BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1510
Page A
Date of Hearing: April 22, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 1510 (Eng) - As Amended: April 16, 2009
SUBJECT : Parental access
SUMMARY : Provides that a parent or guardian of a pupil who
speak a language other than English has a right to bring an oral
language interpreter to conferences, meetings, or proceedings
held at a district building or schoolsite or sponsored by the
district or school, except when doing so would conflict with
state or federal law. Specifies that nothing in this bill
reduces or eliminates any existing duties of a school district
under state or federal law to provide a language interpreter.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that a parent or guardian's lack of English fluency
does not preclude a parent or guardian from exercising
parental rights. Requires a school district to take all
reasonable steps to ensure that all parents and guardians of
pupils who speak a language other than English are properly
notified in English and in their home language, and have the
right to participate in the education of their children, to
receive the results of their children's performance on
standardized tests, to participate in school advisory bodies,
and to receive information regarding state and local academic
standards, testing programs, accountability measures, and
school improvement efforts.
2)Requires that if 15% or more of the pupils enrolled in a
public school speak a single primary language other than
English, as determined from the census data submitted to the
California Department of Education (CDE) in the preceding
year, all notices, reports, statements, or records sent to the
parent or guardian of any such pupil by the school or school
district shall, in addition to being written in English, be
written in the primary language, and may be responded to
either in English or the primary language.
3)Requires a local educational agency to take any action
necessary to ensure that a parent or guardian of a pupil with
disabilities understands the proceedings at an Individualized
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Education Program meeting, including arranging for an
interpreter for parents or guardians with deafness or whose
native language is a language other than English.
4)Specifies, under Government Code Section 11135, that no person
in the State of California shall, on the basis of race,
national origin, ethnic group identification, religion, age,
sex, sexual orientation, color, or disability, be unlawfully
denied full and equal access to the benefits of, or be
unlawfully subjected to discrimination under, any program or
activity that is conducted, operated, or administered by the
state or by any state agency, is funded directly by the state,
or receives any financial assistance from the state.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Legislative Counsel, this bill
is non-fiscal.
COMMENTS : This bill specifies that parents and guardians of
pupils with Limited English Proficiency (LEPs) have the right to
bring an oral language interpreter to conferences, meetings or
proceeding held at a district building or schoolsite or
sponsored by a district or school, unless doing so will conflict
with state or federal law. The bill also specifies that giving
a parent or guardian the right to bring his/her own language
interpreter does not reduce or eliminate any existing duties of
a school district to provide a language interpreter.
Translation of materials. In response to a 1976 court case, Lau
v. Nichols, which found that all school districts have an
obligation to provide English language instruction to ensure
that all students have equal opportunity to obtain the same
education, the federal Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare released guidelines which outlined steps school
districts could take to "open its instructional program" to all
students. The guidelines stated that school districts have the
responsibility to inform the parents of students who speak a
primary language other than English of all school activities or
notices that are called to the attention of other parents, and
that the notices should be provided in the student's primary
language and in English. Pursuant to the guidelines, statute
was enacted in California in 1976 requiring schools to send any
notification, reports, statements or records (e.g., information
regarding testing, health, attendance, suspension and expulsion,
English Learner Programs, etc.) in a primary language and in
English if 15% or more of the pupils enrolled in the school
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speak that primary language at home.
Interpreters . The federal Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of
1964 states, in part, that "?No person in the United States
shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be
excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be
subjected to discrimination under any program or activity
receiving federal assistance." A May 1970 memorandum from the
federal Office of Civil Rights stated that, pursuant to Title
VI, school districts must take affirmative steps to provide
equal access and address the language needs of LEP students.
Government Code Section 11135 et seq. is the state law's version
of Title VI. Education Code (EC) Section 51101 specifies
parental rights regarding their children's education. EC
51101.1 spells out specifically the rights of a parent and
guardian of a LEP pupil. It is in this code section where the
bill proposes to add the right to bring an oral interpreter.
Need for the bill . According to the author, "Unfortunately,
inadequate knowledge of existing laws and declining resources
cause many school districts to struggle to meet translation and
interpreter needs for LEP parents. Many school districts do not
have formal policies for providing interpreters. As a result
many limited English proficiency parents are unaware of their
rights and thus make decisions about their child's life without
completely understanding existing laws."
The CDE indicates that, "Currently, California has no
comprehensive written policy or standard procedure for
recruiting, assessing, utilizing, and compensating qualified
translators and interpreters in kindergarten through grade
twelve educational settings. Practices throughout California's
schools and districts are inconsistent and in some cases
inadequate to serve multilingual students and their
families."<1> The sponsor, the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU), reports that 64% of districts that responded to a survey
did not have formal policies for providing interpreters.
Some districts utilize district or school bilingual employees as
interpreters, but according to the author, even districts that
have translation departments are unable to adequately provide
sufficient services. For example, in 2005, the Los Angeles
---------------------------
<1> "Quality Indicators for Translation and Interpretation in
Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve Educational Settings,"
California Department of Education, 2006.
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Unified School District denied one-third of the 7,488 requests
for interpreters and translators.
Translators are especially critical for disciplinary
meetings/hearings such as suspensions or expulsions. The ACLU
cites, as an example, an 11th grade student from San Diego, who
was accused of involvement in a fight off-campus and was
recommended for expulsion. His parents and grandmother, who
speak very little English, brought a former middle school
teacher to a meeting with school officials, who was denied entry
to the meeting. The school's provided interpreter did not fully
translate the discussion and provided little details. The
pupil's grandmother said, "People who understand can debate and
argue. We cannot, we only ask for the reasoning, and we cannot
understand. I have a really great desire to understand, but I
cannot. If I ask a question, they tell me only one or two
words, they do not tell me everything."
The author states, "These parent meetings have high-stake
consequences and long-term implications for a child's future.
Suspension and expulsion reduce the likelihood of graduating on
time and often lead to student drop out. Students who do not
graduate from high school have a reduced earning capacity, are
more likely to be unemployed, and are over-represented in the
criminal justice system."
Over 40% of the 6.3 million students enrolled in public schools
in 2007-08 speak a language other than English at home, with
almost 25% (1.55 million) considered English learners (EL). Of
the 1.55 million EL students, the predominant languages spoken
are Spanish (85%), followed by Vietnamese (2.2%), Pilipino or
Tagalog (1.4%), Cantonese (1.4%), Hmong (1.3%), and Korean
(1.1%).
Arguments in Support . The ACLU states, "School districts
struggle to meet interpreter needs of parents partly due to an
inadequate knowledge of existing laws and inadequate fiscal
resources. This bill addresses both these issues by
highlighting existing laws in the Education code and by allowing
parents to provide and pay for their own interpreters when this
does not conflict with existing law. Further, there are
situations where state and federal laws do not require school
districts to provide interpreters for LEP parents. In these
circumstances, this bill will give parents a right to bring
their own."
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Civil Liberties Union (sponsor)
California Family Council
Californians Together Coalition
Consejo de Federaciones Mexicans en Norteamerica
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087