BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 2491 (Blumenfield) - Gifted and Talented Education
Amended: August 6, 2012 Policy Vote: Education 6-2
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 6, 2012
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2491 requires the State Board of Education
(SBE), upon the next revision of specified criteria, to adopt a
standard for pupil identification to ensure the identification
procedures of an applicant school district provide economically
disadvantaged pupils and pupils of varying cultural backgrounds
with full participation in Gifted and Talented Education (GATE)
programs.
Fiscal Impact: Minor workload increase for the SBE to adopt a
new standard.
Background: Existing law establishes the GATE program to support
unique opportunities for pupils who are identified as gifted and
talented and expresses the intent of the Legislature that
special efforts be made to ensure that pupils from economically
disadvantaged and varying cultural backgrounds be provided with
full participation in program. (Education Code � 52201)
Existing law requires the SBE to maintain regulations governing
the GATE program and requires the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI) to apportion funds to school districts that
offer GATE programs approved by the SBE. (EC � 52203, � 52205)
School districts that choose to offer a GATE program must submit
for approval by the SBE, an application in the "form and manner"
prescribed by the SPI. Existing law requires applications to be
approved or denied based on the quality of the plan in
accordance with criteria adopted by the SBE and requires the SBE
to review the criteria at least once every four years. The SBE
revised the current criteria, Recommended Standards for Programs
for Gifted and Talented Students, in 2005. Generally speaking,
AB 2491 (Blumenfield)
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applications are approved for one, two, or three years. The SBE
is authorized to approve applications for a period of five years
if the program meets exemplary standards. (EC � 52212)
Existing law specifies that for the 2008-09 fiscal year through
the 2014-15 fiscal year, local educational agencies that receive
funds for specified categorical programs may use the funding
received during that time for any educational purpose to the
extent permitted by federal law. Funding for GATE programs is
included in this categorical flexibility. (EC � 42605)
Proposed Law: AB 2491 requires the SBE, upon its next revision
of the evaluation criteria for school districts' GATE program
applications, to adopt a standard for pupil identification to
ensure the identification procedures of an applicant school
district provide economically disadvantaged pupils and pupils of
varying cultural backgrounds with full participation in GATE
programs.
Staff Comments: GATE is an optional program for school districts
to offer, and they must apply to the SBE for categorical funding
to operate a district-specific GATE program. As noted in the
Background, existing law requires a district applying for GATE
funds to submit an application in "the form and manner"
prescribed by the SPI. A school district submits that
application to the SBE to evaluate in accordance with its
adopted criteria.
The SPI currently publishes a Gifted and Talented Program
Resource Guide, which gives extensive guidance to schools
districts on GATE applications and programs. The Guide includes
numerous references to an applicant district's responsibility to
"seek and identify gifted and talented pupils from diverse
linguistic, economic, and cultural backgrounds" including
requiring a description of methods for fulfilling that
responsibility in the district's "Program Design" description
(which is a required component of the application). Currently,
school districts are required by the SPI to address
identification of diverse and economically disadvantaged pupils
in their GATE applications.
Existing law requires applications to be approved or denied
based on the quality of the plan in accordance with criteria
adopted by the SBE and requires the SBE to review the criteria
AB 2491 (Blumenfield)
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at least once every four years. One current criterion is that
"An assessment / identification process is in place to ensure
that all potentially gifted students are appropriately assessed
for identification as gifted students." Ostensibly, that would
include economically disadvantaged and culturally diverse
students, but there is no specific evaluation criterion that
specifies a standard for pupil identification.
This bill requires the SBE to formally adopt a standard for
pupil identification to ensure the identification procedures of
an applicant school district provide economically disadvantaged
pupils and pupils of varying cultural backgrounds with full
participation in the GATE program. It specifies that this occur
upon the SBE's next criteria revision, already required in
existing law. This requirement is not expected to drive any
significant new state costs.
The SBE is already required to revise its existing criteria
every four years, and can easily incorporate an evaluation
standard specific to an issue that is already being addressed in
GATE applications, as required by the SPI. To the extent that
the SBE adopts a standard that is higher than school districts
would meet currently, there may be local costs to meet that
standard. GATE is, however, an optional program offering for
which school districts receive additional funding.