Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/5139
AB 1130 tracks achievement of students over time dollars in federal education funding and provide a more accurate way of measuring student performance over time. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s sign- A ing of Assembly Bill 1130 by Assembly Member Jose Solorio (D-Santa Ana) clears the way for California’s prepara- tions to meet the student data tracking requirements of the Obama administra- tion’s education agenda. The data ele- ments are mandated in federal legisla- tion, the America Competes Act. AB 1130 revises the school account- ability system to include a growth mea- surement element in the academic per- formance index (API). The measure seeks to guide educa- tion officials as they begin to expand the state API beyond its current scope, which relies heavily on student achieve- ment test scores as the basis for com- parison. AB 1130 would direct state ed- newly s igned CTA- suppor ted measure will help California qual- ify for hundreds of millions of ucation leaders to implement methods that would track groups of students over time. An important finding of the legislation is the importance of transparency in the process. It also requires recommendations for changes offered by state panels to be brought back to the Legislature. Specifi- cally, the bill requires the state superin- tendent of public instruction’s Public School Advisory Committee to include in its deliberations measurement systems used by other states, and it brings the committee’s recommendations back to legislative education and appropriations committees. While the governor signed AB 1130, he vetoed a CTA-backed companion measure, AB 429 by Assembly Member Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica). AB 429 would have helped schools track the year-to-year performance of individual students, as wel l as the overall performance of all students as a group. Len FeLDmAn Governor signs new version of QEIA revenue limits protection bill Arnold Schwarzenegger aimed at cor- recting an error in the 2009-10 state budget. On Nov. 5, the governor signed ABx3 56, by Assembly Budget Chair Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa). The CTA-backed measure will protect A $402 million designated for the Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA). The newly signed bill guarantees that the QEIA school districts are not going to have their revenue limits cut beyond the level of cuts experienced by other school districts. The bill will keep QEIA districts whole. In short, CTA was suc- cessful in getting legislation passed and t the urging of CTA and its Educa- tion Coalition partners, the Legis- lature sent a measure to Gov. signed that protects QEIA districts from additional cuts. Funding for QEIA is intended to pro- vide additional assistance to schools whose students fall in the lowest deciles to improve their performance. Recent data, though preliminary, indicate that students in schools in the Quality Edu- cat ion Investment Act program are showing marked improvement (see sto- ry, page 26). The appropriations for QEIA grew out of the settlement of a lawsuit be- twe en CTA a n d Go v. Ar n o ld Schwarzenegger over funding owed to schools under Proposition 98. Len FeLDmAn Software Schools Designed by teachers 4 teachers Ticketing 4 Schools Digital Ticket Software * School Dances * Sporting Events * Attendance * Computer Labs * After School Programs Track ticket sales and attendance with easy to print reports and records. Voting 4 Schools Online Solution * ASB Elections * Prom King and Queen * Homecoming Court Online voting. Simple interface. View results immediately. Announcements 4 Schools Online Solution * Print or e-mail announcements Staff members can view, edit and submit school announcements in seconds. * Start and stop dates * Organize and update (866) 757-7226 Try it out! Free Demo www.software4schools.com november 2009 | www.cta.org 33