General Assembly |
File No. 468 |
January Session, 2013 |
House of Representatives, April 11, 2013
The Committee on Education reported through REP. FLEISCHMANN of the 18th Dist., Chairperson of the Committee on the part of the House, that the bill ought to pass.
AN ACT CONCERNING DISTRICT PARTNERSHIPS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 10-223f of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2013):
(a) For the [fiscal years ending June 30, 2008, to June 30, 2013, inclusive, there shall be a pilot program concerning the determination of adequate yearly progress and academic performance for the school districts for Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven. Under the program, the] school year commencing July 1, 2013, and each school year thereafter, the Department of Education shall [determine the adequate yearly progress or academic performance, as described in the state-wide education accountability plan or the state-wide performance management and support plan prepared in accordance with subsection (b) of section 10-223e, for each district] calculate the district performance index, as defined in section 10-262u, for an alliance district, as defined in said section 10-262u, with data from each school under the jurisdiction of the board of education for such alliance district and data from any state or local charter school, as defined in [subdivision (3) of] section 10-66aa, located in such alliance district, provided the local board of education for such alliance district and the state or local charter school reach mutual agreement for the inclusion of the data from the state or local charter schools and the terms of such agreement are approved by the State Board of Education.
(b) Not later than October 1, [2013] 2014, the Department of Education shall report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a, the district performance indices results, [of the determination of adequate yearly progress for any school district that participates in the pilot program pursuant to] calculated in accordance with the provisions subsection (a) of this section, to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to education.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections: | ||
Section 1 |
July 1, 2013 |
10-223f |
ED |
Joint Favorable |
The following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and explanation and do not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose. In general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of informational sources, including the analyst's professional knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.
OFA Fiscal Note
Municipalities |
Effect |
FY 14 $ |
FY 15 $ |
Various Alliance School Districts |
Potential Cost |
Indeterminate |
Indeterminate |
Various Alliance School Districts |
Potential Revenue Shift |
170,000-4.8 million |
170,000-4.8 million |
Explanation
The bill results in a potential cost and a potential revenue loss to various Alliance Districts associated with establishing a mutual agreement with state and local charter schools, within the district, to allow the charter school's students to be used as part of the district's overall scores. However, this revenue loss would be captured by a new municipality qualifying for Alliance District funding, thus resulting in a revenue shift. Currently, there is a pilot program for the Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven districts to allow for this to occur. There are currently thirty Alliance Districts, including:
Ansonia, Bloomfield, Bridgeport, Bristol, Danbury, Derby, East Hartford, East Haven, East Windsor, Hamden, Hartford, Killingly, Manchester, Meriden, Middletown, Naugatuck, New Britain, New Haven, New London, Norwalk, Norwich, Putnam, Stamford, Vernon, Waterbury, West Haven, Winchester, Windham, Windsor, and Windsor Locks.
The potential cost to various Alliance Districts is associated with the mutual agreement between the district and the charter schools. For example, Hartford currently has an agreement with Achievement First, which allows the city to use the test scores of the charter students, and in turn, the city pays for transportation services for charter students. This cost to Hartford is minimal. It is anticipated that an Alliance District would not enter into an agreement unless the costs to the district were minimal. For several districts there could be no additional costs associated with the mutual agreement.
If an Alliance District is able to use the test scores of the charter schools within their district, this could increase their district performance index (DPI), which could result in a district no longer qualifying for extra Alliance District funding through the Education Cost Sharing grant, and a new municipality qualifying for Alliance District funds. In FY 13 the Alliance District grants ranged from $170,000 to $4.8 million.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would continue into the future subject to the mutual agreements and the impact of the charter school student's test scores on the DPI.
OLR Bill Analysis
AN ACT CONCERNING DISTRICT PARTNERSHIPS.
Beginning with the 2013 school year, this bill allows a school district designated as an alliance district to mutually agree with a charter school within the district to use academic achievement scores of the charter school's students as part of the district's overall scores. Under current law, this is permitted as a pilot program for the Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven school districts. By law, unchanged by the bill, the State Board of Education (SBE) must approve these agreements.
The bill expands the type of charter school that can enter into these agreements to include local charters. By law, state charters, which are granted by SBE, are already permitted. Local charters, none of which are in Connecticut, may be granted by local boards of education.
The bill also changes the reference of academic achievement from the current terms of “adequate yearly progress and academic performance” to the “calculation of the district performance index” (DPI). DPI is the method of measuring academic performance using a district's standardized test scores. Under a 2012 law (PA 12-116), DPI is used to determine which 30 districts are designated as the lowest performing districts. These are the alliance districts that, under the same law, receive additional state assistance because they are low performing. The bill specifies that the State Department of Education (SDE) will calculate the DPI.
The bill also extends, from October 1, 2013 to October 1, 2014 the deadline for SDE to report to the Education Committee on the DPI scores reported under the bill.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2013
BACKGROUND
District Performance Index
A school district's DPI is its students' weighted performance on the statewide mastery tests in reading, writing, and mathematics given in grades three through eight and 10, and science in grades five, eight, and 10. The index is calculated by:
1. weighting student scores in each of these subjects as follows: zero for below basic (the lowest score), 25% for basic, 50% for proficient, 75% for goal, and 100% for advanced;
2. adding up the weighted student scores for each subject;
3. multiplying the aggregate student results in each subject by 30% for mathematics, reading, and writing and 10% for science; and
4. adding up the weighted subject scores.
The weightings produce the lowest indexes for districts with the lowest test scores.
Alliance Districts
An alliance district is a town whose school district is among those with the lowest academic performance as measured by the DPI. Beginning in FY 13, alliance districts' increase in education aid under the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) program will not be released by SDE unless the district agrees to take certain steps to improve student performance. These districts also received a greater increase in ECS than non-Alliance Districts.
Related Bill
HB 5499, reported favorably by the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee, requires each state public institution of higher education with a teacher preparation program to establish an internship program that encourages students to tutor children in alliance districts.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Education Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea |
33 |
Nay |
0 |
(03/22/2013) |