BILL ANALYSIS
SB 405
Page A
Date of Hearing: July 11, 2007
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gene Mullin, Chair
SB 405 (Steinberg) - As Amended: June 4, 2007
SENATE VOTE : 27-12
SUBJECT : Curriculum opportunities for pupils
SUMMARY : Establishes the College and Career Opportunity grant
program, repeals a provision authorizing a pupil to choose
between a CTE of study and a career technical education course
of study, expands the oversight duties of county superintendent
of schools, as specified, and makes other changes related to
college preparatory and CTE courses. Specifically, this bill :
College and Career Opportunity (CCO) program:
1)Establishes the CCO grant program to be administered by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI).
2)Requires the SPI to identify high schools in deciles 1-5,
inclusive, of the Academic Performance Index (API) that enroll
400 or more pupils and meet specified criteria to be invited
to apply to participate in the CCO program.
3)Provides that a school invited to apply to participate in the
program shall submit a five-year program plan that reflects a
set of strategies and benchmarks specific to that high school
which will be used by the SPI to determine selection of
schools.
4)Requires the SPI to allocate $100 per pupil to schools
selected to participate for implementation of the five-year
plan of the school and states legislative intent that no more
than $25 million be appropriated for this purpose during a
fiscal year.
5)Provides that funds awarded shall be used to provide academic
assistance and services to pupils to prepare them for the
rigors of, increase access to, and inform pupils about college
preparatory and career technical education (CTE) courses.
SB 405
Page B
6)Requires a participating school that achieves the annual
improvement targets contained in its five-year plan to publish
an annual report on its best practices and requires a
governing board of the school district of a school that fails
to meet its annual growth targets to inform members of the
school community of the lack of progress and other
information.
7)Requires the SPI to contract for an independent evaluation of
the effectiveness of the program and report the findings to
the Governor and the Legislature by August 1, 2010.
8)Provides that the program shall remain operative only until
January 1, 2014.
Other Provisions:
9)Requires county superintendents of schools to:
a) Review whether schools in deciles one to three of the
API offer to all otherwise qualified pupils in grades seven
to twelve a course of study that fulfills the admission
requirements to California public institutions of
postsecondary education (A-G requirements)<1>, and to
report that information to the school district and its
superintendent.
b) Assess schools that do not offer an A-G course of study
for possible deficiencies in the provision of sufficient
courses that are A-G eligible; assignment of teachers who
hold a credential and subject matter certification in the
subject in which they teach; provision of sufficient
instructional support; and assignment of middle school
pupils to pre-algebra or higher math courses.
c) Offer assistance to schools, in response to the
assessment, to develop a plan for increased availability of
A-G courses; offer management assistance and counselor
in-service training; recommend the use of a personnel
--------------------------
<1> The Board of Admissions and Relations with schools (BOARS)
establishes the subject areas and pattern of courses required
for minimum eligibility for freshman admission to the University
of California. These requirements are known as the "A-G"
requirements. The CSU system agreed to accept courses certified
by the UC to meet its subject area requirements.
SB 405
Page C
management team to assist in increasing the number of
teachers who hold a credential; and develop and report on a
plan for availability or increased availability of
instructional support.
10)Provides that a school district shall be deemed to have
fulfilled the responsibilities of offering to all otherwise
qualified pupils a course of study fulfilling the A-G
requirements, if at each high school in the district, it
offers:
a) Instructional support to pupils in grade 7 and/or 8 at
risk of not completing A-G courses;
b) Sufficient courses that are A-G eligible and taught by
credentialed teachers and in numbers and at times that
allow pupils to take those courses; and
c) Instructional support for pupils who struggle to or are
at risk of failing to, complete A-G courses.
11)Requires an entity establishing and operating a career
preparatory program to develop a course of instruction that is
aligned with the CTE curriculum framework adopted by the SBE.
12)Repeals a provision authorizing a pupil who has completed
grade 10 to choose between a separate college preparatory
course of study and a separate CTE course of study.
13)Requires, to the extent funds are appropriated for this
purpose, the SPI to annually present a report to the SBE
describing the status of districts' compliance with the
requirements of offering an A-G curriculum and career
preparation needs for middle or high schools ranked in deciles
one to three of the 2003 API and requires the SPI to prepare
an annual report to the Legislature defining and documenting
areas of noncompliance.
