BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 1156 (Huff) - School accountability: Open Enrollment Act:
low-achieving schools
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|Version: April 21, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: May 16, 2016 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill amends the Open Enrollment Act by replacing
the Academic Performance Index with new eligibility criteria for
identifying low-achieving schools. Specifically, the bill
provides that a low-achieving school is either a school that is
identified by the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(Superintendent) or the State Board of Education (Board) for
comprehensive support and improvement, as specified, or a school
that is receiving mandatory assistance by the California
Collaborative for Educational Excellence (Collaborative).
Fiscal
Impact:
Reporting: Costs to the California Department of Education
(CDE) and the Legislative Analyst's Office likely in the low
hundreds of thousands for existing staff to work together to
produce an evaluation and recommendations for the program.
SB 1156 (Huff) Page 1 of
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However, in order to produce a report as intended by this
bill, the submittal date would need to be postponed several
years. See staff comments. (General Fund)
Data System Updates: The CDE notes costs related to updating
its data collection system to include student transfer data.
These costs would be potentially significant to the extent
these changes would be required to be made prior to the
2017-18 fiscal year. (General Fund)
Background: Existing law establishes the Open Enrollment Act which allows
the parent of a student attending a school identified as low
achieving to submit an application for the student to attend
another school with in the same district or transfer to another
school district. Current law defines a low-achieving school by
a list developed annually by the Superintendent which ranks
1,000 low-achieving schools by increasing Academic Performance
Index. However, since the implementation of the state's new
student assessment system, the Academic Performance Index has
been suspended and therefore the list has not been updated to
identify schools newly eligible for the Open Enrollment program.
According to the CDE, the last available list which is being
used for 2016-17 school year is based on the assessment results
from the former statewide student assessments aligned to the
prior state content standards.
The federal and state accountability systems are undergoing
major changes. Beginning in the 2017-18 school year, the recent
enactment of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
replaces identification for school improvement, corrective
action, restructuring, public school choice, and supplemental
educational services with two categories: (1) comprehensive
support and improvement; and (2) targeted support and
improvement for LEAs with schools which have "consistently
underperforming" subgroups. Schools identified for
comprehensive support and improvement are those that are in the
lowest performing 5 percent performing in the state; high
schools that graduate less than two-thirds or their students;
and schools subject to targeted support and improvement. The
ESSA provides public school choice as an option, not a
requirement, to LEAs with schools identified by the
Superintendent for comprehensive support and improvement.
The state's new accountability system establishes, among other
SB 1156 (Huff) Page 2 of
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things, an entity to provide support and intervention through
the Collaborative. Its purpose is to provide advice and
assistance to LEAs to achieve the goals specified in their local
control and accountability plans (LCAPs). Existing law
requires, at the direction of the Collaborative, the fiscal
agent to contract with individuals, LEAs, or organizations with
the expertise, experience, and a record of success to assist
LEAs in meeting their goals.
Proposed Law:
For purposes of the Open Enrollment Act, this bill amends the
definition of a low-achieving school, a status that allows
parents of a student enrolled in that school to submit an
application for transfer to another school within or outside the
district of residence. This bill removes the provisions
referencing schools with the lowest Academic Performance Index,
effective July 1, 2018. Instead, it defines a low-achieving
school as one that is identified by the Superintendent or the
State Board of Education for comprehensive support and
improvement pursuant to the accountability provisions of the
federal ESSA and the state accountability system through the
Collaborative.
This bill also requires the school district in which the student
transfers to ensure that the student is enrolled in a new school
that is not identified as being low-achieving, instead of
enrolled in a school with a higher Academic Performance Index as
required by existing law. This bill updates the order of
priority for students applying for a transfer to provide as
second priority, students that generate additional funding
through the state's Local Control Funding Formula (low-income,
English learner, or foster youth) transferring from a
low-achieving school.
Finally, this bill requires the Superintendent, with the
Legislative Analyst's Office, to complete an evaluation of the
open enrollment program, as specified. It also requires both
entities to make recommendations regarding the eligibility
criteria for the open enrollment program based on the state's
new accountability system with respect to complying with federal
ESSA, including the use of LCFF unduplicated subgroup criteria,
and may also include recommendations on the future of the
program.
SB 1156 (Huff) Page 3 of
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Related
Legislation: SB 451 (Huff, 2013) proposed to expand the Open
Enrollment Act to authorize the parent of a student, regardless
of whether the student attends a low-achieving school, to submit
an application for the student to attend another school. SB 541
failed passage in the Senate Education Committee.
Staff
Comments: Staff notes that the new provisions of the Open
Enrollment Act in this bill are operative July 2018. The
evaluation report is due no later than one year after the
implementation of the state's accountability system for purposes
of complying with federal ESSA which would likely be the 2018-19
fiscal year. This timeline makes it difficult to analyze the
new program. Allowing for the new requirements to be in effect
for a few years may yield better information from which to make
recommendations on the effectiveness and future of the program.
This would also provide time for the CDE to make necessary
changes to its data collection system and track the data over
multiple years.
SBX5 4 (Romero, Chapter 3, Statutes of 2010) established, among
other things, the Open Enrollment Act which was intended to make
the state eligible for the federal Race to the Top grant. The
Commission on State Mandates determined certain requirements of
the program to be a higher level of service than federal law and
therefore reimbursable by the state. Mandated activities
included: notifying parents of the option to transfer out of a
low-achieving school; ensuring the transferred student is in a
school with a higher Academic Performance Index; and notifying
the school district of residence and the parent of a student's
accepted application for transfer. The costs attributed to this
mandate have historically been in the mid tens of thousands.
This bill updates the program's current requirements to conform
to the changes in the federal and state accountability systems
and would continue the program's mandated activities.
SB 1156 (Huff) Page 4 of
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