BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair


          SB 247 (Liu) - Student Assessments: Grade 2
          
          Amended: As introduced          Policy Vote: Education 6-1
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: Yes
          Hearing Date: May 23, 2013      Consultant: Jacqueline  
          Wong-Hernandez
          
          SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.

          
          Bill Summary: SB 247 eliminates the requirement that assessments  
          be administered to pupils in second grade pursuant to the  
          Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program.

          Fiscal Impact: 
              Eliminate Grade 2 assessment: Annual state savings of  
              approximately $2 million; $1.2 million apportioned to school  
              districts for testing, and $800,000 in test development  
              costs.
              Savings redirection (partial): Redirect the $1.2 million in  
              savings back to school districts to purchase and administer  
              diagnostic exams, if they choose to.

          Background: Existing law requires each school district, charter  
          school, and county office of education to administer designated  
          achievement tests to each pupil in grades 2-11 as part of the  
          STAR Program. The STAR Program is scheduled to sunset on July 1,  
          2014.  (Education Code � 60640 and � 60601)

          The STAR Program requires pupils to be tested in English  
          language arts, mathematics, science and history-social science  
          at specific grade levels. The STAR Program includes the  
          California Standards Tests, the California Alternate Performance  
          Assessment and the California Modified Assessment administered  
          to certain pupils with disabilities, and a national  
          norm-referenced test in Spanish that is administered to Spanish  
          speaking English learners who have been in school in the U.S.  
          less than 12 months or who are receiving instruction in Spanish.

          Federal law does not require states to assess pupils on their  
          content standard knowledge in second grade in English Language  
          Arts (ELA) and mathematics; instead, it requires pupils to be  








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          assessed in grades 3-11. Nothing in federal law, however,  
          precludes assessing pupils in grade 2.

          Proposed Law: SB 247 excludes grade 2 pupils from the STAR  
          Program, beginning July 1, 2014. This bill requires the CDE to  
          make available to school districts information regarding  
          existing diagnostic assessments in ELA and mathematics that are  
          appropriate for grade 2. This bill also extends the STAR Program  
          for grades 3-11, to July 1, 2016.

          Related Legislation: SB 740 (Hancock) 2011 would have eliminated  
          the requirement for grade 2 STAR tests and required the CDE to  
          make available to school districts existing diagnostic  
          assessments appropriate for grade 2. The bill was held on the  
          Assembly Appropriations Committee's suspense file.

          SB 800 (Hancock) 2009 was nearly identical to SB 740 (Hancock,  
          2011). The bill failed passage in the Senate Education  
          Committee. 

          Staff Comments: The STAR program requires pupils to be tested in  
          ELA, math, science and history-social science at specific grade  
          levels, using specific tests. The STAR program is currently  
          scheduled to sunset on July 1, 2014; this bill extends the  
          operative date of STAR program by two years (until July 1,  
          2016). The CDE estimates that extending the current STAR  
          contract for two additional years would cost approximately $54  
          million per year. If the contract is modified as part of the  
          extension, the changes could result in additional costs.

          Suspending grade 2 STAR testing will result in savings of $1.2  
          million for administration of the tests, and $800,000 in state  
          development costs. This savings would be eroded by the  
          requirement that the CDE identify existing appropriate  
          diagnostic assessments for grade 2 and provide that information  
          to school districts. The CDE estimates that it would incur costs  
          of approximately $100,000 to evaluate existing grade 2  
          assessments and to make recommendations to school districts.  
          Staff notes that this $100,000 erosion would apply to the  
          non-Proposition 98 savings, because Proposition 98 funds  
          generally cannot be used to fund state operations activities.


          AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED: Amend per author to remove STAR  








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          sunset extension, and to allow test administration savings to be  
          spent by school districts on diagnostic tests for grade 2.