Today's Law As Amended


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SB-594 Pupil instruction: English Learner Roadmap Initiative.(2019-2020)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The State Board of Education adopted the California English Learner Roadmap policy on July 12, 2017, to assist the State Department of Education in providing guidance to local educational agencies in welcoming, understanding, and educating the diverse population of pupils who are English learners attending California public schools.
(b) The California English Learner Roadmap policy is designed to strengthen comprehensive educational policies, programs, and practices for English learners, and it explicitly focuses on English learners in the context of the state’s efforts to improve the educational system, the quality of teaching and learning, and educational outcomes.
(c) If the California English Learner Roadmap policy is properly articulated and coordinated with other efforts to improve learning outcomes in this state, it will enable the state’s large population of English learners to attain college- and career-ready standards.

SEC. 2.

 Chapter 5.5 (commencing with Section 425) is added to Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, to read:

CHAPTER  5.5. California English Learner Roadmap Initiative
425.
 (a) The California English Learner Roadmap Initiative is hereby established under the administration of the department and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE).
(b) As used in this chapter:
(1) “EL Roadmap” means the California English Learner Roadmap policy adopted by the state board in 2017.
(2) “Program” means the California English Learner Roadmap Initiative established by this chapter.
(c) The purposes served by the program include, but are not necessarily limited to, all of the following:
(1) Building capacity in school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools for implementation of the EL Roadmap.
(2) Including the EL Roadmap at every level of the statewide system of support.
(3) Establishing connections to the local control and accountability plan and the plan adopted pursuant to Title III of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (as reauthorized by Public Law 114-95), leading to meaningful goals and outcomes requiring full access to curriculum, assuring meaningful progress toward attaining academic English proficiency, and closing gaps in academic achievement for pupils who are English learners.
(4) Implementing instructional programs that effectively develop academic content knowledge, discipline, specific practices, academic language, and bilingual and biliterate proficiency.
(5) Identifying and emphasizing high-quality models for professional development regarding the EL Roadmap, including, but not necessarily limited to, providing coaching for principals and the implementation of other models to best meet the needs of school leaders.
(6) Establishing alignment and articulation of the EL Roadmap across and within state and school district systems.
426.
 (a) The department and the CCEE shall administer the program.
(b) (1) The department and the CCEE shall establish a process, administered by the department, to select, subject to the approval of the executive director of the state board, a county office of education with expertise relating to English learners and the EL Roadmap to serve as the lead agency to conduct the activities required pursuant to this section.
(2) The department shall allocate funds to the lead agency county office of education, and the lead agency shall administer grants to local educational agencies to assist in the implementation of regional efforts relating to the EL Roadmap and to highlight best practices and exemplary programs or models from throughout the state that can be scaled and learned from. The lead agency county office of education shall collaborate with the regional county office of education English learner specialists.
(3) Commencing with the 2020–21 school year, the lead agency shall award grants to applicants who meet the eligibility criteria determined by the department. The number of grants to be awarded by the lead agency, and the amounts and durations of those grants, shall be contingent on the level of funding received and the number and quality of the applications.
(c) The criteria to be applied by the department, the CCEE, and the lead agency county office of education in determining which of the applicants shall receive a grant for purposes of conducting activities required of the lead agency under the program shall include all of the following:
(1) Demonstrated expertise in the principles and elements of the EL Roadmap.
(2) Demonstrated expertise in instruction, services, and programs, including, but not necessarily limited to, bilingual programs, specific to pupils who are English learners, including English learners who qualify for special education services.
(3) Demonstrated expertise in assessments in Spanish and other languages in addition to English.
(4) Demonstrated expertise in the statewide system of support.
(5) Ability to coordinate and calibrate assistance and support to county offices of education, school districts, and consortia of charter schools.
(6) Capability of convening its lead personnel in English learner instruction at least four times per year to share best practices, support materials, and other important information.
(7) Ability to provide to the department, the CCEE, and the lead agency county office of education an annual written review of its efforts under the program.
(8) Ability to partner with other entities, including, but not necessarily limited to, nonprofit organizations, professional organizations, and institutions of higher education.
(d) (1) The department and the CCEE shall submit, in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, a written report about the program to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2024. This report shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, a listing of all of the grants that have been awarded under the program and a summary of the information provided by the grant recipients in the reports they made under paragraph (7) of subdivision (c).
(2) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this subdivision shall become inoperative on January 1, 2025.
427.
 The implementation of this chapter is contingent upon the enactment of an appropriation for its purposes in the Budget Act or another statute.