BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     AB 491


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          Date of Hearing:  May 6, 2015


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                                 Jimmy Gomez, Chair


          AB  
          491 (Gonzalez) - As Amended April 30, 2015


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          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.  








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          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  








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            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


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