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CATESOL Legislative Update October 1, 2018
11/09/2018
Julius Pañares
AB 310 (Medina) – Community College Part-Time Faculty Office Hours
AB 310 (Medina) – Community College Part-Time Faculty Office Hours
This bill requires each community college district to report the total part time
AB 310 (Medina) – Community College Part-Time Faculty Office Hours
AB 310 (Medina) – Community College Part-Time Faculty Office Hours
This bill requires each community college district to report the total part time faculty office hours paid divided by the total part time faculty office hours taught, during the prior fiscal year and to post this information on its website. The issue of adequate office hours provided to part time faculty has been a CATESOL priority for several years. This bill is designed to shed light on the amount of those office hours that are provided. The bill was vetoed by the Governor who indicated the following: “As I stated in the veto of AB 2069 of 2016, the state recognizes the many contributions part-time faculty make in students' lives. Over the last few years, we increased funding for the part-time faculty office hours program by several millions of dollars in ongoing funding and $50 million in one-time funds just a few months ago. We've also created more opportunities for part-time faculty to become full-time faculty with additional investments totaling over $100 million.”
AB 1805 (Irwin) – Community Colleges; Awareness of Student Rights
This bill requires a community college to inform students of their rights to access transfer level coursework and academic credit ESL coursework, and of the multiple measures placement policies developed by the community college. Additionally, the bill requires a community college to annually report to the Office of the Chancellor of the Community Colleges the community college's placement policies and placement results and to publicly post its placement results. At the urging of CATESOL, the bill was amended to complement AB 705 from 2017 which requires community colleges to use multiple measures to student course placement. AB 705 made it clear that there is a distinction between ESL and remediation. Acquiring academic English reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills at the postsecondary level to succeed in community college coursework is as cognitively demanding as learning any foreign language. Essentially, for English language learners enrolled in credit ESL courses, English is a foreign language. AB 705 gave students taking ESL classes up to 3 years to complete this coursework. AB 1805 appropriately ensures that students are specifically aware of their rights, including those students that are English language learners.
Status: Signed by the Governor
Position: Support
AB 1808 (Budget Trailer Bill) – English Language Learners; Reclassification
Earlier this session Assembly member Patrick O’Donnell introduced AB 2763, which was the most recent of a series of bills designed to improve the EL reclassification process and protocols. In June the content of this bill was placed into the education budget trailer bill, AB 1808. This language requires the California Department of Education to develop a standardized English language teacher observation protocol for use by teachers in evaluating a pupil's English language proficiency. The bill also requires the CDE, in developing this protocol, to consult with teachers and experts and requires the department to develop and make available to local educational agencies, including charter schools, professional development tools to train teachers on the use of the protocol.
Status: Signed by the Governor
Position: Watch
AB 2098 (McCarty) – Adult Education; Immigration Integration
Existing law establishes the Statewide Director of Immigrant Integration in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, appointed by the Governor, to develop a comprehensive statewide report on programs and services that serve immigrants and programs and services currently managed by a state agency or department to support California immigrants. This bill would require the reports prepared by the chancellor and the Superintendent to be additionally provided to this agency. The bill would also require those reports to also include any recommendations related to delivery of immigrant integration for adults and would require the chancellor and the Superintendent, in conjunction with the director, to identify common measures for meeting the needs of immigrant and refugee adults seeking integration in eight specified goal areas, and, at a minimum, would require the chancellor, Superintendent, and director to both define the specific data each consortium may collect and establish a menu of common assessments and policies regarding placement of adults seeking immigrant integration into adult education programs to be used by each consortium to measure educational needs of adults and the effectiveness of providers in addressing those needs. CATESOL is supportive of this effort but wants to ensure that the data on English learner education levels is broadened and that additional information about the instructors is gathered.
Status: Signed by the Governor
Position: Support
AB 2239 (Garcia) – Pupil Instruction; World Language Courses
This bill requires the California Department of Education to encourage the governing board of each school district, and the governing body of each charter school, whose schools offer world language courses that are specifically designed for native speakers that are not approved as A‑G courses, to support their respective schools in submitting those courses to the University of California for certification and addition to the schools' A‑G course list.
