BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1705
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1705 (Silva)
As Amended April 26, 2012
Majority vote
EDUCATION 9-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Brownley, Norby, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Buchanan, Butler, Carter, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Eng, Halderman, Wagner, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| |Williams | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| | | |Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, |
| | | |Solorio, Wagner |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Delays implementation of the high school exit exam
(HSEE) alternatives for eligible pupils with disabilities until
July 1, 2015. Specifically, this bill :
1)Deletes the date of October 1, 2010, as the date by when the
State Board of Education (SBE) is required to adopt
regulations for implementing alternative means for eligible
pupils with disabilities to demonstrate that they have
achieved the same level of academic achievement in the content
standards required for passage of the HSEE.
2)Delays from January 1, 2011, to July 1, 2015, the date by when
eligible pupils with disabilities shall be allowed to
participate in HSEE alternatives.
3)Revises the definition of "eligible pupil with a disability"
to mean a pupil who meets specified criteria and has an
expected graduation date on or after July 1, 2015, instead of
January 1, 2011, and has satisfied all other state and local
graduation requirements by July 1, 2015, instead of January 1,
2011.
4)Authorizes the SBE to extend the implementation date by one
additional year after July 1, 2015, through the regulatory
process.
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EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires pupils, beginning with the Class of 2004, to
successfully pass the HSEE as a condition of receiving a
diploma of graduation. As a result of action taken by SBE,
this requirement took effect beginning with the Class of 2006.
(Education Code (EC) Section 60851)
2)Requires by October 1, 2010, the SBE, taking into
consideration specified findings and recommendations, to adopt
regulations for alternative means by which eligible pupils
with disabilities, as defined, may demonstrate that they have
achieved the same level of academic achievement in the content
standards required for passage of the HSSE. (EC Section
60852.1)
3)Defines an eligible pupil with a disability as a pupil who
has, among other things, an anticipated graduation date and is
scheduled to receive a high school diploma on or after January
1, 2011, and the school district or state special school
certifies that the pupil has satisfied or will satisfy all
other state and local requirements for the receipt of a high
school diploma on or after January 1, 2011. (EC Section
60852.2)
4)Authorizes an eligible pupil with a disability, commencing
January 1, 2011, to participate in the alternative means of
demonstrating the level of academic achievement in the content
standards required for passage of the HSEE in the manner
prescribed by regulations adopted by the SBE. (EC Section
60852.2)
5)Exempts, commencing with the 2009-10 school year, eligible
pupils with disabilities from the requirement to satisfy the
HSEE as a condition of high school graduation; and, specifies
that this exemption shall last until the SBE makes a
determination that the alternative means are not feasible or
until the alternative means are implemented. (EC Section
60852.3)
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, no additional General Fund/Proposition 98 costs to
school districts to comply with this measure.
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COMMENTS : All California pupils are required to pass a high
school exit exam, in addition to meeting all other state and
local requirements, in order to receive a high school diploma.
A temporary exemption for eligible pupils with disabilities was
enacted in 2009 and is currently in place until the SBE makes a
determination that alternative means are not feasible or until
alternative means are implemented.
AB 2040 (Nu�ez and Silva), Chapter 666, Statutes of 2008,
required the convening of a panel to make recommendations
regarding alternative means to satisfy the HSEE graduation
requirement for eligible pupils with disabilities. Current law
specifies that eligible pupils with disabilities shall be
allowed to participate in alternative means commencing January
1, 2011, and allows the SBE, by regulation, to extend this date
by up to two years, if it determines an extension is necessary
for appropriate implementation. The SBE determined that
alternative means were feasible and adopted regulations
establishing July 1, 2012, as the implementation date for the
alternative means. However the California Department of
Education (CDE) does not feel this implementation date is
feasible given that very few districts had an opportunity to
participate in the alternative means pilot and CDE feels not
enough information was produced to truly evaluate the
alternative means option, and to get a more comprehensive pilot
underway would be costly. This bill extends the implementation
date of the alternative means to July 1, 2015.
New standards and future assessments: Since the passage of AB
2040 in 2008, other developments dealing with standards and
assessments have emerged. In 2010, California adopted the
common core state standards, replacing the set of standards in
English language arts and mathematics that the HSEE currently
assesses, hence any alternative means that are developed and
implemented now could soon be irrelevant as they would not be
based on the new standards. Furthermore, in anticipation of
the upcoming reauthorization of the state's assessment system,
AB 250 (Brownley), Chapter 608, Statutes of 2011, requires the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to develop
recommendations based on various elements, including a plan to
transition to a new statewide pupil assessment system. The plan
and the recommendations may address and may include
recommendations about the HSEE. There is a level of uncertainty
about what California's future assessment system will look like
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and thus it may be prudent to provide more time to appropriately
coordinate and align all assessment efforts particularly in
consideration of the new common core state standards.
The author notes that this bill is necessary because, "While the
state has determined that it is feasible to create alternative
means for eligible students to satisfy the CAHSEE requirement,
it would be unlikely to complete its studies and fully implement
it by the dates set forth in AB 2040 and it would be inefficient
to do so while also implementing a different set of standards in
the coming years that have been recently adopted."
Pupils with disabilities exempted from HSEE: AB 2 X4 (Evans),
Chapter 2, Statutes of 2009, Fourth Extraordinary Session,
exempts eligible pupils with disabilities from the HSEE
requirement until the SBE makes a determination that alternative
means are not feasible or until the alternative means are
implemented. Pupils with disabilities are still required, in
grade 10, to take the HSEE to meet state and federal
requirements. The SBE adopted regulations establishing July 1,
2012, as the implementation date for the alternative means which
means that the HSEE exemption for pupils with disabilities
expires on June 30, 2012. While the SBE has the authority to
extend that date to January 1, 2013, this still leaves some
pupils with disabilities with expected graduation dates after
January 1, 2013, without an option for an exemption and without
the ability to demonstrate competency through alternative means.
Because the statute ties the HSEE exemption to the operative
date of the alternative means, delaying implementation of the
alternative means also has the effect of extending the exemption
from meeting the HSEE requirement for eligible pupils with
disabilities to July 1, 2015. Pupils eligible for this
exemption are still required to meet all other state and local
graduation requirements to obtain a high school diploma. The
individualized education program (IEP) of the eligible pupil has
to indicate that the pupil is scheduled to receive a high school
diploma and that the pupil has satisfied or will satisfy all
other graduation requirements.
Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Avi�a / ED. / (916) 319-2087
AB 1705
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