BILL NUMBER: AB 173INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Price JANUARY 29, 2009 An act relating to education. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 173, as introduced, Price. Low-performing schools. Existing law contains provisions intended to identify and assist low-performing schools and school districts. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to create, and to appropriate funds for, a commission tasked with identifying the necessary and appropriate steps toward creation of a measure of pupil learning over time, expectations for pupil performance based upon that measure, and nuanced eligibility criteria for schools and school districts to enter into program improvement, as specified. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to create a commission that will identify the necessary and appropriate steps toward creation of all of the following: (1) A measure of pupil learning over time that unifies the Academic Performance Index (API) and federal adequate yearly progress data and calculations, and allows the state to qualify for flexibility under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.). (2) Expectations for pupil performance based upon the measure created pursuant to subdivision (a). (3) Eligibility criteria for schools and school districts to enter into program improvement that are nuanced enough to distinguish among schools and school districts based upon specified pupil performance problems. (b) It is further the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to appropriate funds for the commission described in subdivision (a).