Bill Text
Bill Start
|
Revised
May 02, 2018 |
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
April 18, 2018 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION
| Assembly Bill | No. 2735 |
| Introduced by Assembly (Coauthors: Assembly Members McCarty and Reyes) (Coauthors: Senators Dodd and Wiener) |
February 15, 2018 |
An act to add Section 60811.8 to the Education Code, relating to English learners.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2735, as amended, O’Donnell.
English learners: participation in standard instructional program.
Existing
law requires each school district that has one or more pupils who are
English learners, and, to the extent required by federal law, each
county office of education and each charter school, to assess the
English language development of each pupil in order to determine the
pupil’s level of proficiency, as specified, and requires the
Superintendent of Public Instruction to review existing assessments that
assess the English language development of pupils whose primary
language is a language other than English.
This bill bill, commencing with the 2019–20 school year,
would specify that, except as provided, a middle or high school pupil
pupil, as defined, who is classified as an English learner
and scores at any proficiency level on the assessment of English
language development shall not be denied participation in a school’s
standard instructional program, as defined, by being denied enrollment
in specified courses, including, among others, courses required for
graduation and college admission. By imposing additional duties on local
educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local
program.
The California Constitution
requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for
certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish
procedures for making that reimbursement.
This
bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines
that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for
those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory
provisions noted above.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) California
is home to the largest population of English learners in the country,
and one in three English learners in the United States resides in
California.
(b) There are
approximately 1.4 million English learners in California public schools.
About 2.7 million pupils speak a language other than English in their
homes, representing about 43 percent of the state’s public school
enrollment.
(c)Recent
research examining course-taking patterns of English learners in
multiple California school districts has found that English learners are
less likely
than non-English learners to be enrolled in core academic subject
courses, including English language arts, mathematics, and science, and,
as a result, earn fewer credits than non-English learner pupils.
Research has further found that limited access to courses in English
language arts is largely due to English language development classes
being used as substitutes for, rather than complements to, English
language arts, and due to the enrollment of elementary and secondary
English learners in intervention classes for English language arts and
math that are not designed for English learners’ language and academic
needs.
(c) Decades
of research examining the course-taking patterns of English learners in
California school districts and across the country have found that
English learners can experience restricted access to the core curriculum
and
advanced coursework necessary to graduate from high school and meet
higher education admissions requirements, even when controlling for
prior achievement.
(d) (1) The
federal Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. Sec.
1701 et seq.), as interpreted by the court in Castañeda v. Pickard
(1981) 648 F.2d 989, prohibits the denial of English learners’ equal
participation in the standard instructional programs of schools, and
requires programs that are used in the early part of an English
learner’s school career that first focus on the development of English
language skills to be designed to remedy any academic deficits in other
areas that may develop during participation in the program and to be
reasonably calculated to enable pupils to attain parity of participation
in the standard instructional program within a reasonable length of
time after they enter the school
system.
(2) It is the intent of the Legislature to clarify these requirements for California public schools.
SEC. 2.
Section 60811.8 is added to the Education Code, to read:60811.8.
(a) Consistent with federal(1) Enrollment
in courses that are part of the standard instructional program of the
school that the pupil attends. For purposes of this section, “standard
instructional program” means, at a minimum, core curriculum courses, as
defined in clause (i) of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (6) of
subdivision (b) of Section 33126, courses required to meet state and
local graduation requirements, and courses required for middle school
grade promotion.
(2) Enrollment in a full course load of courses that are part of the standard
instructional program.
(3) Enrollment
in courses that are not part of a school’s standard instructional
program that either meet the subject matter requirements for purposes of
recognition for college admission pursuant to Section 66205.5 or are
advanced courses, such as advanced placement courses, on the sole basis
of a pupil’s classification as an English learner.
(b) Subdivision
(a) shall not apply to a middle or high school pupil who is classified
as an English learner and who is participating in a program designed to
meet the academic and transitional needs of newly arrived immigrant
pupils that has as a primary objective the development of English
language proficiency, provided that, pursuant to federal law, the
program is designed to remedy any academic deficits incurred during
participation and that the program’s design is reasonably calculated to
enable these pupils to
attain parity of participation in the standard instructional
program within a reasonable length of time after they enter the school
system.
(c) For
purposes of this section, “pupil” includes a pupil attending a school
operated by a school district or a county office of education, a charter
school, or the state special schools for the blind and the deaf.
SEC. 3.
If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.___________________
REVISIONS:
Heading—Line 1.
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