BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 331
AUTHOR: Romero
AMENDED: April 2, 2009
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 22, 2009
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira
SUBJECT : Migrant Education Program
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) and the statewide parent advisory council for the
Migrant Education Program (MEP) to develop, and revise as
necessary; the State Board of Education (SBE) adopted state
master plan for services to migrant children. The bill also
requires the collection of specified data on migrant
students by both state and local agencies, and increases
oversight and requires evaluation of the effectiveness of
local agencies that administer the MEP.
BACKGROUND
The Migrant Education Program (MEP) was created by the
federal government in 1966, to address the educational
needs of children whose family members are employed doing
seasonal agricultural work. Children are eligible to
participate in the MEP if they or their parents or
guardians are migrant workers in the agricultural, dairy,
lumber, or fishing industries, and their family has moved
for the purpose of finding temporary or seasonal employment
during the past three years. Migrant students are eligible
for program services from age 3 until they (1) attain a
high school diploma or its equivalent or (2) turn 21.
Though funded almost entirely by federal funds California's
MEP is governed by both federal and state laws. While the
state law provides no funding, it does set out the
administrative framework for delivering local MEP services
through 23 Migrant Education Regional Offices serving 47 of
58 counties. CDE reports there are currently over 300,000
migrant students attending during the regular school year
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and 178,000 attending summer/intersession classes.
Current law requires that a Statewide Parent Advisory
Council (SPAC) participate in the planning, operation, and
evaluation of the state Migrant Education Program. Council
membership is comprised of individuals who are
knowledgeable of the needs of migrant children and are
nominated and elected by the parents of migrant children
enrolled in the operating agencies. At least two-thirds of
the members of the SPAC must be parents of migrant
children. The SPAC is required to meet a minimum of six
times a calendar year to provide input on issues relating
to the operation of the program.
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Expands existing requirements of the State Master Plan
for services to migrant children. Specifically it:
a) Requires the Superintendent of
Public Instruction (SPI) and the statewide parent
advisory council for the Migrant Education
Program (MEP) to develop and revise as necessary
the State Board of Education adopted State Master
Plan (Plan) for services to migrant children.
b) Requires that the Plan include:
i) An evaluation and
monitoring component for oversight and
evaluation of operating agencies, districts,
and schools on an annual basis by the
California Department of Education (CDE).
ii) Collection of individual and
aggregate data for migrant students, as
specified.
iii) Collection of individual and
aggregate enrollment data regarding the
number of migrant students enrolled in
alternative education programs, as
specified.
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2) Establishes new responsibilities for the SPI with
regard to the MEP. Specifically it:
a) Requires the SPI to develop a
monitoring instrument and procedure for onsite
monitoring of the entities receiving funds for
the provision of migrant education services, and
requires that monitoring for compliance with the
State Master Plan and federal law occur at least
every three years.
b) Requires the SPI to develop a
process and work with local entities providing
MEP services to ensure that migrant youth
enrolled in juvenile hall or other alternative
education placements are identified and provided
with migrant services and programs.
3) Requires that Migrant Education Programs collect
individual and aggregate data, as specified.
4) Requires an application for the establishment of a
service region for the MEP to include evaluations of
annual pupil progress and overall program
effectiveness as well as quality control reports.
5) Requires the refunding application of a local agency
providing MEP services to include an evaluation of the
overall program effectiveness for the prior year that
contains various information, as specified.
6) Requires, upon request and when practicable, copies of
documents, as specified, in a language understandable
to parent and requires that each regional and state
migrant education plan be provided to parents in that
language prior to its consideration for funding
approval.
7) Makes a number of technical changes.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Intent of the author . According to the author, for
more than 30 years the California Department of
Education (CDE) has worked under the same migrant
education plan without any Comprehensive Needs
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Assessment (CNA) or evaluation of its effectiveness.
Although a CNA was completed in 2007, the author
expresses concern that parental participation in this
process was very low and participation of parents
continues to be inadequate. Additionally, millions of
federal dollars are allocated yearly with little data
collected on whether the money is being spent in
effective ways that increase academic achievement. It
is the author's concern that there is a need to
increase parental involvement and increase the
accountability of the program.
2) Author's amendment . Staff has been informed that it
is the author's intent to amend the bill to require
that interpretation services be provided at each
parent advisory council meeting by an individual
trained in interpretation and fully fluent in English
and the second language. Staff recommends the bill be
amended to reflect the author's intent.
3) Comprehensive Needs Assessment (CNA) . In response to
federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements as
well as the findings of a federal review team audit of
the CDE program in 2005, the department recently
completed an initial Comprehensive Needs Assessment
(2007) with respect to the state's Migrant Education
Program. The report identified several findings,
including that:
a) Forty seven percent of migrant students
attending public schools were in Program
Improvement (PI) schools.
b) The dropout rate for migrant students is
believed to be well over
50 percent, although reliable data on this
measure are unavailable.
c) The California Standards Tests show that
only 12 percent of migrant students meet state
standards in English-language arts compared with
33 percent for non-migrant students. Only 18
percent meet mathematics state standards compared
with 32 percent for non-migrant students.
d) Approximately 23 percent of migrant students
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were significantly overage in kindergarten.
e) By 11th grade, 22 percent of migrant high
school students had not completed any a-g
qualifying English courses.
The lack of "hard" data to inform the Comprehensive
Needs Assessment (CAN) was noted as one of the most
important findings of the entire process and the
Management Team recommended that a comprehensive study
be conducted on the data needs of the Migrant
Education Program (MEP) and that a plan be devised to
identify the specific responsibilities of the CDE,
regional offices, and school districts to collect,
store, and report data on migrant students and their
families.
4) Consistent with Legislative Analyst Office (LAO)
report . In 2006, the Legislative Analyst produced the
report, "Improving Services for Migrant Students." The
LAO reported that the existing model for delivering
the MEP has led to limited program accountability,
poor coordination with other student services, and
little statewide collaboration. Among its
recommendations, the LAO called for an expansion of
the state's migrant education data system to include
more data elements and that district and school
personnel be provided access to the enhanced system.
The LAO cited the importance of collecting consistent
information on these students and sharing it across
the state in order to ease their transitions and to
create more coordinated statewide MEP services. The
LAO also identified the incorporation of additional
data fields regarding migrant students into the CSIS
system as one option for achieving this goal.
According to the CDE, most of the individual and
aggregate data identified for collection in the bill
is, or soon will be, available through the California
Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS).
5) MEP funding . According to the CDE, the federal
California Migrant Education Program Allocation for
2008-09 was approximately $129 million. About 86
percent ($110 million) is allocated to the regional
offices and one percent ($1.29 million) is directed to
the CDE for state administration costs. The
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remaining funds are set aside for a variety of related
statewide programs.
SUPPORT
Youth Law Center
OPPOSITION
None received.