Pupil achievement: Closing the Achievement Gap Commission.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not explicitly mention that students are directly affected by this bill, though it may indirectly impact them through changes to local educational agencies and state support.

Closing the Achievement Gap Commission

This law creates an advisory group called the Closing the Achievement Gap Commission, which will study and report on ways to help local educational agencies close achievement gaps.

What This Bill Does

• Creates an advisory body named the Closing the Achievement Gap Commission.
• Sets up rules for who can join the commission and how long they can stay on it.
• Requires the commission to meet at least four times a year after its first year.
• Asks the commission to assess gaps in state support for local educational agencies in closing achievement gaps.
• Needs the commission to write reports each year with recommendations for helping schools.

Who It Names or Affects

• Local educational agencies and school districts
• The State Board of Education

Terms To Know

Achievement Gap

The difference in academic performance between groups of students, often based on race or income.

Local Educational Agency (LEA)

An organization that provides public education services to a specific area, such as a school district.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how the commission will be funded.
• It is unclear what actions the state board must take based on the reports from the commission.

Official Summary Text

AB 2202, as amended, Muratsuchi.
Pupil achievement: Closing the Achievement Gap Commission.
Existing law establishes the State Board of Education and requires the state board to study educational conditions and needs of the state and to make plans for the improvement of the administration and efficiency of the public schools of the state. Existing law establishes the State Department of Education under the administration of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and assigns to the department numerous responsibilities relating to the governance of the public elementary and secondary schools in the state.
This bill would establish the Closing the Achievement Gap Commission as an advisory body to the state board. The bill would require the membership of the commission to consist of
13
17
voting members and one nonvoting member with an advisory vote, as provided. The bill would require
9
13
members of the commission to be appointed by the
President pro Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the
Governor pursuant to a specified application process and would require those members to reflect geographic, demographic, and
district-type
local educational agency-type
diversity. The bill would limit members appointed to the commission to one 4-year term, as provided. The bill would require the commission to annually elect a chair and vice chair and meet at least 4 times annually in the first year after its creation, and as needed thereafter, at the call of the chair or the state board. The bill would require the commission to, among other things, continually assess the extent to which there are gaps in state support for local educational agencies in their efforts to close achievement gaps. The bill would require the commission, on or before December
1 of each year,
1, 2028, and annually thereafter,
to submit a report to the Governor, the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, the state board, and the department with recommendations and proposed actions that the state can take to help and support local educational agencies in closing the achievement gap. The bill would require the state board to consider those reports as an agenda item at a regularly scheduled public meeting or as provided and would require the department to post those reports on the department’s internet website.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF