BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1741
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1741 (Coto)
As Amended April 26, 2010
Majority vote
EDUCATION 6-2 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Brownley, Ammiano, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Ammiano, |
| |Arambula, Carter, | |Bradford, |
| |Chesbro, Torlakson | |Charles Calderon, Coto, |
| | | |Davis, |
| | | |De Leon, Hall, Skinner, |
| | | |Solorio, Torlakson, |
| | | |Torrico |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Nestande, Norby |Nays:|Conway, Harkey, Miller, |
| | | |Nielsen, Norby |
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SUMMARY : Requires a petition to establish a charter school that
will serve at least 15% English learners (ELs) to include
specified information related to the instructional program for
these pupils and makes findings and declarations relative to
interventions for schools identified as persistently
lowest-achieving schools (PLAS) for purposes of implementing the
federal Race to the Top (RTTT) program and absence of data about
the success of ELs in charter schools. Specifically, this bill
requires :
1)A petition for the establishment of a charter school that will
serve at least 15% ELs to include the following information:
a) A description of the program that will meet the
academic, language, and cultural needs of ELs at the
school;
b) The means by which administrators and staff qualified to
teach ELs will be hired at the school;
c) The manner in which relevant programs will be
implemented for parents to understand how the charter
school process works, as specified; and,
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d) For petitioners currently operating a charter school, a
description of programs designed for ELs that have been
implemented at these schools.
2)The chartering authority, as part of the renewal process for a
charter school, to consider the degree in which the school has
implemented programs for ELs, as specified in their initial
charter petition.
3)A petition to establish or renew a charter school pursuant to
the restart model of the federal RTTT program to meet the
corresponding charter petition and renewal requirements,
including those related to ELs as specified by this bill.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes a school district, a county office of education or
the State Board of Education (SBE) to approve or deny a
petition for a charter school. Authorizes a charter to be
granted for not more than five years, and to be granted one or
more renewals for five years. Requires the renewals and
material revisions of the charter to be based upon the same
standards as the original charter petition.
2)Defines, for purposes of the RTTT, a low-achieving school as a
school in Program Improvement (PI) under Title I of the
federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), and defines
PLAS as the following:
a) The lowest 5% of the low-achieving schools;
b) The lowest 5% of secondary schools, as measured by the
Academic Performance Index (API), that are eligible for,
but do not receive Title I funds;
c) Any high school with a graduation rate less than 60% in
each of the last three years; and,
d) Excludes, to the extent allowable under federal law,
specified special needs or alternative schools and those
schools that have experienced academic growth of at least
50 points on the API, unless the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI) and the SBE jointly overrule that
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exclusion. Also authorizes the SPI and SBE to jointly
exclude a community day school from this definition.
3)Requires, for purposes of implementing the federal RTTT
program, the governing board of a school district, county
superintendent of schools or the governing body of a charter
school or its equivalent to implement, for any school
identified by the SPI as persistently lowest-achieving, to
implement one of the following four interventions for turning
around PLAS, as described in Appendix C of the Notice of Final
Priorities, Requirements, Definitions, Selection Criteria for
the RTTT program published in Volume 74 of Number 221 of the
Federal Register on November 18, 2009:
a) The turnaround model;
b) The restart model;
c) School closure; or,
d) The transformation model.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, General Fund (GF)/Proposition 98 state reimbursable
mandated costs, likely less than $50,000, to local education
agencies (LEAs) to review charter petitions with additional
information related to EL pupils, as specified. There is a
current GF/Proposition 98 state reimbursable mandate of $2.3
million annually paid to LEAs to review charter school petitions
and renewals, notify charter schools of reasons for revocation,
and administer facility rentals. The cost associated with this
measure will be added to the existing mandate.
According to a May 2006 decision by the Commission on State
Mandates (CSM), charter schools are not eligible to claim
mandate reimbursements. In denying charter schools' mandate
claims, the CSM repeatedly cites the fact that charter schools
are "voluntarily" created.
COMMENTS : A charter school is usually created or organized by a
group of teachers, parents and community leaders, a
community-based organization, or an education management
organization and they bring a petition to an authorizing body
for approval. Charter schools are authorized by school district
boards, county boards of education or the SBE. Specific goals
and operating procedures for the charter school are detailed in
an agreement (or "charter") between the sponsoring board and
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charter organizers. Current law requires the petition to
include a description of the educational program for the pupils
to be enrolled in the charter school.
This bill authorizes a governing board of a school district to
deny a petition for the establishment of a charter school in
which at least 15% of the pupils who will be served are English
learners and the petition does not contain a reasonably
comprehensive description of specified program requirements
related to the academic, language, and cultural needs of ELs.
ELs comprise approximately 25% of the student enrollment in the
State; nevertheless reports have shown that charter schools
enroll fewer ELs compared with noncharter schools. A 2009
EdSource report on charter schools found that charter high
schools enroll 13% fewer students who are either ELs or
redesignated as fluent English proficient (RFEP) students
compared to noncharter schools. Charter middle schools enroll
EL and RFEP students at a 7% lower rate than noncharter schools,
and charter elementary schools enroll 11% fewer English learner
and RFEP students compared with noncharter schools.
Persistently lowest-achieving schools: Earlier this year, the
Legislature passed and the Governor signed into law SB 1 X5
(Steinberg), Chapter 2, Statutes of 2009-10, Fifth Extraordinary
Session, for purposes of meeting part of the selection criteria
of the federal RTTT grant program. Turning around PLAS is one
of the four major components of the RTTT, which requires states
to have legal, statutory or regulatory authority to intervene in
schools, identify PLAS, and show how the state will support LEAs
identified as persistently lowest-achieving in implementing one
of the following four intervention models:
1)Turnaround model: Replace the principal and 50% of the
existing staff; implement strategies to recruit, place and
retain staff with the skills necessary to meet the needs of
students; use data to improve instructional program; provide
high-quality professional development that is aligned with the
school's instructional program; among others.
2)Restart model: Convert a school to a charter school, or close
and reopen a school under a charter school operator, a charter
management organization, or an education management
organization.
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3)School closure: Close a school and enroll the students in
other higher achieving schools in the LEA.
4)Transformation model: Similar to the turnaround model,
replace the principal and develop strategies focusing on
principal and teacher effectiveness, instructional reform,
increasing learning time and creating community-oriented
schools, and providing operational flexibility and support.
This bill requires a petition to establish and renew a charter
school that is established pursuant to the restart model for a
school identified as a PLAS, pursuant to the RTTT program, to
comply with current provisions governing the establishment of
charter schools including programs and core courses to meet the
language, academic and cultural needs of ELs, as outlined in
this bill.
The author states, "In California, charter school enrollment has
increased from 112,065 in 2001 to 238,226 in 2008. Of these,
only 17% are English Learners, compared to 25% of the total
school population. Little to no data are kept to reflect the
success of English Learners in charter schools."
Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Avina / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0004237