BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 1108 (Padilla) - Reclassification of English Learners.
Amended: April 19, 2012 Policy Vote: Education 9-0
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: May 14, 2012 Consultant: Jacqueline
Wong-Hernandez
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 1108 requires school districts, county offices
of education (COEs), and charter schools, as a condition of the
receipt of funds for the administration of the California
English Language Development Test (CELDT) for 2013-14, to report
the criteria it uses to determine whether or not to reclassify
an English learner student to the state Department of Education
(CDE) by July 1, 2013. It requires the CDE to review and analyze
the reported information, as specified. This bill further
requires the CDE report to the Legislature its findings, as well
as recommendations for guideline, regulation, and statutory
changes related to reclassifying English learners, by January 1,
2014. The CDE is also required to issue an updated report
reflecting any changes related to Common Core standards
implementation, by January 1, 2017.
Fiscal Impact:
Local reporting to CDE: The requirement for school
districts, charter schools, and COEs to report the
reclassification criteria they are currently using is not
expected to drive any significant local costs.
CDE formal reports: The CDE has estimated the cost of
completing both reports would be $450,000-$500,000.
Background: Existing federal and state law both require that
schools with English language learners annually assess these
students' English language development until they are
redesignated as English proficient. The state assessment tool,
the CELDT, must be administered to all students whose primary
language is not English within 30 calendar days after they are
enrolled in a California public school for the first time, and
annually thereafter during a period of time determined by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) and the State Board
SB 1108 (Padilla)
Page 1
of Education (SBE) until they are reclassified as English
proficient. During the 2010-2011 school year, the CELDT was
administered to 1.57 million students.
Existing law requires the CDE, with the approval of the SBE, to
establish procedures for administering the CELDT and for the
reclassifying a pupil from English learner to English
proficient. Reclassification procedures developed by the CDE
must use multiple criteria, including, but not limited to: 1) an
assessment of language proficiency; 2) teacher evaluation,
including, but not limited to, a review of the pupil's
curriculum mastery; 3) parental opinion and consultation; and 4)
comparison of the student's performance in basic skills against
an empirically established range of performance in basic skills
based upon the performance of English proficient pupils of the
same age. (Education Code � 313)
Proposed Law: This bill conditions the receipt of CELDT
administration funds on a school district, county office of
education, and charter school reporting, by July 1, 2013, to the
CDE the criteria it uses to determine whether or not to
reclassify a pupil as English proficient. The bill further
requires the CDE, by January 1, 2014, to review and analyze the
criteria, policies, and practices that school districts use to
reclassify English learners and recommend to the Legislature and
the SBE any guideline, regulatory, or statutory changes it deems
necessary. This bill also requires the CDE, by January 1, 2017,
to issue an updated report that reflects any changes in analysis
and recommendations as a result of the adoption of the Common
Core standards.
Related Legislation: SB 1109 (Padilla) requires the SPI to
develop an English Learner Master Plan to expand support
services, as specified, by January 1, 2014. It requires the SPI
to report on the plan and provide recommendations for statutory,
regulatory, and administrative changes needed to the Legislature
and the SBE by July 1, 2014. This bill is also being heard in
this Committee on May 14, 2012.
Staff Comments: This bill requires a school district, COE, and
charter school to report to the CDE the criteria it uses to
determine whether or not to reclassify a pupil as English
proficient as a condition of receiving of CELDT administration
funds. Legislative counsel has identified this as a potential
SB 1108 (Padilla)
Page 2
reimbursable state mandate because the activity of assessing
English learners is required by state law, with or without
funding allocated for this purpose. Thus, if the reporting
entities did not provide the information, they would still be
required to administer the CELDT without funding. It is,
however, unlikely that the required entities would not submit
their reclassification criteria to the CDE, since it would be a
matter of simply printing and submitting the criteria they are
already statutorily required to have and that they use each
year. This simple task will not likely drive additional costs to
the local agencies required to submit the information.
Staff notes, however, that the compliance enforcement mechanism
is unclear for charter schools to comply. Some independent
charter schools do not receive CELDT administration funding, but
instead receive the physical materials and paraprofessional
support from their charter authorizers (e.g. a school district)
to administer the CELDT; in these cases, the authorizer receives
CELDT administration funding for all of the schools in its
jurisdiction, and allocates both material and intangible
resources to its schools. It is not clear what would happen if a
charter school that does not receive direct CELDT funding failed
to submit its English Learner reclassification criteria to the
CDE.
This bill requires the CDE, by January 1, 2014, to review and
analyze the criteria, policies, and practices that school
districts use to reclassify English learners and recommend to
the Legislature and SBE any guideline, regulatory, or statutory
changes it deems necessary. Further, the CDE, by January 1,
2017, is required to issue an updated report that reflects any
changes in analysis and recommendations as a result of the
adoption of the Common Core standards. The CDE has indicated it
would likely contract out the work required for both reports,
and estimates that such a contract would likely cost
$450,000-500,000. The bulk of the work and cost would likely be
incurred by the first report, which would be a fully new
activity and product. Updating recommendations that are already
presented in a report would involve considerably less work. To
the extent that the CDE makes recommendations to the SBE and the
Legislature which call for additional services or resources,
there will be cost pressure to implement those recommendations.
Recommended Amendments: This bill requires school districts,
SB 1108 (Padilla)
Page 3
COEs, and charter schools all to report their reclassification
criteria to the CDE. However, it only requires the CDE to
review, analyze, and report on the practices and standards of
school districts. The author may wish to provide for the CDE to
examine the information it will be receiving from charter
schools and COEs pursuant to this bill.