CDCAN REPORT 015-2006 GOV SIGNS SB 517 HIGH EXIT EXAM EXEMPTION.htm

CDCAN
CALIFORNIA DISABILITY COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK
DISABILITY RIGHTS NEWS REPORT
#0015-2006 January 30, 2006 Monday
Advocacy Without Borders:
Connecting people with disabilities & seniors to rights and unified action
1225 8th Street Suite 480 - Sacramento, CA 95814 916/446-0013 Fax: 916/446-0026
Marty Omoto - director email: martyomoto@rcip.com website: www.cdcan.us

Special Education Students
* GOVERNOR SIGNS SB 517 HIGH SCHOOL EXIT EXAM BILL
* IMPACTS POTENTIALLY OVER 20,000 STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
* SEN. ROMERO SAYS HER BILL "LEVELS PLAYING FIELD"

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, as expected, signed this afternoon (January 30) SB 517 by Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) that exempts potentially over 20,000 high school students in special education from the requirement of passing the California High School Exit Exam as a condition of graduating from high school in 2006, providing they meet certain criteria. SB 517 also requires school districts to certify whether students with special needs have been provided with remedial or supplemental instruction focused on the math and English language arts skills tested in the high school exit exam, and further requires the State Board of Education to review any appeal filed against a school district or state special school that fails to grant a 2006 high school diploma to a student meeting the criteria in SB 517.

In signing the bill the Governor said that "...it is incumbent upon us to ensure through uniform standards that our children are receiving the best possible education but we must also be vigilant that our disabled students are not penalized. While the overwhelming majority are able to pass the exit exam, we must continue our collaborative search for ways to ensure that all of our special education students are prepared for success."

Sen Romero said that “SB 517 is about leveling the playing field for students with disabilities who have worked alongside their peers to earn the same high school diplomas", observing that “When only one third of high school seniors with disabilities have passed the exit exam yet are succeeding in every other way, we have to ask if this exam is the appropriate final checkpoint for graduation. Just in time, SB 517 is a victory for a portion of the class of 2006. But we are headed right back to the drawing board in search of fairness for many other students who will not benefit from this legislation.”

Bill Implements One Part of Lawsuit Settlement
The exemption only applies to students with special needs through December 31, 2006 and only implements one piece of a lawsuit, Chapman v California Department of Education, et.al. that the State settled last August with Disability Rights Advocates. A copy of the settlement agreement is on the CDCAN website at www.cdcan.us
Current state law requires that every student, beginning with the Class of 2006, pass the California High School Exit Exam in order to receive a high school diploma.
The lawsuit, filed in 2001, alleged that the administration of the California High School Exit Exam to special education students was discriminatory and unfair. A settlement agreement was reached in August of 2005 but legislation to implement the settlement, SB 586 also by Sen. Romero, was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger in October because it extended the exemption from one to two years.
An independent evaluation of the impact of the high school exit exam by the Human Resources Research Organization found that students with special needs perform disproportionately lower than all other subgroups, including English Learners, with little or no improvement in scores over time and after several administrations of the exam.

BACKGROUND OF THE ORIGINAL LAWSUIT
* In 2001, Disability Rights Advocates filed a class action lawsuit in state court in Alameda County (Chapman v. California Department of Education et al) challenging the California High School Exit Exam a test that discriminated against students with special needs who must pass the exam in order to receive a high school diploma. The suit contended that California failed to provide an alternate test or assessment for students with special needs.
* The California Department of Education reported in the Spring 2004 that statewide 30% of students with special needs passed a trial run through of the high school exit exam.
* In September 2004 the Human Resources Research Organization contracted by the state to review the high school exit exam, reported that "Students receiving special education services showed the smallest increase in mathematics passing rates of all demographic groups, improving by only 1%, from 27% to 28%. This group also showed a noticeable drop in English language arts passing rates, from 32% to 29%."
* The case was settled on August 26, 2005, with both parties reaching a temporary settlement that would permit certain students with special needs in the graduating class of 2006 to be exempted from taking the high school exit exam if certain procedures and conditions were followed. A copy of the settlement agreement is available on the CDCAN website at www.cdcan.us
* Sen. Romero subsequently introduced legislation amended into SB 586 late in August to implement a part of the settlement, but extended the exemption from one to two years, and made other changes that drew the opposition of State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, who urged Gov. Schwarzenegger to veto the bill. The Governor vetoed the bill. O'Connell, a Democrat, was the author of the legislation when he was in the State Senate, that enacted the California High School Exit Exam, in 1999.

