Pupil instruction: newcomer pupils: curriculum frameworks: high school coursework and graduation requirements: exemptions and alternatives.

(1) Existing law, subject to an appropriation of funds for this purpose in the annual Budget Act, requires the State Department of Social Services, in collaboration with the State Department of Education, to administer the California Newcomer Education and Well-Being Program (CalNEW) to provide services for newcomer pupils, English learners, and immigrant families by allocating funding to school districts and county offices of education, as specified. Existing law, for the purposes of CalNEW, defines "newcomer pupils" as individuals 3 through 21 years of age who were not born in any state and have not been attending one or more schools in any one or more states for more than 3 full academic years. This bill would require the State Department of Education to (A) curate and maintain on its internet website information regarding requirements, best practices, and available state and federally funded programs for newcomer pupils and (B) publicly report on an annual basis on its internet website the enrollment of newcomer pupils, as provided. (2) Existing law requires the Instructional Quality Commission to recommend curriculum frameworks to the State Board of Education. This bill would require the commission to consider including content designed to provide teachers with resources to meet the unique academic and English language development needs of newcomer pupils at all grade levels at the next regularly scheduled revision of the curriculum framework in English Language Arts and English Language Development. The bill would also require the commission to ensure that the instructional materials for pupils in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 8, inclusive, that it recommends to the state board for adoption include resources to help teachers meet the needs of newcomer pupils. (3) Existing law defines "a pupil participating in a newcomer program" as a pupil who is participating in a program designed to meet the academic and transitional needs of newly arrived immigrant pupils that has as a primary objective the development of English language proficiency. Existing law requires local educational agencies to exempt a pupil participating in a newcomer program and who is in their 3rd or 4th year of high school from all coursework and other requirements adopted by the governing body of the local educational agency that are in addition to the statewide coursework requirements necessary to receive a diploma of graduation from high school, unless the local educational agency makes a finding that the pupil is reasonably able to complete the local educational agency's graduation requirements in time to graduate from high school by the end of the pupil's 4th year of high school. Existing law requires local educational agencies to comply with other procedures in relation to pupils participating in newcomer programs, including, among other things, consultation and notice provisions. Existing law requires local educational agencies to issue, and new local educational agencies to accept, full or partial credit for all full or partial coursework satisfactorily completed by a pupil participating in a newcomer program while attending a public school, a juvenile court school, a charter school, a school in a country other than the United States, or a nonpublic, nonsectarian school, as provided. This bill would require that local educational agencies comply with the above-described coursework exemptions, pupil consultation and notice requirements, acceptance of coursework completed at other schools, and other requirements for newcomer pupils, as defined, instead of for pupils participating in a newcomer program. By imposing new duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law prohibits a middle or high school pupil who is classified as an English learner from being denied participation in the standard instructional program of a school, as provided. Existing law authorizes certain pupils to be denied access to enrollment in courses that are part of the standard instructional program, including middle school or high schools pupils classified as English learners and who have recently arrived in the United States or who are participating in a program designed to meet the academic and transitional needs of newly arrived immigrant pupils that has as a primary objective the development of English language proficiency, as provided. This bill instead would authorize a middle or high school pupil who is classified as an English learner and who is a newcomer pupil, as defined, or is participating in a program designed to meet the transitional needs of newcomer pupils that has as a primary objective the development of English language proficiency to be denied access to enrollment in courses that are part of the standard instructional program, as provided. By imposing new requirements on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.