Status: Signed by the Governor
Position: Watch
AB 2514 (Thurmond) – Dual Language Programs; Grants
This bill establishes the Pathways to Success Grant Program with the goal of providing pupils in preschool, transitional kindergarten, and K12, inclusive, with dual language immersion programs, developmental bilingual programs for English learners, or early learning dual language learners programs. Requires the Department of Education to administer the program by a certain date and award grants to districts, consortia of certain districts, and consortia of charter schools.
Status: Signed by the Governor
Position: Support
AB 2735 (O’Donnell) – English Learners; Participation in Regular Instruction
This bill specifies that a middle or high school pupil who is classified as an English learner shall not be denied participation in a school's standard instructional program, as defined, by being denied enrollment in specified courses, including courses required for graduation and college admission. CATESOL has supported this policy concept for the past two years. Last year’s bill was vetoed by the Governor.
Status: Signed by the Governor
Position: Support
SB 691 (Lara) – Educational Equity: Immigration Status
This bill seeks to clarify that, under the Equity in Higher Education Act, all persons in post-secondary educational institutions are entitled to equal rights and freedom from discrimination based on their immigration status. According to the author: "The Equity in Higher Education Act does not explicitly list immigration status as a covered basis for equal rights and opportunities offered to all people in postsecondary educational institutions in California. Discrimination based on immigration status in public schools is already prohibited by California law. This bill's inclusion of 'immigration status' among the protected classes from discrimination in California public schools would just make that explicitly clear." K-12 schools.
Status: Died in the Assembly
Position: Watch
SB 785 (Wiener) – Evidence: Immigration Status
This bill prohibits, in certain civil actions, the disclosure of a person's immigration status in open court unless that individual requests an in-camera hearing and the presiding judge determines that the evidence is admissible. This bill applies the same prohibition to criminal actions but would also include a prohibition on the inclusion of a person's immigration status in public court records.
Status: Signed by the Governor
Julius Pañares
AB 310 (Medina) – Community College Part-Time Faculty Office HoursAB 310 (Medina) – Community College Part-Time Faculty Office Hours
This bill requires each community college district to report the total part time
AB 310 (Medina) – Community College Part-Time Faculty Office HoursAB 310 (Medina) – Community College Part-Time Faculty Office Hours
This bill requires each community college district to report the total part time faculty office hours paid divided by the total part time faculty office hours taught, during the prior fiscal year and to post this information on its website. The issue of adequate office hours provided to part time faculty has been a CATESOL priority for several years. This bill is designed to shed light on the amount of those office hours that are provided. The bill was vetoed by the Governor who indicated the following: “As I stated in the veto of AB 2069 of 2016, the state recognizes the many contributions part-time faculty make in students' lives. Over the last few years, we increased funding for the part-time faculty office hours program by several millions of dollars in ongoing funding and $50 million in one-time funds just a few months ago. We've also created more opportunities for part-time faculty to become full-time faculty with additional investments totaling over $100 million.”
AB 1805 (Irwin) – Community Colleges; Awareness of Student Rights
This bill requires a community college to inform students of their rights to access transfer level coursework and academic credit ESL coursework, and of the multiple measures placement policies developed by the community college. Additionally, the bill requires a community college to annually report to the Office of the Chancellor of the Community Colleges the community college's placement policies and placement results and to publicly post its placement results. At the urging of CATESOL, the bill was amended to complement AB 705 from 2017 which requires community colleges to use multiple measures to student course placement. AB 705 made it clear that there is a distinction between ESL and remediation. Acquiring academic English reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills at the postsecondary level to succeed in community college coursework is as cognitively demanding as learning any foreign language. Essentially, for English language learners enrolled in credit ESL courses, English is a foreign language. AB 705 gave students taking ESL classes up to 3 years to complete this coursework. AB 1805 appropriately ensures that students are specifically aware of their rights, including those students that are English language learners.
