district or COE school. Specifically, this bill:
AB 1935
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1)Requires charter schools to post on their website their annual
update of goals and actions and requires each update to also
translate these documents, as specified.
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.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Proposition 98/GF state mandated costs, likely in the low
millions of dollars, for local education agencies (LEAs) to
translate LCAPs in primary languages. There are several
variables that will affect local costs, including the fees
each LEA is charged for translations according to contractual
agreements. Translation of documents can range from $30 to $80
per page. Some contracts charge $0.10 to $0.25 per word. LCAPs
can range from 35 to 400 pages long. The cost to translate one
100 page document in one language could range from $3,000 to
$8,000. According to CDE, there are approximately 730 school
districts and COEs that meet the 15% threshold to translate
documents. Charter schools would also incur costs to
translate their annual goals and actions documents. The number
of charter schools that meet the 15% threshold is unknown and
charter schools are not eligible for mandate reimbursement.
1)Minor/absorbable costs to CDE to post links on the department
website to the translated LCAP documents posted by school
districts and COEs.
COMMENTS:
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1)Purpose. The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) was enacted
to provide a more equitable distribution of education
dollars-especially among districts with populations of low
income pupils, English learners, and pupils in foster care-and
to provide more local discretion over the use of those
dollars. Accountability for the use of those dollars is
achieved though the requirement to adopt and annually revise
LCAPs.
Existing law requires school districts with a student
population of over 15% whom speak a single primary language
other than English to provide all notices, reports,
statements, or records be sent to students and parents in both
English and the single primary language.
According to the author, currently all school districts are
mandated to post their LCAP on the school district website so
parents and other interested parties can review them. Although
current law tasks school districts with high non-English
speakers to publish communications with parents in both
English and the other languages, it is not clear in the
Education Code that the LCAP's should be published in these
other languages. This bill would allow parents who are
non-English speakers to be able to review their school
districts LCAP's in their native language, consistent with
other notices, reports, statements, or records sent home.
Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 1935
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