BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 491 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 6, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 491 (Gonzalez) - As Amended April 30, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Education |Vote:|7 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill extends, from January 1, 2014, to January 1, 2019, the deadline for the California Department of Education (CDE) to issue the report on English learner (EL) reclassification established by SB 1108 (Padilla), Chapter 434, Statutes of 2012. AB 491 Page 2 Specifically, this bill: 1)Requires the CDE to recommend, and the State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt, best practices for the reclassification of English learners, by July 1, 2022, pursuant to the findings the new report. 2)Deletes the existing law requirement to report by January 1, 2017, changes in analysis and recommendations on reclassification resulting from the adoption of the Common Core standards in mathematics and the Next Generation Science Standards. FISCAL EFFECT: One-time General Fund contract costs to the CDE in the range of $450,000 to $670,000 to complete reporting requirements, likely through a contract. According to CDE, data from an initial report can be used as a foundation for the report required by this bill, this suggests costs will likely to be at the lower end of the estimated range. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. California K-12 public schools serve about 1.4 million English Learners (EL), representing about 22 percent of the student body. The EL classification is meant to be temporary, eventually leading to reclassified of a student as Fluent English Proficient. School districts across the state have different criteria for reclassification of EL students; some have rigorous reclassification standards and lower AB 491 Page 3 reclassification rates, others have high reclassification rates and more lenient standards. Many more fall in between. SB 1108 (Padilla), Chapter 434, Statutes of 2012, required the CDE to undertake a review of the reclassification system, contingent on funding provided for that purpose. Cost estimates for this report ranged from between $450,000 to $500,000. Ultimately, no state funding was provided and CDE could not use federal funds for this purpose. The CDE entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) to assist in meeting the requirements of SB 1108. In January 2014, PPIC issued the report; however, CDE believes it was not sufficient to meet the requirements of SB 1108 or to form the basis for recommendations to the SBE regarding reclassification. This bill will build upon the PPIC report and provide a framework, developed by the Department of Education, on the best way to serve our English Learner population. 2)Prior related legislation. SB 1108 (Padilla) of 2014, similar to this bill, would have extended the deadline for the CDE to issue the report on English learner (EL) reclassification. This bill also added "reclassified English learners" as a numerically significant pupil subgroup for the purposes of the Academic Performance Index (API). This bill was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee on the Suspense file. Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916) 319-2081 AB 491 Page 4