BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2353
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|Author: |McCarty |
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|Version: |April 27, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: June 15, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: | Yes |
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|Consultant:|Lenin DelCastillo |
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Subject: Teacher professional development: culturally
responsive instruction
SUMMARY
This bill requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
to identify professional development programs in culturally
responsive instruction and authorizes local educational agencies
(LEAs) to include this professional development as a local
measure of school climate as part of their local control and
accountability plans (LCAPs).
BACKGROUND
Existing law:
1) Establishes the Local Control Funding Formula which
permanently consolidated the vast majority of categorical
programs, including the Professional Development Block
Grant which supported professional development activities
such as teacher recruitment and retention incentives, along
with revenue limit apportionments, into a single source of
funding. The statutory and programmatic requirements for
almost all of these categorical programs were also
eliminated, leaving any related activities left to local
districts' discretion.
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2) Requires the governing board of each school district and
each county board of education to adopt an LCAP, and to
update the plan annually. Existing law requires LCAPs to
include both of the following:
a) A description of the annual goals, for all
students and each subgroup of students, to be achieved
for each of the state priorities and for any
additional local priorities identified by the
governing board.
3) A description of the specific actions the school
district will take during each year of the LCAP to achieve
the goals, including the enumeration of any specific
actions necessary for that year to correct any deficiencies
in regard to the state priorities. (EC § 52060 and §
52066)
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Specifies various legislative findings and declarations,
including: culture is essential to learning; culture plays
a role not only in communicating and receiving information,
but also in shaping the thinking process of groups and
individuals; and culturally responsive teaching is a
pedagogy that recognizes the importance of including
pupils' cultural references in all aspects of learning.
2) Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to
identify professional development programs in culturally
responsive instruction and provide links to those programs
on its web site.
3) Authorizes local education agencies (LEAs) to include
the extent to which teachers and other school employees, as
appropriate, have received or are receiving this
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professional development as a local measure of school
climate as part of their local control and accountability
plans (LCAPs).
4) Authorizes LEAs to use $490 million provided in the
2015-16 Budget Act to provide professional development in
culturally responsive instruction.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author's office, the
current structure for ensuring that teachers receive
appropriate training in cultural competency "does not
include strategies for those who seek employment in a
school district where racial and cultural makeup of the
student body vastly differ from the school district where
they were trained in their core competencies. This lack of
training is also apparent when teachers pursue teaching
opportunities in California who are from other states or
other countries. Further, there is a need to address the
training needs of teachers and administrators who have been
working in the educational system for some time and may not
have received the level of cultural competency training
appropriate to meet their local district needs."
2) Existing LCAP process. This bill authorizes an LEA to
include professional development programs in culturally
responsive instruction as a local measure of school climate
as part of its LCAP. However, to the extent this is a
local priority, an LEA may already include it and
therefore, the Committee may wish to consider whether this
provision is necessary. Specifically, do local school
districts and their governing boards need further guidance
on what to include in their LCAPs? Additionally, there
have been notable criticisms of the LCAP since its
implementation, including the notion that its primary
purpose has been to serve primarily as a compliance driven
document rather than for strategic planning purposes.
There have also been concerns regarding the length and
complexity of the LCAPs making them difficult to read and
understand. Would it be prudent at this time to prescribe
additional statutory provisions for the LCAP prior to
making more meaningful reforms to address these issues?
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Staff recommends that the provision authorizing LEAs to
include professional development programs in culturally
responsive instruction as a local measure of school climate
be removed from the bill.
3) Related budget activity. The 2015-16 Budget Act included
$490 million for local educational agencies (LEAs) to
promote educator effectiveness and were specifically
earmarked for a menu of options that included beginning
teacher and administrator support and mentoring,
professional development, and coaching and support services
for teachers identified as needing improvement. Since LEAs
have just received these funds and have three years to
spend them, the number of districts that have fully spent
them or still have funds available is unknown.
As this bill authorizes these funds to be used to provide
professional development in culturally responsive
instruction, one can argue these funds may already be used
for this purpose if a district deems it to be a local
priority. On the other hand, the Committee may wish to
consider whether the bill's provision is contrary to the
budget agreement as it designates an additional purpose for
which the funds can be used. For these reasons, staff
recommends that this provision be removed from the bill.
4) Fiscal impact. According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, the California Department of Education (CDE)
estimates one-time General Fund costs of approximately
$150,000 for the department to identify and review existing
professional development programs in culturally responsive
instruction and to post online. These costs could be
ongoing to the extent CDE is expected to review and update
the list on a regular basis.
SUPPORT
Alameda County Office of Education
American Civil Liberties Union of California
Association of California School Administrators
California Federation of Teachers
Children Now
Los Angeles Unified School District
San Bernardino County District Advocates for Better Schools
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OPPOSITION
None received.
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