14)Requires the API to include additional indicators related to
the percentage of pupils who enroll in an A-G course, complete
that course and earn a grade of C or better; and the
percentage of pupils who enroll in a course satisfying the CTE
standards, complete that course, and earn a grade of C or
better.
SB 405
Page D
EXISTING LAW
1)Requires districts maintaining any of grades 7-12, inclusive,
to offer to all otherwise qualified pupils in those grade
levels a course of study that fulfills the requirements and
prerequisites for admission to California's public
institutions of postsecondary education.
2)Requires districts maintaining any of grades 7-12, inclusive
to offer to all otherwise qualified pupils a course of study
that provides an opportunity for pupils to attain entry-level
employment skills in business or industry upon graduation from
high school.
3)Provides that a pupil who has successfully completed his or
her education through grade 10, with the written consent of
his or her parent or legal guardian, may choose to follow
either a traditional college preparatory curriculum or a
career preparatory program.
4)Requires the Superintendent to develop the API to measure the
performance of schools, and to include a variety of
indicators, including, but not limited to, achievement test
results, attendance rates, and graduation rates.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, $25 million annually for the CCO program. Costs for
identifying qualifying schools, making grant awards, monitoring,
reporting, evaluating and revising the API would cost $500,000
initially and $200,000 for ongoing activities. Further, the new
activities of the county school superintendents would constitute
a state reimbursable mandate. Assuming that enhanced activities
would cost $2,000 to $5,000 for each of the 58 counties total
state costs would range from $116,000 to $290,000.
COMMENTS : Purpose of the bill : According to the author, this
bill seeks to address two pressing problems: the lack of access
to the A-G curriculum, and the lack of CTE courses that provide
rigorous, relevant opportunities to students who choose a
different path. The author states, "SB 405 finds a middle
ground in the tired debate over whether we should encourage more
college prep courses OR more career technical training. High
school students -especially those in high poverty/high minority
schools, need more access to and information about both."
A 2006 report titled, Removing the Roadblocks: Fair College
SB 405
Page E
Opportunities for All California Students revealed that,
"African American, Latino, and American Indian students are
dramatically underrepresented at every point along the road to
meeting University of California admission requirements." The
report points out that one of the roadblocks is the shortage of
A-G college preparatory classes and advanced A-G classes which
are more likely to occur in schools where African American and
Latino students are the majority.<2>
A-G and CTE : Recent research suggests that the integration of
CTE and college prep courses can engage high school students and
reduce the likelihood that students will drop out of high
school. UCLA/IDEA and UC/ACCORD recently released a series of
research papers that examined the promise of providing high
school students "multiple pathways." Multiple pathway programs
combine core academics with technical courses related to a
specific field. The research suggests that the concept of
"multiple pathways" would end "the tired debate about whether
high school students need more rigorous academics or a more
relevant career-focused curriculum. <3>
While the goal of this bill is to ensure high school pupils have
access to both A-G and CTE courses, staff notes that the bill as
currently drafted appears to place more emphasis on the A-G
course of study.
Course offerings and sufficiency : Existing law requires school
districts to offer to all otherwise qualified pupils: (1) A
course of study fulfilling the A-G requirements, and a timely
opportunity to enroll in and complete those courses prior to
graduation from high school. (2) A course of study that provides
an opportunity for those pupils to attain entry-level employment
skills in business or industry upon graduation from high school.
This bill provides specific indications on how districts can
fulfill the responsibilities for (1) above but not for (2).
---------------------------
<2> Oakes, Jeannie, et. al. Removing the Roadblocks: Fair
College Opportunities for All California Students. University of
California/ All Campus Consortium for Research Diversity
(UC/ACCORD) and UCLA Institute for Democracy, and Education and
Access (UCLA/IDEA). 2006.
<3> Oakes, Jeannie, et. al. Multiple Perspectives on Multiple
Pathways: Preparing California's Youth for College Career and
Civic Responsibility. UCLA/IDEA and UC/ACCORD. 2007.
SB 405
Page F
Under the provisions of this bill, a school district is deemed
to have fulfilled the responsibilities to offer an A-G course of
study, if at each high school in the district, it offers
sufficient courses that are A-G eligible and taught by properly
credentialed teachers, and instructional support for pupils who
are at risk of not completing A-G courses. On the other hand, a
district can fulfill the CTE responsibilities by adopting a
required curriculum that meets or exceeds the CTE standards.
