SB 1419 was introduced by Senator John Vasconcellos in February 2004 as part of a long-term effort to overhaul the State’s school accountability system by adding an Opportunities for Teaching and Learning (OTL) Index to the State’s Public School Accountability Program. Currently, California’s accountability program consists of the Academic Performance Index (API), a ranking of students’ scores on standardized tests. The API was established in 1999 as part of newly elected Governor Davis’ education reform. While it is clear to most people that a low API ranking corresponds to students’ low socioeconomic status and high concentrations of students of color and immigrant students, the State does not determine whether those schools are providing the basic educational tools students need to perform well on the tests. SB 1419 would transform this one-sided accountability system by ranking schools in terms of the basic educational opportunities the State and its schools provide to students, such as the:

• The number of fully and properly credentialed teachers employed at the school.
• The number of classrooms in which teachers are not fully and properly credentialed.
• The degree to which teachers of English learners hold the appropriate credentials.
• The average number of years teachers have been teaching and have taught at the school.
• The availability of adequate and appropriate instructional materials.
• The physical condition and maintenance of school facilities, and the extent to which pupil population exceeds the capacity of a facility.
• The availability of counseling and academic advising.
• The availability and adequacy of high-quality postsecondary preparatory, vocational education and honors courses for pupils in secondary school grades.

The availability of instructional support from school librarians, nurses and other school staff.

Recent reports show that there is a relationship between high levels of racial segregation and unequal opportunity in California. Earlier this year, the Harvard Civil Rights Project reported that 29% of our students attend racially-isolated, non-white schools. These are schools where 90-100% of the students are African American, Latino, American Indian, Filipino, and/or Asian. On May 6th, the Hewlett Foundation published the results of a random telephone survey of 1,056 California teachers about conditions in their schools, conducted by the nationally known pollster Lou Harris. A companion report prepared by UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education and Access examined conditions in the most racially segregated schools and determined that teachers in schools with the highest percentages of African American, Latino and Native American students are:

• 11 times more likely to work with a high percentage (more than 20%) of under-credentialed teachers.
• Twice as likely to rate working conditions as poor.
• 3.3 times more likely to report a serious teacher turnover problem.
• 70% more likely to report vermin infestations.

40% more likely to be deprived of textbooks and instructional materials.

SB 1419 will help the State close this opportunity gap. It would set benchmarks for the basic resources and conditions that all schools should provide -- like a trained teacher, adequate textbooks, and a decent facility -- to ensure students can take advantage of the standards-based curriculum. Each school’s resources and conditions would be monitored and its “score” on the OTL Index would be published alongside the API.

Last year, Governor Davis vetoed a similar bill explaining his concern that adding an OTL Index would distract parents, students and teachers from focusing on improving test scores ranked on the API. However, a coalition of California’s communities of color are waging a Campaign for Quality Education to build support among policymakers for the OTL Index. It has been passed by the Senate Education Committee and will be voted on this week by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

SB 1795 (Alarcon) is sponsored by Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell as part of his reforms to improve high schools. The bill was introduced in February 2004. Its original version would have ensured that all high school graduates by 2010 would have the opportunity to take a college readiness curriculum. High schools that agreed to offer this curriculum would receive money from existing programs called “categorical” programs that target a variety of special needs, such as bilingual teacher training and gifted and talented education programs. In return for receiving the extra funding, the high schools would have been required to show that students’ test scores increased on the Academic Performance Index (API).

At its first hearing by the Senate Education Committee, many students and representatives from community organizations across the state came to Sacramento to testify in support. Senators expressed their concerns that not all students should be required to take college readiness courses or that they would not be able to succeed in such a curriculum. Others said California is currently unable to handle all college eligible students now and this bill would create even more pressure.

In response to these concerns, the bill was amended substantially. It eliminates the college ready curriculum requirement, as well as the funding for high schools. Instead, the Superintendent is required to designate a high school as a High Performance High School if it voluntarily adopts rigorous high school graduation requirements that enable graduates to be eligible to enter UC and CSU. The Superintendent is required to establish criteria and develop outcome measures to monitor these high schools. Each high school must accommodate each student who requests a college preparatory class in a variety of ways, including: reorganizing class offerings, offering combination classes, increasing the rigor of classroom curricula, reorganizing class schedules -- within existing resources available to high schools. Each high school must advise each student before entering high school of their right to enroll in rigorous college preparatory program or a rigorous career technical preparation program or both.

“Rigorous college preparatory curriculum” is defined as a sequence of courses that are approved by UC and required for admission to UC or CSU. The amendments also require the Superintendent, in cooperation with the California Quality Education Commission, to define rigorous coursework and to work with the State Board of Education and UC to align standards with university admissions requirements.

The Senate Education Committee passed the bill after it was amended, and the bill is now being considered by the Senate Appropriations Committee. Community, grassroots, civil rights and policy organizations are working together to see how they can strengthen the bill as it moves forward in the Legislature.