BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �





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          GOVERNOR'S VETO
          AB 1919 (Brownley)
          As Amended  August 21, 2012
          2/3 vote
           
           
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          |ASSEMBLY:  |46-23|(May 25, 2012)  |SENATE: |24-13|(August 23,    |
          |           |     |                |        |     |2012)          |
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          |ASSEMBLY:  |52-27|(August 28,     |        |     |               |
          |           |     |2012)           |        |     |               |
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          Original Committee Reference:    ED.  

           SUMMARY  :  Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) 
          to provide a school district with individual pupil test score 
          data of pupils who attend a charter school for which the school 
          district is the chartering authority, as specified.  

           The Senate amendments  delete the requirement that a school 
          district: 

          1)Be provided a secondary Academic Performance Index (API) that 
            includes the API scores of the charter schools for which the 
            school district is the chartering authority.

          2)Have access to view and download the individual pupil records 
            in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System 
            (CALPADS) for pupils who attend a charter school for which the 
            school district is the chartering authority.

           AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY  , this bill required that a school 
          district: 

          3)Be provided a secondary Academic Performance Index (API) that 
            includes the API scores of the charter schools for which the 










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            school district is the chartering authority.

          4)Have access to view and download the individual pupil records 
            in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System 
            (CALPADS) for pupils who attend a charter school for which the 
            school district is the chartering authority.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Senate Appropriations 
          Committee, significant workload increase to CDE to share charter 
          school pupil-level achievement data with the authorizing 
          districts.  

           COMMENTS  :  According to the author, California has established 
          rigorous academic standards for its students and has developed 
          specific measures to determine if these standards are being 
          achieved.  Existing law establishes several measures of student 
          performance, such as the Standardized Testing and Reporting 
          (STAR) Program, and requires all schools, including charter 
          schools, to report results to the CDE.  Some charter schools 
          independently report the information directly to CDE, while 
          other schools report the information through the school district 
          which authorized it.  Currently, a school district that wishes 
          to obtain student-level achievement data for students who attend 
          an independently reporting charter school within its 
          jurisdiction must request the information separately from each 
          of the various schools, costing time and resources that school 
          districts cannot afford.  

          Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Data Request:  In 
          2010, LAUSD requested from the CDE, student level assessment 
          data for students attending charter schools that were authorized 
          by the school district.  In his October 12, 2010, response to 
          this request, Superintendent of Public Instruction O'Connell 
          wrote, "Current state law, California Education Code Section 
          60607 indicates that: 

               Any pupil results or a record of accomplishment shall 
               be private, and may not be released to any person, 
               other than the pupil's parent or guardian and a 
               teacher, counselor or administrator directly involved 
               with the pupil, without the express written consent of 










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               either the parent or guardian of the pupil if the pupil 
               is a minor, or the pupil if the pupil has reached the 
               age of majority or is emancipated. 

          Because of the legal restrictions imposed on the release of 
          student-level assessment data, the CDE is unable to fulfill your 
          current request.  If you received these data in the past they 
          were delivered in error."

          This bill requires that school districts have access to this 
          data for all charter schools for which the district is the 
          chartering authority.  According to LAUSD, increasing student 
          achievement is a key goal for school districts, and an analysis 
          of pupil data is necessary to ensure students' needs are met.  
          Access to individual achievement data is important to assess how 
          students are faring.  With this information, districts can 
          determine if sub-groups such as English-learners, low income 
          students or certain demographic groups are succeeding.  For 
          charter schools that are authorized by a school district, 
          current law only allows the district access to aggregate 
          school-level data.  Given that 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 needs 
          of certain groups of students are being met by the charter 
          school.  Access to this information through the CDE allows 
          school districts to get an accurate, complete picture of student 
          achievement at all of its schools.

           GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE  :

          "This bill would require the State Department of Education to 
          send  individual  pupil level data to school districts that 
          request the information.  The data would cover each and every 
          student attending a charter school the district authorizes.

          "Authorizing districts may already collect this data, so another 
          law is unnecessary.  The locals can handle it."












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           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087 


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