BILL ANALYSIS
AB 519
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Date of Hearing: May 9, 2007
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mark Leno, Chair
AB 519 (Mendoza) - As Amended: April 24, 2007
Policy Committee: EducationVote:7-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) to do the following:
1)Submit a plan, by July 1, 2008, to the Legislature regarding
how to include dropout data in the Academic Performance Index
(API).
2)Develop a definition of the term "dropout" for purposes of
submitting the plan and report this definition in the report.
FISCAL EFFECT
One-time General Fund costs to the SPI, likely less than
$125,000, to prepare and submit a plan to the Legislature, as
specified.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . A 2005 report by The Civil Rights Project (Harvard
University) entitled Confronting the Graduation Crisis states
that the state's reported graduation rate (87%) "is based on a
flawed National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) formula
that dramatically underestimates the actual number of
dropouts." This report identifies California's graduation rate
at 71% in 2002, using a Cumulative Promotion Index. However,
graduation rates for minority students were substantially
lower: 57% for Blacks, 60% for Latinos, and 52% for Native
Americans."
AB 519
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According to Russell Rumberger, Professor at the University of
California at Santa Barbara, the 66,657 students who were
reported as dropouts from the California public schools in the
2002-03 will cost the state $14 billion in lost wages.
According to the Civil Rights Project report, "these costs
rise significantly when one considers that the actual number
of students who leave school without diplomas is much higher
than the estimates provided by the state."
This bill requires the SPI to define "dropout" and submit a
plan to the Legislature by January 1, 2008.
2)SB 1X (Alpert), Chapter 3, Statutes of 1999 , established the
Public Schools Accountability Act, which required the
development of API. The API is used to measure performance of
schools and districts over time. An API score is calculated
based on students' performance on the following standardized
tests: the California Standards Tests (CSTs) in English
language arts, mathematics, and history-social science, and
science (where applicable), the norm-referenced California
Achievement Test (CAT-6) in grades three and seven, and the
California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE).
3)Current law requires the School Accountability Report Card
(SARC) to include dropout and graduation data. The SARC is an
annual document developed for parents and the community with
important information about each public school, including
demographic, program, and curriculum data.
The dropout data reported on the SARC includes progress toward
reducing dropout rates for grade 9-12 enrollment, the number
of dropouts, and the one-year dropout as currently reported on
the California Basic Education Data System.
AB 1496 (Goldberg), Chapter 517, Statutes of 2005, required
the State Department of Education to compile a high school
attrition rate for high school pupils in California pursuant
to a specified formula.
AB 519
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Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081