REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF THE COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO
AND RECORD OF ACTION
November 17, 2020
FROM
TED ALEJANDRE, County Superintendent, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools
SUBJECT
Title
Williams Settlement, 2019-20 Annual Report
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Receive the Williams Settlement 2019-20 Annual Report from Ted Alejandre, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, as required pursuant to Section 1240(c)(2)(E)(i) of the Education Code describing the state of the schools in the county that are ranked in Deciles 1-3, currently based on the 2012 Base Academic Performance Index (API).
(Presenter: Ted Alejandre, County Superintendent, 909-386-2407)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Pursue County Goals and Objectives by Working with Other Agencies.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The approval of this action is non-financial in nature, and therefore, does not impact Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost).
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Williams Lawsuit Settlement, reached and enacted into law* in August 2004, has set the standard for providing equitable educational opportunities and closing the achievement gap in San Bernardino County and throughout California. Williams legislation has provided an opportunity for county and district superintendents to work collaboratively to support and assist underperforming schools to improve student achievement.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed Williams v. California in 2000 on behalf of the plaintiffs - nearly 100 students from San Francisco County - as a class action lawsuit against the State of California and its educational agencies. The basis of the lawsuit was that public-school agencies failed to provide public school students with equal access to instructional materials, safe and clean school facilities, and qualified teachers. The issue of equity for disadvantaged and minority students, particularly in large and urban school districts, was the crux of the case.
The settlement covered four key areas:
• Instructional Materials: All students, including English learners, must have sufficient access to standards-aligned instructional materials or textbooks in all core subject areas for use in class and at home.
• Facilities: All schools must be safe, clean, and in good repair.
• Teacher Credentialing and Assignment: All schools must have teachers that are appropriately certificated for their specific teaching assignment, including English Learner Authorization.
• Public Reporting: All schools must include information on the sufficiency of instructional materials, repair of school facilities, and teacher misassignments and vacancies in their School Accountability Report Card (SARC). Additionally, all schools must post a notice in each classroom informing parents and guardians of their right to file a Uniform Complaint regarding instructional materials sufficiency, facilities repair, and teacher vacancy or misassignments.
In 2013-14, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) was implemented and made significant changes to education statute. Williams Settlement requirements for all schools remained in effect and were further distinguished as the first of eight state priorities that must be addressed in mandated Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs). This means all schools (monitored and those that are not) must continue adhering to Williams requirements and all districts must identify and address actions that will be taken each year to achieve and/or correct any deficiencies related to Williams compliance in their LCAPs.
The Williams legislation also requires county offices to monitor schools ranked in Deciles 1-3 currently determined by rankings on the state’s Academic Performance Index reports. 2019-20 was the seventh year of the fourth cohort (typically a three-year monitoring cycle) based on the 2012 API. One hundred and forty-nine (149) schools in San Bernardino County were subject to review and received at least one site visit. Although a new accountability system is in place, the California School Dashboard, Education Code still requires county monitoring based on the 2012 Base API.
SBCSS reviewers conducted the instructional materials and facilities reviews at all monitored schools within their first four weeks of the 2019-20 school year based on district-specific start dates. At the conclusion of the instructional materials monitoring process, there were no insufficiencies, meaning that any shortage identified at the time of visitation was resolved by the eighth week of school as required in Education Code. Overall, the county review teams found facilities conditions in good repair. Four emergency or extreme conditions were observed (two of which were remedied prior to the end of the site visit) which included: one case of a non-functional air conditioning system, one observance where an emergency exit was blocked, one instance where an emergency exit sign was not functioning, and one situation where the handle of an emergency exit window was missing.
The teacher assignment monitoring review for the 2019-20 fiscal year was postponed by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) due to passage of Assembly Bill 1219 (Chap. 782, Stats. 2019). Key provisions effective January 2020 included the monitoring of all California schools on an annual basis; corresponding roles and responsibilities of monitoring authorities; and partial automation of the monitoring process through development of the CCTC’s California Statewide Assignment Accountability System (CalSAAS). The assignment review process for the 2019/2020 fiscal year began October 1, 2020, and will conclude December 30, 2020; however, any associated findings will be considered informational only (non-consequential) as the intent is to allow for training, identification of reporting inaccuracies, and resolution of any assignment issues prior to the following consequential year.
A separate in-office review was conducted to evaluate each monitored school’s School Accountability Report Card (SARC) for accuracy of information reported to the public pertaining to sufficiency of instructional materials and the condition of school facilities based on statutory requirements and county monitoring findings. Any inaccuracies observed were communicated and resolved by the conclusion of the review period.
*SB 6 (Alpert), SB 550 (Vasconcellos), AB 1550 (Daucher), AB 2727 (Daucher), AB 3001 (Goldberg), AB 831 (Committee on Education)
PROCUREMENT
Not applicable.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by Finance (Allegra Pajot, Administrative Analyst, 387-5005) on October 19, 2020; and County Finance and Administration (Matthew Erickson, County Chief Financial Officer, 387-5423) on November 1, 2020.