WHAT SB 517 DOES
SB 517 remains in effect only until December 31, 2006, though the the State Department of Education, legislators and the attorneys representing the students with special needs who filed the original lawsuit, along with other advocates are working for a permanent solution.
As signed into law, SB 517 requires school districts or state special schools to grant high school diplomas to students with special needs, who have not passed the California High School Exit Exam and are scheduled to graduate from high school in 2006 and do not qualify for a local waiver if the following criteria is met:
* The student with special needs has an existing individualized education program (IEP) or Section 504 Plan.
* The student with special needs is on a high school diploma track with an anticipated graduation from high school in 2006, according to the student's IEP or Section 504 plan, dated on or before July 1, 2005.
* The school district or state special school certified that the student has completed or is about to complete all other state and local graduation requirements.
* The student with special needs has taken the high school exit exam at least twice since the 10th grade, including at least once during the student's senior year with the accommodations and/or modifications specified in the students IEP or Section 504 Plan.
* Either of the following has occurred:
1. The student received remedial or supplemental instruction focused on the high school exit exam either through the student's school, private tutoring or other means; OR
2. The school district or state special school failed to provide remedial or supplemental instruction opportunities to the student.
* The student has taken the high school exit exam at least once after taking any remedial or supplemental instruction, except if following that instruction, there is no further administration of the high school exit exam on or before December 31, 2006.
* The student or (if the student with special needs is a minor) the student's parent or legal guardian, have acknowledged in writing that the student has a right to receive free appropriate public education up to an including the academic year during which the pupil reaches age 22, or until the student receives a high school diploma, whichever occurs first.
* Requires school districts or state special schools to submit to the State Board of Education documentation of the district or school's failure to grant a high school diploma within 15 days of the determination that a student with special needs does not meet the criteria outlined in the bill to be granted an exemption.
* Requires the State Board of Education to review any school district or state special school's failure to grant a high school diploma under the provisions of SB 517 no later than at its next regularly scheduled meeting occurring at least 30 days after receiving complete documentation from the school district or state special school.
* Allows State Board of Education to direct the school district or state special school to grant a high school diploma to a student that the State Board of Education finds meets the criteria outlined in SB 517 for a student with special needs to be granted an exemption.
* Requires each school district and state special school to report to the Superintendent of Public Instruction the following information:
1. Documentation of the procedure used to implement SB 517.
2. The number of students with special needs who were granted diplomas under the provisions of SB 517
3. Any additional relevant information.
* Requires school districts to report to the State Board of Education the number and characteristics of waivers reviewed, granted, and denied under the existing waiver process for students with special needs who have taken the high school exit exam with accommodations or modifications.

CDCAN VOTE RECORD REPORT - SB 517
This is the CDCAN legislative vote record report for the final votes on SB 517 before it went to the Governor.

State Senate Floor
Total Senators: 40 members - 25 Democrats, 14 Republicans and 1 vacancy)
Action 01/26/06: Passed Senate 27-0 . Sent to Governor.
Aye Votes - 27
Democrats Voting Aye (17): Alarcon, Alquist, Bowen, Ducheny, Dunn, Florez, Kehoe, Kuehl, Lowenthal, Machado, Perata (Senate President Pro Tem), Romero, Scott, Soto, Speier, Torlakson, and Vincent
Republicans Voting Aye (10): Ackerman (Senate Republican Leader), Ashburn, Cox, Denham, Dutton, Hollingsworth, Maldonado, Margett, Morrow, Poochigian,
No Votes - 0
Democrats Voting No (0): -none-
Republicans Voting No (0): -none-
Absent, Abstaining or Not Voting - 13
Democrats (8): Cedillo, Chesbro, Escutia, Figueroa, Migden, Murray, Ortiz, and Simitian
Republicans (4): Aanestad, Battin, McClintock, and George Runner
Other (1): vacant seat (35th District)

