BILL NUMBER: AB 1831 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 13, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Solorio
FEBRUARY 11, 2010
An act to amend Section 8482.3 of , and to add Section
8483.56 to, the Education Code, relating to after school
programs , and making an appropriation therefor .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1831, as amended, Solorio. After school programs.
The After School Education and Safety Program Act of 2002, enacted
by initiative statute, establishes the After School Education and
Safety Program to serve pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 9,
inclusive, at participating public elementary, middle, junior high,
and charter schools. The act provides a formula for determining an
amount to be continuously appropriated from the General Fund to the
State Department of Education to provide grants to schools
participating in the program. The existing act authorizes the
Legislature to amend certain of its provisions to further its
purposes by majority vote of each house.
This bill would require the department to make available 24%, or
$132,000,000 each year, whichever is greater, for after school
programs for English learners that meet specified criteria, including
that the program provide instruction and practice in academic
lessons that increase knowledge and usage of the English language,
establish programs and learning strategies that support English
learners, and provide the staff with professional development
designed to improve instruction to English learners. Because this
bill would make money that is continuously appropriated specifically
available for these new purposes, the bill would make an
appropriation.
The bill would require the Superintendent to adopt emergency
regulations to implement this provision within 90 days of its
effective date.
This bill would require a program plan to describe the manner in
which the program will support English language development and
acquisition for English learners if English learners comprise 25% or
more of the pupils enrolled in a program. The plan would be required
to include strategies that increase knowledge and usage of the
English language and methods for training and professional
development of staff that are designed to support English language
development and acquisition for English learners.
This bill would set forth a legislative finding and declaration
that the proposed amendments further the purposes of the existing
act.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes no
. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
(1) California public elementary and secondary schools enroll 1.5
million English learners who make up 24 percent of the total
enrollment in the state's public elementary and secondary schools.
(2) In some California school districts, English learners comprise
an even greater share of all pupils. In the Los Angeles Unified
School District, more than 220,000 pupils are English learners,
comprising 32 percent of all pupils. In the Santa Ana Unified School
District, more than 32,000 pupils are English learners, comprising 56
percent of all pupils.
(3) In 2007, there were 404,847 public school pupils in California
served by state and federally funded after school programs.
(4) Proposition 49 resulted in a significant increase in funding
for after school programs. Funding for after school programs
increased from fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) in 1999 to five
hundred fifty million dollars ($550,000,000) in 2007 as a result of
Proposition 49.
(5) English learners lag behind English speakers in academic
achievement in language arts, mathematics, standardized tests, high
school graduation rates, and college enrollment.
(6) Researchers attribute this achievement gap, in part, to not
enough instructional time to allow English learners to acquire the
language and to learn academic material.
(7) Research on English learner performance in after school
programs shows that these programs significantly increase language
acquisition rates for English learners and decrease the time it takes
these pupils to redesignate into mainstream English classrooms.
(8) California's competitiveness depends on an educated and
productively engaged populace.
(9) It is important that English learners have an equitable
opportunity to participate in after school programs funded by
Proposition 49 because providing them with quality after school
programs will increase their ability to learn English more promptly,
increase their success in school, enhance their career opportunities,
and improve California's competitiveness in the world.
(b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to amend the
After School Education and Safety Program Act to additionally ensure
that English learners are afforded equal access to after school
programs by reserving 24 percent of the overall funding for after
school programs that serve these pupils.
SEC. 2. Section 8482.3 of the Education Code is amended to read:
8482.3. (a) The After School Education and Safety Program shall
be established to serve pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 9,
inclusive, at participating public elementary, middle, junior high,
and charter schools.
(b) A program may operate a before school component of a program,
an after school component, or both the before and after school
components of a program, on one or multiple schoolsites. If a program
operates at multiple schoolsites, only one application shall be
required for its establishment.
(c) Each component of a program established pursuant to this
article shall consist of the following two elements:
(1) An educational and literacy element in which tutoring or
homework assistance is provided in one or more of the following
areas: language arts, mathematics, history and social science,
computer training, or science.
(2) An educational enrichment element, that may include, but need
not be limited to, fine arts, career technical education, recreation,
physical fitness, and prevention activities.
(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, the
majority of the time spent by a pupil who is in kindergarten or any
of grades 1 to 9, inclusive, and who is participating in a career
technical education element of a program established pursuant to this
article shall be at a site that complies with Section 8484.6.
(d) In addition to the elements required pursuant to subdivision
(c), a program established to serve English learners shall meet the
following criteria:
(1) Provide instruction and practice in academic lessons that
increase knowledge and usage of the English language. This shall
include word recognition, spelling, reading, rules of sentence
structure, writing, and speaking.
