BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 518
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 518 (Simitian)
As Amended April 12, 2012
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE : Vote not relevant
NATURAL RESOURCES APPROPRIATIONS
(vote not relevant) (vote not relevant)
SUMMARY : Establishes a committee to advise and make
recommendations to the Governor, Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI), State Board of Education (SBE), and the
Legislature on issues related to the California Longitudinal
Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS). Specifically, this
bill :
1)Requires the SPI to establish the California Longitudinal
Pupil Achievement Data System Advisory Committee (Committee)
to advise and provide recommendations on:
a) The ability of CALPADS to serve local, state, and
federal pupil data needs and compliance;
b) The steps necessary to expand CALPADS to create a
comprehensive data system that tracks progress from
preschool through postsecondary education and employment;
c) CALPADS' objectives, usefulness, long-term implications,
and compatibility with increasingly applicable federal
requirements;
d) If and how CALPADS has been useful to pupils and their
families, including, but not limited to, providing
increased eligibility for, and access to, pupil services
such as free and reduced-price lunches and pupil record
transfers; and,
e) If and how CALPADS does or will save local educational
agencies and the state time and money and result in higher
quality pupil data.
1)Requires the Committee members to:
a) Be appointed as follows:
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i) The SPI, or designee, as an ex officio member and
co-chair;
ii) The president of the SBE, or designee, as an ex
officio member and co-chair;
iii) Seven members appointed by the SPI, where these
members are required to include, but are not limited to,
a California Department of Education (CDE) employee, a
certificated teacher, a school district or county office
of education administrator, and a researcher with
experience using state, county, district and pupil data;
iv) Six members appointed by the SBE, where these
members are required to include, but are not limited to,
a researcher with experience using state, county,
district and pupil data, and a representative from the
California Technology Agency;
v) Four members appointed by the Speaker of the
Assembly, where these members are, to the greatest extent
possible, required to include, but are not limited to, a
parent and a certificated teacher; and,
vi) Four members appointed by the Senate Rules
Committee, where these members are, to the greatest
extent possible, required to include, but are not limited
to, a parent, a certificated teacher, a school district
or county office of education administrator, and a
researcher with experience using state, county, district
and pupil data.
b) Serve without compensation and without reimbursement for
travel and related costs; and,
c) Include representatives of specified stakeholder groups.
2)Requires the Committee to report its recommendations on or
before January 1, 2014.
EXISTING LAW authorizes CALPADS and requires the CDE to contract
for the development of a system that will provide for the
retention and analysis of longitudinal K-12 pupil achievement,
provide state and local educational agencies with the data
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necessary for compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind
(NCLB) Act and other federal programs, provide a means for
evaluating educational programs and progress, provide
information needed to improve student achievement, and provide a
common means for maintaining longitudinal pupil-level data;
also, requires each of the three public higher education systems
to establish a process by which colleges and universities within
those systems issue, maintain and report information using the
unique Statewide Student Identifiers used in CALPADS.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : CALPADS is the foundation of California's education
data system. CALPADS collects student level data on
demographics, program participation and course completion, and
teacher level data including course assignments. When fully
implemented, CALPADS will provide the state and local
educational agencies (LEAs) with the data necessary for
compliance with the federal Elementary and Secondary Education
Act (currently NCLB), with a means for evaluating educational
programs and progress, with information needed to improve
student achievement, and with a common means for maintaining
longitudinal pupil-level data.
In October 2010, former Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed $6.8
million in CALPADS funding, curtailing CDE's ability to continue
implementing system fixes and testing other components that were
still in development. As new phases of the implementation plan
moved forward, it became apparent that some of the same
stability concerns, that had existed previously, remained
problematic. Additional efforts by the CDE, and subsequent
changes in staffing and effort on the part of the contractor
appear to have improved this situation. In his 2011 May
Revision of the budget, Governor Brown requested that a working
group be established to address the short and long-term uses of
CALPADS. The Administration also proposed to eliminate funding
for the CALPADS system because of a concern that testing and
data management by schools were uncoordinated, redundant, and
distracting focus from the classroom. The Governor's proposal
was intended to allow a policy discussion to take place
regarding the use of data and testing before moving forward on
funding; however, full 2011-12 funding for CALPADS was
subsequently provided. This bill proposes the kind of formal
and broad-based committee that would be necessary to consider
the wide range of issues impacting the usefulness and
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appropriate use of longitudinal student data; as such, the
Committee proposed by this bill could provide the forum
necessary in which to hold the type of discussion that the
Governor called for.
Related legislation. This bill is nearly identical to SB 827
(Simitian), as that bill read when it was before the Assembly
Education Committee and Assembly Appropriations Committee last
year. The differences are a change in the due date for the
report and recommendations and the provision that the travel and
related costs of Committee members shall not be reimbursed. The
Assembly Education Committee vote was 7-3; the Assembly
Appropriations Committee vote was 12-5. SB 827 was later
amended on the Assembly floor to deal with public employee
pensions.
Analysis Prepared by : Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087
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