BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1510|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 1510
Author: Eng (D)
Amended: 6/17/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 8-0, 7/1/09
AYES: Romero, Huff, Alquist, Liu, Maldonado, Padilla,
Simitian, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hancock
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 5/4/09 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Public schools: parental access
SOURCE : American Civil Liberties Union
DIGEST : This bill authorizes parents and guardians of
English language learners 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, unless doing so conflicts with state or
federal law.
ANALYSIS : Current law provides that parents and
guardians of public schools have the right and should have
the opportunity to be informed by the school and to
participate in the education of their children and that
their lack of English fluency does not preclude them from
exercising these rights, as specified. Current law also
CONTINUED
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declares that parents and guardians of English learners are
entitled to participate in the education of their children
by, among other things, receiving test results, as
specified, receiving required written notifications in
English and their home language, as specified, and
participating in school and district advisory bodies.
Current law also requires that, whenever 15 percent or more
of the pupils enrolled in a public school that provides
instruction in kindergarten or any of grades 1-12 speak a
single primary language other than English, determined as
specified, all notices, reports, statements, or records
sent to the parent or guardian of any such pupil by the
school or school district must also be written in the
primary language. The California Department of Education
(CDE) monitors adherence to this requirement and is
required to notify school districts by August 1 of each
year, of the schools within the school district, and the
primary language other than English, for which the
translation of documents is required pursuant to current
law.
This bill:
1. Declares that parents and guardians of English learners
are entitled to participate in the education of their
children by bringing an oral language interpreter to
conferences, meetings, or proceedings held at a school
district building or schoolsite, or sponsored by the
school district or school, except when doing so would
conflict with state or federal law.
2. Clarifies that the bill's provisions do not require a
school district to bear the cost of an oral language
interpreter who is brought by a parent.
3. Prohibits the bill's provisions from being construed to
reduce or eliminate any existing duties of a school
district under state or federal law to provide a
language interpreter.
Comments
Need for the bill . In 2007-08, over 40 percent of students
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enrolled in public schools spoke a language other than
English in their homes and almost 25 percent (1.5 million)
of all students were considered English learners. Of these
students, the predominant languages spoken are Spanish (85
percent), Vietnamese (2.2 percent), Pilipino or Tagalog
(1.4 percent), Cantonese (1.4 percent), Hmong (1.3
percent), and Korean (1.1 percent). Current law requires
that all written notices, reports and statements must be
translated into the primary home language whenever 15
percent or more of the pupils enrolled in a K-12 public
school speak a single primary language other than English.
According to the author's office, neither state nor federal
law directly address when oral language interpreters should
or may be allowed. Inadequate knowledge of existing law
and declining resources cause many school districts to
struggle to meet interpreter needs for parents.
Additionally, a CDE publication, "Quality Indicators for
Translation and Interpretation in Kindergarten Through
Grade Twelve Educational Settings" notes: "Currently,
California has no comprehensive written policy or standard
procedures 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."
This bill provides parents with the flexibility and the
right to bring their own interpreter so that they have the
opportunity to fully understand and effectively participate
in meetings and other school district proceedings and to
make informed decisions about matters affecting their
children.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/2/09)
American Civil Liberties Union (source)
Alhambra Unified School District
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
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Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality
Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center
Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network
California Federation of Teachers
California Immigrant Policy Center
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
California Teachers Association
Garvey School District
Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities
Public Advocates
San Francisco Unified School District
San Gabriel Unified School District
South Asian Network
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The American Civil Liberties Union
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 [limited English
proficiency] parents. In these circumstances, this bill
will give parents a right to bring their own."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher,
Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani,
Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Jeffries, Jones, Knight,
Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza,
Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A.
Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra
Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran,
Villines, Yamada, Bass
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NO VOTE RECORDED: Huffman
DLW:mw 7/2/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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