Bill Text: CA AB2074 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Bill 2074

CA State Legislature page for AB2074

Introduced

Bill Title: Pupil instruction: English Learner Roadmap Policy: statewide implementation plan.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-04-10 - In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to suspense file. [AB2074 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB2074-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2074

Introduced by Assembly Members Muratsuchi and Alvarez

February 05, 2024

An act to add Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 360) to Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, relating to pupil instruction.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2074, as introduced, Muratsuchi. Pupil instruction: English Learner Roadmap Policy: statewide implementation plan.

Existing law establishes the State Board of Education, and requires the state board to adopt rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the laws of the state, to govern the public elementary and secondary schools of the state. Existing law requires the state board to determine all questions of policy within its powers. Pursuant to these powers, the state board has adopted a policy known as the California English Learner Roadmap State Board of Education Policy: Educational Programs and Services for English Learners, also known as the EL Roadmap Policy, for the stated purpose of assisting the State Department of Education in providing guidance to local educational agencies with respect to educating English learners attending California public schools.

This bill would require the department to develop a statewide implementation plan for the EL Roadmap Policy. In developing the plan, the bill would require the department to identify 3 positions within the department, as provided, to develop the plan and to subsequently support school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools in implementing the plan. The bill would require the department to include in the plan, among other things, clear and measurable statewide goals of implementation and a system of monitoring and accountability of the implementation of the plan. The bill would require the department to, on or before November 1, 2025, submit a report with the statewide implementation plan for the EL Roadmap Policy to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature. The bill would require the department to annually report, commencing January 1, 2027, to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on local educational agencies that are engaged in the implementation of the plan, as provided.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) Sixty percent of the young children in the state have a home language other than English. The state currently enrolls 1,100,000 pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, who are English learners. For these pupils, academic gaps persist, many never achieve English proficiency, and academic outcomes remain unacceptably low.

(b) In 2017, the State Board of Education unanimously adopted a new, comprehensive, assets-oriented, and research-based California English Learner Roadmap State Board of Education Policy: Educational Programs and Services for English Learners (EL Roadmap Policy), which superseded the 1998 English Learner policy that was based upon Proposition 227.

(c) The EL Roadmap Policy explicitly focuses on English learner pupils in the context of the state’s efforts to improve the educational system, the quality of teaching and learning, and educational outcomes.

(d) The EL Roadmap Policy centers on standards, curriculum frameworks, assessment, accountability and school improvement, educator quality, early childhood and preschool, social and family support services, and parent and community involvement.

(e) As a comprehensive, aspirational, assets-based, and principles-based policy, the EL Roadmap Policy differs significantly from previous English learner policies as it requires the involvement of multiple roles, departments, and functions within school systems as well as alignment across initiatives and levels of the system.

(f) The intent is that the vision and principles of the EL Roadmap Policy provide a framework for alignment and coherence, capacity building, and continuous improvement across these areas.

(g) Though the EL Roadmap Policy is the state’s official policy and is research based, aspirational, comprehensive, and has been adopted by the State Board of Education, the road to fulfilling its promise has not yet been adequately scoped nor supported.

(h) Recent findings from the first years of EL Roadmap Policy implementation have documented a lack of alignment and coherence at the state, regional, and local levels. Local educational agencies have been required to develop multiple plans linked to education initiatives without any reference to the EL Roadmap Policy. For multiple years, local control and accountability plans have repeatedly been found to inadequately address the needs and assets of English learners and have not leveraged the research-based principles of the EL Roadmap Policy.

(i) Since the state’s adoption of the EL Roadmap Policy in 2017, the state has periodically supported implementation with modest investments such as capacity-building grants through the Educator Workforce Investment Grant program, grants to support dual language educational programming, and efforts to grow the state’s bilingual teacher workforce. However, these investments have been too piecemeal and small to convert the EL Roadmap Policy from a vision and guidance document into a compelling means of systemic change to drive the state’s public schools to better meet the needs of the state’s 1,100,000 English learner pupils instead of merely proposing that they do so.

(j) The state has articulated an equitable, comprehensive, multilingual, and multicultural public education vision for English learner pupils, but it needs to provide sufficient leadership, planning, resources, and accountability to make that vision a reality in public schools.

SEC. 2.

Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 360) is added to Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, to read:

CHAPTER 4. EL Roadmap Policy

360.

For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:

(a) “EL Roadmap Policy” means the California English Learner Roadmap State Board of Education Policy: Educational Programs and Services for English Learners adopted by the state board on July 12, 2017.

(b) “Local educational agency” means a school district, county office of education, or charter school.

361.

(a) The State Department of Education shall develop a statewide implementation plan for the EL Roadmap Policy.

(b) In developing the statewide implementation plan, the department shall do both of the following:

(1) Convene an advisory committee with representation from all of the following:

(A) Local educational agencies.

(B) Teachers who teach pupils in preschool, transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive.

(D) Nonprofit organizations with experience in implementing the EL Roadmap Policy.

(2) Identify three positions within the department that will be funded and designated to develop the EL Roadmap Policy statewide implementation plan and support local educational agencies in implementing the plan.

(1) A brief summary at the beginning of the plan that states why the statewide implementation plan is being created and its importance to bring awareness, a sense of urgency, and opportunity as it relates to the plan.

(2) Clear and measurable statewide goals of implementation.

(3) Alignment and coherence across state initiatives that reflect the EL Roadmap Policy and principles.

(4) How to incorporate the EL Roadmap Policy meaningfully within the statewide system of support established pursuant to Section 52059.5.

(5) Guidance for local educational agencies to incorporate and build alignment and coherence at the local level across programs and services.

(6) A system of monitoring and accountability of the implementation of the plan.

(d) Notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, the department shall submit a report with the statewide implementation plan for the EL Roadmap Policy to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on or before November 1, 2025.

(e) Notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, the department shall submit an annual progress report to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature commencing January 1, 2027, that identifies local educational agencies that engaged in the implementation of the plan, including, but not limited to, local educational agencies that contacted the department for assistance in implementation and those that offered professional development opportunities to assist educators in implementing the plan.