(2) Establish programs and learning strategies that support
English learners including, but not limited to, translations of and
assistance on homework assignments, instruction on word meanings, and
other assistance that enables English learners to accelerate their
knowledge of the English language.
(3) Provide the staff with access to academic assessment data on
English learners attending the after school program.
(4) Provide the staff serving English learners with professional
development that is designed to improve instruction to English
learners.
(d) When an applicant submits an application to establish a
program pursuant to this article and when a grantee reviews its after
school program plan pursuant to subdivision (h), the applicant or
grantee shall include in the program plan a description of the manner
in which the program will support English language development and
acquisition for English learners if English learners will or do
comprise 25 percent or more of the pupils enrolled in a program. The
plan shall include, but not be limited to, both of the following:
(1) Strategies that increase knowledge and usage of the English
language through the four domains of language acquisition: listening,
speaking, reading, and writing.
(2) Methods for training and professional development of staff
that are designed to support English language development and
acquisition for English learners.
(e) Applicants shall agree that snacks made available through a
program shall conform to the nutrition standards in Article 2.5
(commencing with Section 49430) of Chapter 9 of Part 27 of Division 4
of Title 2.
(f) Applicants for programs established pursuant to this article
may include any of the following:
(1) A local educational agency, including, but not limited to, a
charter school, the California School for the Deaf (northern
California), the California School for the Deaf (southern
California), and the California School for the Blind.
(2) A city, county, or nonprofit organization in partnership with,
and with the approval of, a local educational agency or agencies.
(g) Applicants for grants pursuant to this article shall ensure
that each of the following requirements is fulfilled, if applicable:
(1) The application documents the commitments of each partner to
operate a program on that site or sites.
(2) The application has been approved by the school district, or
the charter school governing board, and the principal of each
participating school for each schoolsite or other site.
(3) Each partner in the application agrees to share responsibility
for the quality of the program.
(4) The application designates the public agency or local
educational agency partner to act as the fiscal agent. For purposes
of this section, "public agency" means only a county board of
supervisors or if the city is incorporated or has a charter, a city
council.
(5) Applicants agree to follow all fiscal reporting and auditing
standards required by the department.
(6) Applicants agree to incorporate into the program both of the
elements required pursuant to subdivision (c).
(7) Applicants agree to provide information to the department for
the purpose of program evaluation pursuant to Section 8483.55.
(8) Applicants shall certify that program evaluations will be
based upon Section 8484 and upon any requirements recommended by the
Advisory Committee on Before and After School Programs and adopted by
the state board, in compliance with subdivision (g) of Section
8482.4.
(9) The application states the targeted number of pupils to be
served by the program.
(10) Applicants agree to provide the following information on
participating pupils to the department:
(A) Schoolday attendance rates.
(B) Pupil test scores from the Standardized Testing and Reporting
Program established under Section 60640, reflecting achievement in
the areas addressed by required program elements, if assessments have
been established in that area.
(C) Program attendance.
(h) (1) Grantees shall review their after school program plans
every three years , including, but not limited to, all of
the following:
(A) Program goals. A grantee may specify any new program goals
that will apply to the following three years during the grant renewal
process.
(B) Program content, including the elements identified in
subdivision (c).
(C) Outcome measures selected from those identified in subdivision
(a) of Section 8484 that the grantee will use for the next three
years.
(D) Any other information requested by the department.
(E) If the program goals or outcome measures change as a result of
this review, the grantee shall notify the department in a manner
prescribed by the department.
(F) The grantee shall maintain documentation of the after school
program plan for a minimum of five years.
(2) The department shall monitor this review as part of its onsite
monitoring process.
SEC. 3. Section 8483.56 is added to the
Education Code, to read:
8483.56. (a) From the funds appropriated pursuant to subdivision
(b) of Section 8483.5, the department shall make available 24
percent, or one hundred thirty-two million dollars ($132,000,000)
each year, whichever is greater, for after school programs for
English learners that meet the criteria established in this article.
(b) A program of after school programs for English learners is
authorized to commence operations on January 1, 2011, but shall be
fully operational no later than August 1, 2011.
(c) The Superintendent shall adopt regulations to implement the
provisions of this article within 90 days of its effective date. The
regulations shall be adopted as emergency regulations in accordance
with Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of
Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, and for purposes of
that chapter, the adoption of the regulations shall be considered by
the Office of Administrative Law to be necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health and safety, and general
welfare.
SEC. 4. SEC. 3. The Legislature
finds and declares that this act furthers the purposes of the After
School Education and Safety Program Act of 2002.