AB 379

Student information system

Current law directs the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to develop a

proposal for a multiple-vendor student information system (SIS). DPI must submit

the proposal to the Joint Committee on Finance (JCF) for its approval. If JCF

approves the proposal, DPI must implement it and must ensure that information

about pupils enrolled in charter schools and about pupils enrolled in private schools

participating in a parental choice program (PCP) is collected and maintained in the

SIS. Current law also provides that if the SIS is established, DPI must ensure that

within five years, every school district and every charter school is using the SIS, and

that every private school participating in a PCP is either using the SIS or is using

a system that is interoperable with the SIS. Current law authorizes DPI to

promulgate rules establishing a fee for use of the SIS.

This bill provides that if the SIS is established, DPI must ensure that within

five years, every school district and every charter school, other than an independent

charter school, is using the system. The bill also provides that, beginning in the

2014-15 school year, DPI must ensure that every independent charter school and

every private school participating in an SIS is either using the SIS or is using a

system that is commercially available, capable of providing the information

required, able to obtain pupil identification numbers, and compatible with the most

recent version of the Schools Interoperability Framework. If the SIS is established,

the bill allows DPI to promulgate rules establishing a fee for using the SIS.

Finally, the bill specifies that a private school participating in a PCP is not

required to include in the SIS it is using information about pupils who are not

attending the private school under the PCP.

School and school district accountability

Current law directs DPI, annually by September 1, to publish a school and

school district accountability report that includes the following components:

1. Multiple measures to determine a school's performance or a school district's

improvement, including pupil achievement and growth in reading and mathematics;

measures of college and career readiness; and gaps in pupil achievement and

graduation rates categorized by various factors.

2. An index system to identify a school's level of performance and annually

place each school into one of five performance categories.

Current law provides that one year after an independent charter school or a

private school participating in a PCP begins using the SIS or a system that is

interoperable with the SIS, DPI must include the school in its school accountability

report.

This bill eliminates all of the above provisions and establishes a school and

school district accountability system, initially effective in the 2014-15 school year,

that is applicable to public schools, charter schools, and private schools participating