BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 2341
AUTHOR: Quirk-Silva
AMENDED: April 10, 2014
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 18, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Daniel Alvarez
SUBJECT : California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data
System: pupils of
military families.
SUMMARY
This bill adds an indicator to the California Longitudinal
Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) to identify pupils of
military families.
BACKGROUND
Current law establishes the CALPADS to accomplish all of the
following goals:
1) Provide school districts and the CDE access to data
necessary to comply with NCLB reporting requirements.
2) Provide a better means of evaluating educational progress
and investments over time.
3) Provide local educational agencies information that can
be used to improve pupil achievement.
4) Provide an efficient, flexible, and secure means of
maintaining longitudinal statewide pupil level data.
5) Facilitate the ability of the state to publicly report
data required by federal law.
6) Ensure compliance with the federal Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). (Education Code � 60900
et.seq.)
Further, current law enacted the Interstate Compact on
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Educational Opportunity for Military Children. The Compact
provides for the uniform treatment of military children
transferring between school districts and states. Among other
things, the Compact is meant to address issues related to:
1) Records, enrollment, placement and attendance, including
the transfer of
unofficial and official records and placement in
comparable courses, programs, and the same grade level
regardless of age.
2) Granting of additional excused absences to a pupil whose
parent has
been called to or returned from active duty.
4) Graduation, including the use of best efforts to waive
required courses for
pupils who successfully completed similar coursework, and
consider granting a diploma from the sending school for
pupils who transfer in their senior year of high school.
(Education Code � 49700 et. seq.)
ANALYSIS
This bill adds an indicator to the California Longitudinal
Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) to identify pupils of
military families. More specifically, this bill:
1) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI)
to add a reporting process within CALPADS requiring local
education agencies (LEAs) to report the enrollment of
pupils of military families by July 1, 2015.
2) Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to
include an indicator for pupils of military families in
CALPADS.
3) Provides that the data collection pursuant to this
requirement shall not be used to compile reports required
by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB),
including, but not limited to, dropout and graduation
rates.
4) Defines "pupils of military families" to mean pupils
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whose parent or legal guardian is an active duty member
of the Armed Forces of the United States.
5) Provides for the reimbursement of mandated local costs
through the existing reimbursement process, if the
Commission on State Mandates determines that this bill
contains mandates costs.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author's office, by
identifying military children and eventually providing
data on their attendance and educational outcomes, the
state can assist schools and districts by providing
access to data to help inform policy, program decisions,
and education initiatives designed for this unique
student population.
2) The CALPADS was created to enable California to meet
federal requirements delineated in the NCLB Act of 2001,
which increases accountability for student achievement.
CALPADS has been operational since 2009 and contains
information on student demographics, program
participation, grade level, enrollment, course enrollment
and completion, discipline, and statewide assessment
data.
The student-level, longitudinal data in CALPADS enables
the facilitation of program evaluation, the assessment of
student achievement over time, the calculation of more
accurate dropout and graduation rates, the efficient
creation of reports to meet state and federal reporting
requirements, and the ability to create ad hoc reports
and responses to relevant questions. CALPADS provides
local educational agencies (LEAs) with access to
longitudinal data and reports on their own students, and
it gives LEAs immediate access to information on new
students, enabling the LEAs to place students
appropriately and to determine whether any assessments
are necessary.
3) According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee . This
measure would result in General Fund (GF) administrative
costs of approximately $15,000 to CDE to modify CALPADS
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to include a new indicator for students of military
families. And unknown General Fund and Proposition 98
state mandated costs for local educational agencies to
update user interface with CALPADS and collect and report
this data to CALPADS. For illustration, assuming all LEAs
spent an hour on the required activities, statewide costs
of approximately $380,000. The CDE indicates that the
change required by this bill is relatively simple and
could probably be achieved in approximately one year.
4) Budget prohibits additional data elements. Budget
language prohibits the California Department of Education
from adding additional data elements to CALPADS.
Specifically, provision 18 of budget item 6110-001-0890
provides, in part, "As a further condition of receiving
these funds, the SDE shall not add additional data
elements to CALPADS, require local educational agencies
to use the data collected through the CALPADS for any
purpose, or otherwise expand or enhance the system beyond
the data elements and functionalities that are identified
in the most current approved Feasibility Study and
Special Project Reports and the CALPADS Data Guide v4.1."
This language is included in the current Budget Act, as
well as SB 852 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) of
the current session. If this bill were to become law,
the CDE would risk federal funding if it were to
implement its provisions. Staff recommends an amendment
to provide that, upon implementation of this bill, the
CDE is not subject to the penalty contained in provision
18 of budget item 6110-001-0890 (SB 852, Committee on
Budget and Fiscal Review).
SUPPORT
National Association of Social Workers - California Chapter
Department of the Navy
Department of Defense - State Liaison Office
Travis Unified School District
United State Marine Corps
Military Child Education Coalition
City of Los Angeles
OPPOSITION
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None on file.