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By Tom Chorneau
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Legislative leaders and Gov. Jerry Brown struck a landmark agreement in June over restructuring state funding of K-12 schools – but lawmakers are already at work on changes.
AB 344 by state Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, would enhance accountability requirements of the Local Control Funding Formula specifically as it relates to educational services provided to English learners.
The bill, which is pending before the state Assembly, comes forward even as the California State Board of Education is at work developing guidance and regulations that will implement legislative goals worked out earlier this summer under the LCFF program.
It is unclear whether the governor supports the proposed changes but a version of the bill drew enough votes for passage out of the Assembly just last week – although changes required the bill to return for a second vote in the lower house.
It must also receive approval in the state Senate.
Padilla, one of the Legislature’s strongest advocates for English learners, noted during committee hearing on the measure last month that too many school districts were not addressing the needs of English learners. He pointed to a 2013 study from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center which found that