This bill does not provide the specificity for CTE course
offerings and it makes no mention of sufficiency as is provided
for A-G courses.
If the goal is to provide high school students access to both
A-G and CTE courses, staff recommends the bill be amended to
ensure that there is some specific guidance to districts on how
they can fulfill the responsibility of providing access to CTE.
Oversight and assistance requirements : This bill requires
county superintendents to review and assess in deciles 1-3
schools, the availability of sufficient A-G courses, A-G course
teacher assignments, and other A-G related services and requires
county superintendents to assist in developing an improvement
plan, when deficiencies are found.
Staff recommends the author consider amending the bill to
include in the duties of the county superintendents assessing
the availability of CTE courses/programs, and teacher
assignments at those schools and further amending the bill, as
appropriate, to incorporate CTE in the provisions related to
assistance in developing an improvement plan.
In conducting the review, the county superintendent is required
to assess whether sufficient A-G courses are offered but the
bill does not define "sufficient." The author may wish to
consider, as this bill moves forward, whether a definition
should be added to the bill.
Why only deciles 1-3 schools ? Several of the provisions of this
bill are targeted towards schools in deciles 1-3. According to
the author and the sponsors of the bill, the oversight
requirements and other provisions of this bill are limited to
deciles 1-3 schools to contain costs and to stay consistent with
the provisions of the Williams vs. State of California
settlement agreement.
SB 405
Page G
Modifications to the API : This bill requires the API be
modified to include the rates at which pupils who enroll in an
A-G course, complete that course and earn a grade of C or
better; and the rates at which pupils who enroll in a course
satisfying the CTE standards, complete that course, and earn a
grade of C or better.
There are two measures currently moving through the process
seeking to modify the API to include additional indicators of
student achievement. AB 400 (Nu?ez) and SB 219 (Steinberg) both
include provisions to add outcomes related to college and career
readiness to the API.
This Committee granted careful consideration to the two
proposals mentioned above, and passed AB 400 (Nu?ez). SB 219
(Steinberg) is pending in this Committee's suspense file. To
avoid any potential conflicts in the actions of this committee,
staff recommends the bill be amended to remove the provisions
related to the API. This would in addition maintain the focus
of the bill on the provisions related to A-G and CTE access and
oversight.
Arguments in support : The California Chamber of Commerce
writes, "SB 405 would offer a stream-lined option for students
to take advantage of career technical education courses while
still taking their high school courses. This bill creates more
opportunities for high school students to gain valuable skills
to prepare them for career and postsecondary opportunities."
Arguments in opposition : The California Federation of Teachers
writes, "The Federation's main objection is with the provision
which expands the duties of the County Superintendent of
Schools. This provision authorizes the county superintendent to
monitor schools with regard to whether or nor they provide
courses that are requirements for admission to the state
university system. This provision is included under the
Williams monitoring. This is an unwarranted expansion of the
Williams settlement. Another issue that is of concern is the
expansion of the Academic Performance Index which properly
belongs in SB 219 (Steinberg)."
Related legislation : AB 400 (Nu?ez) requires the SPI to
incorporate into the API the rates at which pupils are offered
and complete a course of study that fulfills University of
SB 405
Page H
California and California State University admission
requirements and at which pupils are offered and complete a
course of study that provides the skills and knowledge necessary
to attain entry-level employment upon graduation from high
school.
SB 219 (Steinberg), among other provisions, requires the SPI to
establish an advisory committee on issues related to revising
the API and requires that such advisory committee make
recommendations to the SPI to include in API calculations
outcomes related to college and career readiness.
AB 178 (Coto) establishes the College Readiness and Equity
Program to be administered by the State Department of Education
(SDE) over a period of three years.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Civil Liberties Union (Sponsor)
Applied Research Center
Asian Pacific American Legal Center
California Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now
California Chamber of Commerce
California Health Care Institute
California State PTA
California State University
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities
Latino Coalition for a Healthy California
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay
Area
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Parents for Unity
The Advancement Project
Opposition
California Federation of Teachers (Unless amended)
Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Avi?a / ED. / (916) 319-2087