BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 2408
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          Date of Hearing:   March 26, 2014

                           ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                                Joan Buchanan, Chair
                 AB 2408 (Allen) - As Introduced:  February 21, 2014
           
          SUBJECT  :   School accountability:  local control and  
          accountability plans:  California Collaborative for Education  
          Excellence

           SUMMARY  :   Expands the governing board of the California  
          Collaborative for Education Excellence (CCEE) from five to seven  
          members by adding a charter school operator appointed by the  
          Governor and a parent of a California public school pupil  
          appointed by the Governor.  

           EXISTING LAW  

          1)Establishes the CCEE, whose purpose is to advise and assist  
            local education agencies (LEAs) in achieving the goals set  
            forth in their local control and accountability plans (LCAPs).

          2)Requires the CCEE to be governed by a board consisting of the  
            following members:

             a)   The SPI or his or her designee;
             b)   The president of the SBE or his or her designee;
             c)   A county superintendent of schools appointed by the  
               Senate Rules Committee;
             d)   A teacher appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly; and
             e)   A superintendent of a school district appointed by the  
               Governor.

          3)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), in  
            consultation with the State Board of Education (SBE), to  
            contract with an LEA to serve as the fiscal agent for the  
            CCEE.

          4)Requires the fiscal agent, at the direction of the CCEE  
            governing board, to contract with individuals, LEAs, or  
            organizations with the expertise, experience, and a record of  
            success to provide assistance to LEAs that are failing to meet  
            specified performance objectives.

          5)Authorizes the SPI to direct the CCEE to advise and assist an  








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            LEA in any of the following circumstances:

             a)   The governing board of the LEA requests the advice and  
               assistance of the CCEE;
             b)   The superintendent of schools in the county in which the  
               school district or charter school is located determines  
               that the advice and assistance of the CCEE is necessary to  
               help the school district or charter school accomplish the  
               goals it has set in its LCAP; or
             c)   The SPI determines the advice and assistance of the CCEE  
               is necessary to help an LEA accomplish the goals it has set  
               in its LCAP.

          6)Requires LEAs to adopt an LCAP by July 1, 2014 using a  
            template adopted by the SBE and requires that the LCAP:

             a)   Be updated every year and renewed every three years;
             b)   Be developed in consultation with teachers, principals,  
               administrators, other school personnel, parents, and  
               pupils;

             c)   Include annual achievement goals for all pupils,  
               including specified pupil subgroups, and a description of  
               actions that will be taken to achieve those goals;
             d)   Address the following eight state priorities:

               i)     Requirements related to the Williams v. State of  
                 California settlement agreement related to fully  
                 credentialed teachers, instructional materials, and  
                 school facilities;
               ii)    Implementation of academic and performance  
                 standards, including English language development  
                 standards;
               iii)   Parental involvement;
               iv)    Pupil achievement, as measured by statewide  
                 assessments;
               v)     Pupil engagement, as measured by attendance, dropout  
                 and graduation rates, and expulsions/suspensions;
               vi)    School climate, as measured by suspension rates,  
                 expulsion rates, and other local measures, such as  
                 surveys;
               vii)   The extent to which pupils have access to and are  
                 enrolled in a broad course of study; and
               viii)  Pupil outcomes, if available, for non-state-assessed  
                 courses of study.








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             e)   Be aligned with the district's budget and describe how  
               the district will "increase or improve services for  
               unduplicated pupils in proportion to its increase in funds  
               apportioned on the basis of the number and concentration of  
               unduplicated pupils in the district."

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   Unknown

           COMMENTS  :   The CCEE and LCAP were both established as the  
          accountability component of the Local Control Funding Formula  
          (LCFF), which was enacted with this year's budget.  The purpose  
          of the CCEE is to provide advice and assistance to LEAs that  
          persistently fail to achieve pupil outcome goals established in  
          their LCAPs.  LEAs also may seek assistance from the CCEE on  
          their own.  The CCEE governing board does not have a statutory  
          role in determining which LEAs receive advice and assistance.   
          Instead, the SPI is authorized to direct the CCEE to provide  
          advice and assistance upon the recommendation of a county  
          superintendent of schools (in the case of a school district or  
          charter school), pursuant to his or her own determination that  
          advice and assistance is necessary (in the case of a county  
          office of education), or upon request of an LEA.  

          The current composition of the board includes representation of  
          district- and county-level administrators, teachers, the SPI,  
          and the SBE.   This bill  adds representation from charter schools  
          and parents, both appointed by the Governor.  The bill provides  
          that the charter school representative shall include, but not be  
          limited to, a charter school operator.  As a practical matter,  
          there will only be a seat on the board for one charter school  
          representative, so that representative would be required to be a  
          charter school operator.  

           The CCEE board has limited responsibilities  .  The only statutory  
          authority of the CCEE board is to provide direction to the CCEE  
          fiscal agent in contracting with entities and individuals to  
          carry out the purposes of the CCEE.  Moreover, existing law  
          circumscribes the latitude of the board in the selection process  
          by requiring the selected entities and individuals to have  
          expertise, experience, and a record of success in, at a minimum,  
          the following:
                 The state priorities that must be addressed in each  
               LEA's LCAP.
                 Improving the quality of teaching.








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                 Improving the quality of a school district and  
               schoolsite leadership.
                 Successfully addressing the needs of special pupil  
               populations, including, but not limited to, English  
               learners, low income pupils, pupils in foster care, and  
               pupils with exceptional needs.

          The CCEE board will not be involved in determining which LEAs  
          are in need of assistance, in evaluating LEA performance, or in  
          the delivery of support services and technical assistance.  The  
          Committee may wish to consider what new expertise the additional  
          board members proposed in this bill would bring to the board and  
          how that expertise might improve the board's performance of its  
          limited statutory responsibility. 

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          California Charter Schools Association Advocates
          Charter School Development Center
          EdVoice

           Opposition 
           
          None received
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087