09/29/2008 GAAS:682:08 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Print Version | Email / Share
Gov. Schwarzenegger Signs Legislation Laying Foundation for Comprehensive Statewide Education Data System
Measure Ensures Increased Accessibility to Education Data
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced he has signed SB 1298 by Joseph Simitian (D-Palo Alto), which will lay the foundation for the design and implementation of a comprehensive statewide education data system and ensure increased accessibility to education data in California.
"Information and data drives where parents send their children to school, allows teachers to better understand and respond to the needs of their students and affects what policies elected officials pursue," said Governor Schwarzenegger. "A comprehensive education data system is essential for the future of California's education system - and having access to such information is essential to ensuring parents can make better informed decisions about their children's education."
SB 1298 requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to establish a process by which local educational agencies (LEAs) issue, maintain, and report information using the unique statewide pupil identifiers for state and federally funded center-based child care and development programs. The bill also requires the State Chief Information Officer (CIO) to convene a working group to create a strategic plan that, among other things, provides an overall structural design for the linked data system and examines the procedures to be used by state agencies in data processing.
SB 1298 also requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC), State Board of Education (SBE) and the California Department of Education to provide the CIO with non-personally identifiable individual or aggregate educational data in an agreed upon format and in a timely matter according to an agreed upon schedule - at no cost to the CIO.
Signing SB 1298 facilitates the timely release of education data for use on California School Finder, a Web site recently launched by Governor Schwarzenegger in upholding his promise to increase parents' accessibility to data on California's schools. This new Web site allows parents to easily find and compare schools side-by-side on data such as graduation rates and Academic Performance Index (API) scores, as well as information on student support services and advanced placement courses, in a one-stop easy-to-navigate Web site.