Status: Signed by the Governor
Position: Support
AB 1808 (Budget Trailer Bill) – English Language Learners; Reclassification
Earlier this session Assembly member Patrick O’Donnell introduced AB 2763, which was the most recent of a series of bills designed to improve the EL reclassification process and protocols. In June the content of this bill was placed into the education budget trailer bill, AB 1808. This language requires the California Department of Education to develop a standardized English language teacher observation protocol for use by teachers in evaluating a pupil's English language proficiency. The bill also requires the CDE, in developing this protocol, to consult with teachers and experts and requires the department to develop and make available to local educational agencies, including charter schools, professional development tools to train teachers on the use of the protocol.
Status: Signed by the Governor
Position: Watch
AB 2098 (McCarty) – Adult Education; Immigration Integration
Existing law establishes the Statewide Director of Immigrant Integration in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, appointed by the Governor, to develop a comprehensive statewide report on programs and services that serve immigrants and programs and services currently managed by a state agency or department to support California immigrants. This bill would require the reports prepared by the chancellor and the Superintendent to be additionally provided to this agency. The bill would also require those reports to also include any recommendations related to delivery of immigrant integration for adults and would require the chancellor and the Superintendent, in conjunction with the director, to identify common measures for meeting the needs of immigrant and refugee adults seeking integration in eight specified goal areas, and, at a minimum, would require the chancellor, Superintendent, and director to both define the specific data each consortium may collect and establish a menu of common assessments and policies regarding placement of adults seeking immigrant integration into adult education programs to be used by each consortium to measure educational needs of adults and the effectiveness of providers in addressing those needs. CATESOL is supportive of this effort but wants to ensure that the data on English learner education levels is broadened and that additional information about the instructors is gathered.
Status: Signed by the Governor
Position: Support
AB 2239 (Garcia) – Pupil Instruction; World Language Courses
This bill requires the California Department of Education to encourage the governing board of each school district, and the governing body of each charter school, whose schools offer world language courses that are specifically designed for native speakers that are not approved as A‑G courses, to support their respective schools in submitting those courses to the University of California for certification and addition to the schools' A‑G course list.
Status: Signed by the Governor
Position: Watch
AB 2514 (Thurmond) – Dual Language Programs; Grants
This bill establishes the Pathways to Success Grant Program with the goal of providing pupils in preschool, transitional kindergarten, and K12, inclusive, with dual language immersion programs, developmental bilingual programs for English learners, or early learning dual language learners programs. Requires the Department of Education to administer the program by a certain date and award grants to districts, consortia of certain districts, and consortia of charter schools.
Status: Signed by the Governor
Position: Support
AB 2735 (O’Donnell) – English Learners; Participation in Regular Instruction
This bill specifies that a middle or high school pupil who is classified as an English learner shall not be denied participation in a school's standard instructional program, as defined, by being denied enrollment in specified courses, including courses required for graduation and college admission. CATESOL has supported this policy concept for the past two years. Last year’s bill was vetoed by the Governor.
Status: Signed by the Governor
Position: Support
SB 691 (Lara) – Educational Equity: Immigration Status
This bill seeks to clarify that, under the Equity in Higher Education Act, all persons in post-secondary educational institutions are entitled to equal rights and freedom from discrimination based on their immigration status. According to the author: "The Equity in Higher Education Act does not explicitly list immigration status as a covered basis for equal rights and opportunities offered to all people in postsecondary educational institutions in California. Discrimination based on immigration status in public schools is already prohibited by California law. This bill's inclusion of 'immigration status' among the protected classes from discrimination in California public schools would just make that explicitly clear." K-12 schools.
Status: Died in the Assembly
Position: Watch
SB 785 (Wiener) – Evidence: Immigration Status
This bill prohibits, in certain civil actions, the disclosure of a person's immigration status in open court unless that individual requests an in-camera hearing and the presiding judge determines that the evidence is admissible. This bill applies the same prohibition to criminal actions but would also include a prohibition on the inclusion of a person's immigration status in public court records.
Status: Signed by the Governor