BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
1357 (Steinberg)
Hearing Date: 05/27/2010 Amended: 04/05/2010
Consultant: Dan Troy Policy Vote: ED 8-0
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 1357 would require the Department of
Education to prepare the California Longitudinal Pupil
Achievement Data System (CALPADS) for the inclusion of data on
pupil attendance, contingent upon the receipt of federal funding
for this purpose. The bill specifies the system modifications
will support districts in their efforts to identify pupils at
risk of dropping out and would identify "chronic absence" as a
circumstance in which a pupil is absent on 10 percent of the
days within a school year. The bill would require the addition
of information on chronic absences to a required annual report
on dropouts the Superintendent of Public Instruction will
provide commencing in 2011.
Further, the bill states the intent of the Legislature to
support the development of local early warning systems to
identify and support pupils at risk of academic or of dropping
out of school. These systems would utilize attendance, course
grade and completion information, pupil achievement data, and
other indicators for use in reports to principals, teachers, and
parents to help identify and support at-risk pupils. The bill
expresses intent that schools defined as persistently low
achieving utilize these systems.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund
CALPADS $300
Federal
Early warning reports Unknown, potentially
significant General
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
CALPADS is a major component of the state's K-12 education data
system and includes data on assessment, enrollment, program
eligibility, teacher assignment information, and other subjects
designed to enable the state to meet federal and other reporting
needs. When fully operational, CALPADS will be able to report a
variety of information at the state, district, and pupil level.
The system does not currently collect attendance data. Current
law requires, commencing in 2011, the Superintendent of Public
Instruction to provide an annual report on dropouts in
California using data reported by CALPADS.
By requiring information on chronic absences, the author hopes
to draw attention and support to students at risk of dropping
out of school.
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SB 1357 (Steinberg)
The Department of Education (SDE) estimates that the state costs
of adjusting CALPADS to collect attendance would be
approximately $300,000. Adding this component to CALPADS would
allow the development of the early warning system described in
the bill. SDE has applied for a federal grant (Statewide
Longitudinal Data Systems Grant Program) that would include
funds for this purpose. The state has requested a total grant
of $19.9 million, and a decision is anticipated within the next
month. Staff notes that the bill also allows local education
agencies that choose to input attendance data in to CALPADS to
request quarterly reports from the Department of Education
related to the early warning system. It is unclear at this time
if the department's workload related to the local reports could
be funded by the federal grant. Even if that is the case, such
funding would be short-term while the obligation would be
ongoing. Costs for this activity are speculative as it is
unclear exactly what information local agencies would request or
how many districts would request them. With over 1,000 local
education agencies in the state, it is reasonable to assume
these costs are significant, perhaps in the hundreds of
thousands, annually.
Staff notes that the bill does not require districts to include
attendance data into CALPADS. Presumably, it is hoped that
districts would be willing to adjust their data collections
systems to input attendance data into CALPADS to take advantage
of the reporting options that would become available.