BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Session SB 359 (Mitchell) - California Mathematics Placement Act of 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Version: April 23, 2015 |Policy Vote: ED. 8 - 0 | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Hearing Date: May 11, 2015 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Bill Summary: This bill requires each local educational agency (LEA) serving students in grade 8 or 9 to develop and implement a fair, objective, and transparent mathematics placement policy. Fiscal Impact: Mandate: Potential costs in the mid hundreds of millions in Proposition 98 General Fund to develop and implement a mathematics placement policy as prescribed in this bill. Background: Current law requires students to successfully complete two courses in mathematics as a condition of graduation from high school. (Education Code § 51225.3) Current law also requires that one of those courses, or "a combination of the two courses" required for graduation meet or exceed the rigor of the 1997 content standards for Algebra 1. SB 359 (Mitchell) Page 1 of ? (EC § 51224.5) Current law is silent with regard to mathematics placement policies or practices. Proposed Law: This bill requires each LEA serving students in grade 8 or 9, or both, to develop and implement a fair, objective, and transparent mathematics placement policy. Specifically, the policy must be adopted in a regularly scheduled public meeting and must: (1) take current academic objective measures into consideration, such as student grades; (2) include multiple progress checkpoints throughout the academic year to permit reevaluation of individual student progress; and (3) offer clear and immediate recourse for each student and their parent who questions the placement. The policy must also include an examination of student placement data to ensure that there is no disproportionate placement of students by race, gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic background. The LEA must report the aggregate results of the examination to the governing board of the LEA and prominently post this information on its website. This bill authorizes that this report be included in the LEA's local control and accountability plan. Related Legislation:1. AB 220 (Holden, 2015) allows the course Mathematics 1, which is aligned to the state's adopted academic content standards, to satisfy a mathematics graduation requirement. AB 220 is pending in the Senate Rules Committee. SR 60 (Mitchell, 2014) asks local school boards to develop, adopt, and monitor a fair, objective, and transparent mathematics placement policy. Staff Comments: This bill could result in a reimbursable state mandate as it requires each LEAs to develop and implement a new mathematics placement policy, including the required components. The plan requires, among other things, multiple checkpoints SB 359 (Mitchell) Page 2 of ? throughout the academic year to permit reevaluation of student progress and the examination of student placement data that would first have to be gathered and then monitored, to ensure no there is no disproportionate impact on the placement of students among student demographic groups. The LEA is also required to submit a report of the aggregated results of this examination to its governing board. Finally, the LEA must provide immediate recourse if a parent or student disagrees with the placement. Assuming additional staffing is needed at each LEA (1,044) for examining student placement data as well as for addressing appeals in each high school (1,305) and middle school (1,267), local costs Proposition 98 General Fund costs could be in the mid hundreds of millions. Costs would vary by LEA depending on its size and need for additional staff. Even if LEAs currently have their own mathematics placement policy, which may differ, they would be required to amend their policy to comply with this new law and could receive a reimbursement for this activity if it is deemed a reimbursable state mandate. -- END --