AB 2527: School accountability: model surveys.

Existing law required, on or before July 1, 2014, the governing boards of school districts and county boards of education to adopt a local control and accountability plan using a state template adopted by the State Board of Education. Existing law requires the local control and accountability plan to include, among other things, a description of annual goals for all pupils and specified subgroups of pupils to be achieved for certain state priorities, including a school climate priority, as measured by, among other things, local surveys of pupils, parents, and teachers on the sense of safety and school connectedness, and a parental involvement priority. Existing law provides that an adopted local control and accountability plan is effective for 3 years and requires the governing board of each school district and each county board of education to update its local control and accountability plan before July 1 of each year. Existing law requires the governing boards of school districts and county offices of education to each establish a parent advisory committee to provide advice to the governing board of the school district or the county office of education regarding the requirements of local control and accountability plans.

This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to convene an advisory committee consisting of representatives from the state board, public schools, governing boards of school districts, local educational agencies, parent groups, parent and youth-serving community-based organizations, and advocacy organizations to provide general guidance on, and to make recommendations relating to, the creation of model survey questions. The bill would require the Superintendent, on or before July 1, 2017, to recommend model surveys to the state board for consideration and adoption, and, if the state board adopts the model surveys, would require the model surveys to be made available to local educational agencies and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence as a resource to assist local educational agencies, including in assisting them in meeting the local survey requirement on safety and school connectedness. The bill also would express the Legislatures intent to, among other things, provide funding to support local educational agencies with the implementation of the surveys.