BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION Senator Carol Liu, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Bill No: SB 369 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Author: |Block | |-----------+-----------------------------------------------------| |Version: |February 24, 2015 Hearing Date: | | | April 8, 2015 | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant:|Olgalilia Ramirez | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System: pupils of military ???? families SUMMARY This bill requires that the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) add an indicator to the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) to identify pupils of military families. BACKGROUND Existing law establishes the CALPADS to accomplish all of the following goals: 1. Provide school districts and the California Department of Education (CDE) access to data necessary to comply with the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) reporting requirements. 2. Provide a better means of evaluating educational progress and investments over time. 3. Provide local educational agencies information that can be used to improve pupil achievement. 4. Provide an efficient, flexible, and secure means of SB 369 (Block) Page 2 of ? maintaining longitudinal statewide pupil level data. 5. Facilitate the ability of the state to publicly report data required by federal law. 6. Ensure compliance with the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). (Education Code § 60900 et. seq.) ANALYSIS 1. This bill adds an indicator to the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) to identify pupils of military families. More specifically, this bill: A. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to add a reporting process within CALPADS requiring local education agencies (LEAs) to report the enrollment of pupils of military families on or before July 1, 2016. B. Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to include an indicator for pupils of military families in California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS). C. Provides that the data collection pursuant to this requirement shall be used to compile reports required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), including, but not limited to, dropout and graduation rates. D. Provides that upon implementation of this bill, the CDE is not subject to the penalty contained in provision 16 of Item 6110-001-0890 of the 2015 Budget Act. E. Defines "pupils of military families" to mean pupils whose parent or legal guardian is an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States. SB 369 (Block) Page 3 of ? F. Identifies the bill as potentially creating unfunded state reimbursable mandated costs. STAFF COMMENTS 1. Need for this bill. More than 60,000 school-aged children of active duty service members attend California schools. However, there is no method for identify this student group or tracking their academic progress in school. According to the author, creating an indicator will help determine school attendance and educational outcomes, as well as assist districts in identifying the needs of military children including additional counseling and academic services relative to the deployment or relocation of a parent. 2. What currently exists? According to the Marine Corps Installations West, there are approximately 13 school districts currently identifying military students within their local data systems. These districts include: Travis Unified, San Diego Unified, South Bay Unified, Murrieta Valley Unified, Coronado Unified, Lakeside Union, Santee, La Mesa/Spring Valley, Lemon Grove, Chula Vista Elementary, Poway Unified, Los Angeles Unified, and Sweetwater Union High. It is unclear if any of the remaining school districts identify military children using internal resources. 3. California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS). The CALPADS was created to enable California to meet federal requirements delineated in the NCLB Act 2001, which increases accountability for student achievement. CALPADs has been operational since 2009 and contains information on student demographics, program participation, grade level, enrollment, course enrollment and completion, discipline, and statewide assessment data. The student level, longitudinal data in California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) enables the facilitation of program evaluation, the assessment of student achievement over time, the calculation of more accurate dropout and graduation SB 369 (Block) Page 4 of ? rates, the efficient creation of reports to meet state and federal reporting requirements, and the ability to create ad hoc reports and responses to relevant questions. CALPADS provides local educational agencies (LEAs) with access to longitudinal data and reports on their own students, and it gives LEAs immediate access to information on new students, enabling the LEAs to place students appropriately and to determine whether an assessment is necessary. 4. Budget prohibits additional data elements. A provision in the 2015 Budget Act, as a condition of receiving funds, prohibits CDE from adding data elements to California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS), as specified. This bill includes a provision to preclude California Department of Education (CDE) from being subject to this penalty. 5. Prior legislation. AB 2341 (Quirk-Silva, 2014) identical to SB 369, would have added an indicator to CALPADS to identify pupils of military families. The bill was held in Senate Appropriations Committee Suspense file. SUPPORT American Legion - Department of California AMVETS - Department of California Department of Defense, Military Community and Family Policy Military Officers Association of America, California Council of Chapters United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps Installations West United States Navy, Navy Region Southwest Vietnam Veterans of America - California State Council OPPOSITION None received. -- END -- SB 369 (Block) Page 5 of ?