SARC Legislation

Proposition 98 - Approved by California voters on November 8, 1988:

• Declared that " . . . (i)t is the intent of the People of California to ensure that our schools spend money where it is most needed. Therefore, this Act will require every local school board to prepare a School Accountability Report Card to guarantee accountability for the dollars spent."
  
  
• Added Section 8.5(e) to Article XVI of the California Constitution, which requires that "(a)ny school district maintaining an elementary or secondary school shall develop and cause to be prepared an annual audit accounting for such funds and shall adopt a School Accountability Report Card for each school."
  
  
• Added Section 33126 to the California Education Code (EC), which directs the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop and present for adoption to the State Board of Education (SBE) a model SARC containing an assessment of various school conditions.
  
  
• Added EC Section 35256, which mandates all elementary and secondary school districts in California annually to prepare for each school within the district a SARC that contains the items described in EC Section 33126, to publicize the SARCs, and to notify parents or guardians of students that a copy of the SARC will be provided on request.

Senate Bill 280 - Effective November 8, 1988

EC sections 35256.1, 41409, and 41409.3 were added [Chapter 1463, Statutes of 1989] to require that specified Average Salary information be included in each SARC.

Assembly Bill 1248 - Effective January 1, 1993

EC sections 41409 and 41409.3 were amended [Chapter 759, Statutes of 1992] to require that specified Average Salary information be based on district expenditures rather than district budgets, and revised the specific types and sizes of school districts for which the information is determined.

Assembly Bill 198 - Effective January 1, 1994

EC Section 33126 was amended [Chapter 1031, Statutes of 1993] to require that the statewide model school accountability report card also include, as a school condition to be assessed, the degree to which students are prepared to enter the work force.

Senate Bill 1665 - Effective January 1, 1995

EC Section 33126 was amended [Chapter 824, Statutes of 1994] to add the total number of instructional minutes offered in the school year to the list of conditions to be assessed in each SARC.

Assembly Bill 572 - Effective January 1, 1998

EC Section 33126 was amended [Chapter 912, Statutes of 1997] to add the following required items to each SARC:

• The results by grade level from the assessment tool used by the school district, and after it is developed, the statewide assessment
• Average verbal and math Scholastic Assessment Test scores
• The one-year dropout rate
• The percentage of pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 3, inclusive, participating in the Class Size Reduction Program
• The total number of the school's credentialed teachers
• The annual number of school days dedicated to staff development
• The suspension and expulsion rates for the most recent three-year period

Assembly Bill 568 - Effective January 1, 1998

EC Section 33126 was amended [Chapter 918, Statutes of 1997] to require each school district that is connected to the Internet to make the information contained in the SARC accessible on the Internet on or before July 1, 1998, and to update the SARC information annually.

Senate Bill 1632 - Effective September 30, 2000

EC Section 33126 was amended and EC Section 33126.1 was added [Chapter 996, Statutes of 2000] to require the California Department of Education to:

• Develop and recommend to the State Board of Education (SBE) for adoption a standardized SARC template
• Post the completed and viewable template on the Internet
• Develop and recommend to the SBE for adoption a set of standardized definitions for the SARC's required data elements
• Maintain links to the SARCs posted on the Internet

These statutory changes also added additional assessments of school conditions to be included in SARCs, required districts with access to the Internet to make their SARCs available on the Internet, and required schools to ensure that all parents receive a copy of the SARC.

Public Law 107-110 Section 1111 (PDF)- Effective September 1, 2002

The federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act established new requirements for reporting accountability data related to schools and local educational agencies. In particular, NCLB added the following school reporting requirements:

• The status of "Adequate Yearly Progress" as defined by NCLB
• Graduation rates according to a formula approved by the United States Department of Education
• The status of Title I Program Improvement, if applicable
• The extent to which highly qualified teachers are teaching classes in core content areas

Senate Bill 550 - Effective September 29, 2004

This urgency measure [Chapter 900, Statutes of 2004], which took effect immediately, implemented portions of the settlement agreement in the case of Williams, et al. v. State of California, et al. that impact the SARC.

With respect to the SARCs to be published in the 2004-05 school year, Senate Bill 550 added additional reporting requirements relating to (1) any needed maintenance to ensure good repair of school facilities; (2) the number of teacher misassignments, including the misassignment of teachers of English learners; (3) the number of vacant teacher positions; and (4) the availability of sufficient textbooks and other instructional materials.

Senate Bill 687 - Effective January 1, 2006

EC Section 33126 was amended and EC Section 33126.15 was added [Chapter 258, Statutes of 2005] to expand the existing SARC content requirements in the areas of teacher salaries, per pupil expenditures, career technical education, and textbook sufficiency.

Assembly Bill 1061 - Effective January 1, 2008

EC Sections 33126, 33126.1, 35256, and 35258 were amended [Chapter 530, Statues of 2007] to delete the following requirements:

• Participation in Class Size Reduction Program
• School Discipline Practices
• Substitute Teacher Availability
• Teacher Evaluation Process
• Local Assessment Results
• State Award and Intervention Programs
• College Admission Test Preparation Program
• SAT Reasoning Test
• School Instruction and Leadership
• Instructional Minutes
• Minimum Days in School Year

The bill added the following requirements to the SARC:

• A description of and the Internet address for the online tool, DataQuest
• A statement in the SARC template describing Internet access that is available at public libraries and other locations that are publicly accessible
• A description of admission requirements for the University of California and the Internet address for such information
• A description of admission requirements for the California State University and the Internet address for such information
• Added visual and performing arts to the content areas that are subject to the sufficiency of instructional materials requirement

The bill amended one existing requirement in the SARC:

• Professional Development

Every Student Succeeds Act (PDF)- Effective December 10, 2015

On December 10, 2015, President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), reauthorizing the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and replacing the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the 2001 reauthorization of ESEA.

• ESEA, as amended by the ESSA (PDF) - Enacted July 31, 2018
• ESSA web page - information regarding the ESSA and the development of California's plan to implement the new federal education act.
• U.S. Department of Education (ED) ESSA web page - information regarding the ESSA consolidated state plan template and resources, highlights, history, and updates.
• ESSA A New Education Law (U.S. ED) web page - information regarding state and local report cards, key ESSA resources, guidance, and regulations
• ESSA 2016–17 School Year Transition Plan web page - information regarding the transition plan outlining how California will facilitate an orderly transition to the new law in the 2016-17 school year.