AB 5x-8 now public
The office of Assembly Speaker Karen Bass has released Assembly Democrats’ version of the Race to the Top bill. Here is the text of ABX5-8.
The 73-page bill, sponsored by Education Committee Chairwoman Julia Brownley, would change state laws to conform with the requirements of Race to the Top, a $4.3 billion federal competitive program. It would:
Put in place the four options for transforming persistently low-performing schools spelled out in Race to the Top regulations;
Lift the cap in charter schools in exchange for requiring annual financial audits of charters and limiting renewal of charters that are facing sanctions for low academic performance;
Set the stage for moving away from strict reliance on standardized tests (annual STAR tests) in exchange for adopting “high-quality” assessments. The state would use Race to the Top money to develop these. It would also take advantage of the new CALPADS student data base to develop longitudinal measurements of student performance.
Authorize Superintendent of Instruction Jack O’Connell and the State Board of Education to adopt national common-core standards in math and English by September 2010. This is one of the requirements of Race to the Top.
The Education Committee received many recommendations for legislation during four hearings over the past two months. The resulting bill is surprisingly narrow in scope, design