BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 124 (Fuentes)
Hearing Date: 08/25/2011 Amended: 07/14/2011
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Education 8-1
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 124 requires the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI), in consultation with the state board of
education (SBE), to update, revise, and align the English
language development (ELD) standards to the Common Core English
Language Arts standards. This bill requires the SPI to convene a
group of experts to assist in updating, revising, and aligning
the English language development standards, as specified. The
SPI is required to present the standards to the SBE on or before
August 31, 2012, and the SBE is required to adopt, reject, or
revise the standards by September 30, 2012. The bill would
require the SPI and SBE to present to the Governor and
Legislature a schedule and implementation plan for integrating
the standards adopted pursuant to this bill into the state
public education system. The bill would require the CDE to use
certain federal funds to implement these provisions of the bill.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
ELD standards $150 $50
Federal*
*Federal Title I carryover funds
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
In 2010, the SBE adopted the Common Core standards in English
language arts and mathematics. This bill establishes a process
to revise, adopt and align the existing ELD standards to the
Common Core standards, in order to ensure English language
learners receive instruction that prepares them to meet the
Common Core standards. This bill requires the SPI, in
AB 124 (Fuentes)
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consultation with the SBE, to update, revise, and align the ELD
standards adopted pursuant to existing law to the Common Core
academic standards for English language arts. Specifically, this
bill would require the SPI to convene a group of experts in
English language instruction, curriculum, and assessment to
assist the SPI in updating, revising, and aligning the ELD
standards.
Convening a group of experts to complete specified work in less
than a year, will likely require frequent meetings and
additional CDE staff work to coordinate meetings and to staff
the group. This bill specifically subjects the process to the
Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, and its requisite administrative
duties. The CDE estimates that the cost of implementing this
process will be approximately $200,000 to implement this bill.
The bill requires that federal Title 1 carryover funds be used
to implement these provisions, and the CDE has indicated that it
will use a portion of the $3,500,000 of Title 1 carryover
funding that the department was allocated in the Budget Act to
begin implementing Common Core standards.
This bill would also require the SPI to present the updated,
revised, and aligned ELD standards to the SBE on or before
August 31, 2012, and the SBE to adopt, reject, or revise the
standards presented by the SPI on or before September 30, 2012.
There may be additional costs if the SBE votes to reject or
extensively revise the proposed ELD standards. However, since
the bill requires the SPI to work in consultation with the SBE
and others developing the standards, it is likely that consensus
would be reached before a formal presentation and vote.