BILL ANALYSIS �
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1919|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1919
Author: Brownley (D), et al.
Amended: 8/21/12 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 8-1, 6/20/12
AYES: Lowenthal, Alquist, Hancock, Huff, Liu, Price,
Simitian, Vargas
NOES: Blakeslee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner, Vacancy
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-2, 8/16/12
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Dutton
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 46-23, 5/25/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Charter schools: achievement data
SOURCE : Los Angeles Unified School District
DIGEST : This bill requires the Department of Education
(CDE) to send individual pupil achievement data (STAR,
CAHSEE, CELDT) to school districts for pupils attending a
charter school they authorize.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/21/12 deletes language that
required individual pupil achievement data through CALPADS
and a secondary Academic Performance Index (API) for pupils
who attend a charter school for which the school district
CONTINUED
AB 1919
Page
2
is the chartering authority, as specified.
ANALYSIS : Existing law specifies that a school district
may provide statistical data to a public agency or entity,
private nonprofit college, university, or educational
research and development organization, as long as no pupil
may be identified from the data.
Existing law requires every pupil to have an individual
record of accomplishment by the end of grade 12 that
includes the results of achievement tests administered as
part of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR)
Program, the results of end-of-course exams, and any
vocational education certification exams a pupil may have
taken. Existing law specifies that a pupil's record of
accomplishment is private and may not be released to any
person other than the pupil's parent or guardian, or a
teacher, counselor, or administrator directly involved with
the pupil, without the express written consent of either
the parent or guardian if the pupil is a minor, or the
pupil if the pupil has reached the age of majority or is
emancipated.
Existing law specifies that individual test results from
the STAR program may only be released with the permission
of either the pupil's parent or guardian, or the pupil if
the pupil has reached the age of majority or is
emancipated.
Existing federal law, FERPA generally prohibits the
improper disclosure of personally identifiable information
derived from education records. FERPA applies to all
educational agencies and institutions that receive funding
under any program administered by the U.S. Department of
Education. Under FERPA, schools are required to provide
certain privacy protections for the educational records
they maintain.
Existing law requires a charter school to meet at least one
of the following performance standards in order to be
renewed: (1) attainment of the school's API growth target
in two of the last three years or in the aggregate last
three years; (2) an API decile ranking of four or better in
the prior year or in two of the last three years; (3) a
CONTINUED
AB 1919
Page
3
Similar Schools API ranking of four or better in two of the
last three years; (4) academic performance that is at least
equal to the academic performance of the public schools
that the charter school pupils would otherwise been
required to attend; or (5) qualification for participation
in the Alternative School Accountability Model (ASAM).
This bill requires the Department of Education to send
STAR, CAHSEE, CELDT to school districts for pupils
attending a charter school they authorize.
Comments
Although charter schools are exempt from most laws
governing school districts and schools, they are required
to participate in the STAR program and report the results
of tests in that program to the CDE. Some charter schools
report the information through the school district that
authorized the school, while others report the information
directly to CDE. When a charter school reports the data
directly to CDE, the information is not available to the
school district. A school district that wishes to obtain
student-level achievement data for students who attend a
direct-reporting charter school must make individual
requests from each school, costing time and resources that
the school district cannot afford. According to the
author's office, the purpose of this bill is to provide
school districts with more information about the
performance of all students within their jurisdiction,
including those who attend charter schools.
Record privacy . Although current law allows a school
district access to aggregate school-level data, existing
law deems a pupil's individual assessment data, including
STAR results to be private and precludes the release of
those data to anyone other than specified individuals. In
2010, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)
requested student-level assessment data for pupils
attending charter schools that it authorized. In October
2012, the Superintendent of Public Instruction denied the
request stating "Because of the legal restrictions imposed
on the release of student-level assessment data, CDE is
unable to fulfill your current request."
CONTINUED
AB 1919
Page
4
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/21/12)
Los Angeles Unified School District (source)
California Charter Schools Association
California School Boards Association
California State PTA
Los Angeles County Office of Education
School for Integrated Academics & Technologies
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the LAUSD, sponsor of
this bill, "Access to individual student demographic and
achievement data is important to assess how our students
are faring." The LAUSD states that "Given that school
districts are responsible for renewing school charter
agreements, access to pupil data for a district's charters
is necessary to properly evaluate the performance of
students at the charter school. Without this information,
it is difficult for districts to know if the charter is
meeting the needs of certain groups of students." The
sponsor maintains that this bill will enable districts to
maintain better oversight of the charter schools they
authorize.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 46-23, 5/25/12
AYES: Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Beall, Block, Blumenfield,
Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles
Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Dickinson,
Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Gatto,
Gordon, Hayashi, Roger Hern�ndez, Hill, Huber, Huffman,
Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Pan,
V. Manuel P�rez, Portantino, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson,
Torres, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NOES: Achadjian, Conway, Cook, Donnelly, Beth Gaines,
Garrick, Gorell, Hagman, Halderman, Harkey, Jeffries,
Jones, Logue, Mansoor, Miller, Morrell, Nestande,
Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Smyth, Valadao, Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Atkins, Bill Berryhill, Davis, Fletcher,
Grove, Hall, Hueso, Knight, Ma, Perea, Silva
CONTINUED
AB 1919
Page
5
PQ:dn 8/21/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED