BILL NUMBER: SB 344INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator Padilla FEBRUARY 20, 2013 An act to add Section 313.6 to the Education Code, relating to English learners. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 344, as introduced, Padilla. English learner services: effectiveness: report. Existing law, an initiative measure, requires that all children in public schools, with certain exceptions, be taught English by being taught in English, requires that all children be placed in English language classrooms, and requires that children who are English learners be educated through sheltered English immersion during a temporary transition period not normally intended to exceed one year. Existing law, if specified conditions are met, requires the State Department of Education, by January 1, 2014, to review and analyze the criteria, policies, and practices that a sampling of school districts that represent the geographic, socioeconomic, and demographic diversity of school districts in the state use to reclassify English learners, and recommend to the Legislature and to the State Board of Education any guideline, regulatory, or statutory changes that the department determines are necessary to identify when English learners are prepared for the successful transition to classrooms and curricula that require English proficiency, and to issue an updated report by January 1, 2017. This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction, by January 1, 2016, and every 2 years thereafter, to evaluate the effectiveness of the English learner services provided by local educational agencies and, notwithstanding specified provisions of law, to report his or her findings to the Governor and the Legislature. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 313.6 is added to the Education Code, immediately following Section 313.5, to read: 313.6. By January 1, 2016, and every two years thereafter, the Superintendent shall evaluate the effectiveness of the English learner services provided by local educational agencies and, notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, shall report his or her findings to the Governor and the Legislature.