California Senate Bill SB19 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: SB 19AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 2, 2009 INTRODUCED BY Senator Simitian DECEMBER 1, 2008  An act relating to education data.   An act to amend Section 10804 of the Education Code, relating to education data, and making an appropriation therefor.  LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 19, as amended, Simitian. Education data.  Existing law requires the State Chief Information Officer to convene a working group representing specified entities to create a strategic plan to link education data systems and to accomplish specified objectives relating to the accessibility of education data. The State Chief Information Officer is required to deliver this strategic plan to the Legislature and the Governor no later than September 1, 2009.   This bill would require that these provisions be implemented using federal grant funds received pursuant to the Education Technical Assistance Act for Statewide Data Systems, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, as specified. The bill would appropriate funds for these purposes on a one-time basis.   Existing law states the intent of the Legislature to make complete, current, and reliable information relating to education available to the Legislature and to all public educational agencies in California at maximum efficiency and economy through statewide compatibility in the development and application of information systems and electronic data-processing techniques insofar as they relate to data required in reports to the State Department of Education.   This bill would further state the intent of the Legislature to amend the Education Code to enact legislation that would create in state government the Statewide Education Data Governing Board, the purpose of which would be to facilitate the linking of education data from disparate education and noneducation sources.  Vote: majority. Appropriation:  no   yes  . Fiscal committee:  no   yes  . State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) Several recent attempts to analyze and improve the state of education in California, such as the "Getting Down to Facts," "Closing the Achievement Gap," and "Students First" reports, have concluded that the dearth of high-quality, comprehensive, and longitudinal education data is significantly impeding the state's capacity to assess, and therefore improve, education policy and investment decisions. (b) This information scarcity is particularly acute in areas where more and better data could help the state address its greatest education challenges, such as the achievement gap, preschool quality, and workforce and college preparation. (c) In addition to addressing these specific policy problems, better education data systems are a necessary precondition for continued learning at the institutional level and in the classroom. (d) Under California's decentralized education system, there is no entity charged with ensuring that high-quality, comprehensive, and longitudinal data exists, and no entity accountable for its absence.  (e) It is therefore the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation amending the Education Code that would create in state government the Statewide Education Data Governing Board, the purpose of which is to facilitate the linking of education data from disparate education and noneducation sources, to ensure the quality of state education data, and to provide appropriate access to that data for educational purposes.   SEC. 2.   Section 10804 of the   Education Code   is amended to read:  10804. (a) The State Chief Information Officer appointed pursuant to Section 11545 of the Government Code shall convene a working group representing, at a minimum, the state board, the Superintendent, the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, the University of California, the California State University, and any other governmental entities that collect, report, or use individual pupil education data that would become part of the comprehensive education data system. The State Chief Information Officer shall form an advisory committee to the working group that includes school and district administrators, teachers and faculty, education program providers, policymakers, researchers, parents, and pupils. (b) The working group convened pursuant to this section shall create a strategic plan to link education data systems from all segments and to accomplish all of the following: (1) Provide an overall structural design for the linked education data systems. (2) Examine current state education data systems. (3) Examine the protocols and procedures to be used by state agencies in data processing, including, but not limited to, collecting, storing, manipulating, sharing, retrieving, and releasing data so as to enable each state agency to accurately and efficiently collect and share data with the other state agencies while complying with all applicable state and federal privacy laws. (4) Identify specific procedures and policies that would be necessary to ensure the privacy of pupil record information so as to meet both federal requirements and the higher expectations of privacy held by the state. (c) The strategic plan shall be delivered by the State Chief Information Officer to the Legislature and the Governor on or before September 1, 2009.  (d) This section shall be implemented using federal grant funds received pursuant to the Education Technical Assistance Act for Statewide Data Systems, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5), which are appropriated for these purposes on a one-time basis. Appropriations made pursuant to this subdivision may be authorized not sooner than 30 days after notification to and approval by the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.