Assembly Floor
Action 01/23/06: Passed Assembly 70-1 [Concurrence or agreement of the changes (amendments) made in the Senate. To Senate.
Total Assemblymembers: 80 members - 48 Democrats and 32 Republicans)
Aye Votes - 70
Democrats Voting Aye (42): Arambula, Baca, Bass, Berg, Bermudez, Canciamilla, Chan, Chavez, Chu, Cohn, Coto, De La Torre, Dymally, Evans, Goldberg, Hancock, Jerome Horton, Jones, Karnette, Klehs, Laird, Leno, Levine, Lieber, Lieu, Matthews, Montanez, Mullin, Nation, Nava, Negrete McLeod, Nunez (Assembly Speaker), Oropeza, Parra, Ruskin, Saldana, Salinas, Torrico, Umberg, Vargas, Wolk, and Yee
Republicans Voting Aye (28): Aghazarian, Blakeslee, Daucher, DeVore, Emmerson, Garcia, Harman, Shirley Horton, Houston, Huff, Keene, La Malfa, La Suer, Leslie, Maze, McCarthy (Assembly Republican Leader), Mountjoy, Nakanishi, Niello, Plescia, Richman, Sharon Runner, Spitzer, Strickland, Tran, Villines, Walters and Wyland
No Votes - 1
Democrats Voting No (0): -none-
Republicans Voting No (1): Haynes
Absent, Abstaining or Not Voting - 9
Democrats (6): Calderon, Frommer, Koretz, Liu, Pavley and Ridley-Thomas
Republicans (3):Benoit, Bogh and Cogdill

NEXT STEPS
* SB 517,because it was an "urgency" or emergency bill, became effective immediately after the Governor signed it. Meanwhile, all parties to the lawsuit (Chapman v. California Department of Education) are attempting to resolve problems to move forward on the other parts of the settlement reached last August, including a permanent solution regarding the high school exit exam and students with special needs.
* Another HIgh School Exit Lawsuit: A major San Francisco based law firm, Morrison & Foerster is preparing to file a lawsuit, against the
California Board of Education, on behalf of thousands of other high school students, citing of "the equity of the California High School Exit Exam". The law firm is in the process of gathering information how the high school exit exam has impacted students on an individual level. For more information persons can contact Chris Young at cyoung@mofo.com, or call Morrison & Foerster LLP, 425 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94105-2482, phone 415/268-7027 or fax 415/268-7522.
* Special Education Mediation Lawsuit: Filed in December by parent advocates and others, currently the lawsuit is on hold, after a Sacramento Superior Court Judge on January 3, refused to issue a temporary order that would have stopped the transfer of the mediation services from McGeorge School of Law to the state's Office of Administrative Hearings.
* CDCAN Townhall Telemeeting scheduled on MARCH 13, 2006 at 1:00 PM to 2:45 PM on special education issues including the latest information on the various lawsuits. See CDCAN website at www.cdcan.us, click under "Townhall Telemeetings" for more information.

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The California Disability Community Action Network is a non-partisan link to thousands of Californians with developmental and other disabilities, people with traumatic brain and other injures, seniors and their families, community organizations and providers, direct care and other workers, and other advocates. These action alerts and news reports is for all of them. If you would like to get on this distribution (and conversely, get off of it) please send an email with that request to: martyomoto@rcip.com OR sign up via the NEW CDCAN website at www.cdcan.us Sharing information is part of our organizing effort. Please feel free to forward or copy this (attribution is nice but not necessary). We're all in this together!