Williams Legislation Fact Sheet | Alameda County Office of Education

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Fact Sheet

This document covers the following (click the link to display section):

Teacher Assignment Credential Monitoring & Review/FAQs

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions Regarding County Superintendent Reviews of Textbooks and Instructional Materials in Decile 1-3 Schools

C. Summary and Context

The Williams Settlement Legislation stems from a class action lawsuit filed in 2000 alleging that the state failed to provide poor and underprivileged public school students with equal access to instructional materials, safe and decent facilities, and qualified teachers.

The case was settled in 2004. Our state legislators passed five pieces of legislation to implement the terms of the settlement known as the "Williams Settlement Legislation."

Intent of legislation is to ensure that all students have access to textbooks and instructional materials, facilities that are safe and in good repair, and appropriately certificated and assigned teachers (i.e., every school in the state is impacted by Williams Legislation).

Places an emphasis on the lowest performing schools in the state (i.e., those in deciles 1-3 on the 2003 base API) by advancing a process with checks and balances that results in the timely, systematic identification and resolution of deficiencies.

Sufficiency of Textbooks. The County Superintendent must validate sufficiency of textbooks and instructional materials. "Sufficient" means that each pupil, including English Learners, has a textbook or instructional materials. The role of the County Superintendent is not to interpret or comment on the quality of textbook use or on the amount of time the adopted textbook is used in relation to other supplemental instructional resources, but rather on the two essential issues of: 1) are sufficient textbooks available to students; and, 2) are those materials in use in the classroom. If the audit of the classroom shows a positive response to both questions, the school would be in compliance with Williams on the issue of instructional materials.

Textbooks Must Be Used By Students–Not Simply in the Classroom. The California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA) has interpreted compliance as having textbooks "in use by students." Therefore, if the textbooks are in the classroom, but are not in use by students, then the school is out of compliance.

Instructional Materials. Williams does not mandate that the only instructional materials that can be used are those adopted by the state or, in the case of high schools, by the district board of trustees upon certification of alignment to standards. Districts may supplement adopted textbooks with other instructional materials. The proportionate use of core and supplemental instructional materials would be at the discretion of the district.

Good Repair. "Good repair" is defined to mean a facility that is maintained in a manner that assures that it is clean, safe, and functional as determined pursuant to an interim evaluation instrument (IEI) developed by the Office of Public School Construction

Each County Superintendent works collaboratively with the lowest performing schools in her county to identify and address deficiencies. A County Superintendent must visit/report annually on all of the schools that may benefit under Williams — 25 percent must be unannounced visits. The purpose of the visit is to determine whether all students have access to sufficient instructional materials and whether facilities are safe, clean, and functional.

Provides funds to address deficiencies in instructional materials and facilities.

All public schools in California must meet some of the Williams requirements. But the legislation's primary focus is on those that rank in deciles 1, 2, and 3 (2003 base API).

Up to 2.3 million California students may be impacted by the Williams Legislation.

In 2004-05, nearly 100 schools in eight (8) districts in Alameda County have been identified as low-performing schools, or in deciles 1, 2, or 3 (2003 base API).

Under current legislation, regardless of improvements in API in subsequent years, schools ranked in deciles 1, 2 or 3 on the base API for 2003 remain in the Williams cohort of schools to be monitored by the County Superintendent. Schools not currently within the Williams cohort whose API drops below decile 4 in subsequent years will not be added to the Williams cohort.

The Williams Legislation does not provide a total solution for schools. The biggest inequity problem is that education funding in California is still among the lowest in the nation.

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D. Role of the County Superintendent

In recent years, the state has increasingly looked upon County Superintendents to address local and state needs for assistance in implementing new programs, new policies and legislation relating to district financial accountability and academic support.

The Williams Legislation is an example of the County Superintendents' expanding role: monitoring and reporting on low-performing schools (identified as those in deciles 1, 2 or 3 on the 2003 base API).

Note: The Williams Legislation calls for ALL California public schools to identify and correct problems and conditions that can impede student achievement. Additionally, ALL schools must timely investigate and resolve complaints pursuant to Uniform Complaint Procedures (SB 550). However, the County Superintendent's monitoring responsibilities only apply to low-performing schools.

The County Superintendent will conduct annual "validation" visits.

Visits are intended to validate what the school site has already determined.

It's a collaborative, supportive relationship, not a "gotcha." ACOE is making significant efforts to work with districts to assist them in meeting the requirements of the Williams Legislation.

ACOE will schedule visitation dates with most sites. However, 25 percent of the visits must be unannounced.

ACOE will make every effort during the visits to minimize disruptions to student learning.

Purpose of the "validation" visit is to determine whether:

All students at the school have access to required textbooks and instructional materials.

The buildings are safe, clean and functional.

The County Superintendent will also report on whether teachers at the site have the required credentials and whether they are assigned to the appropriate classroom based on their certification.

The County Superintendent will review each site's Student Accountability Report Card (SARC) for compliance with state requirements.

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E. Williams v. State of California: From Lawsuit to Legislation

Chronology
Williams Legislation is the implementation of a settlement of a class action lawsuit filed by "public interest advocates," including the American Civil Liberties Union, against the State of California, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the California Department of Education.

Eliezer Williams, et al. v. State of California, et al. (Williams)

Filed in 2000. Settled in 2004

Settlement is being implemented through legislation adopted in August 2004

Plaintiffs' Claim
Plaintiffs claimed that the state failed to provide poor and underprivileged public school students with equal access to instructional materials, safe and decent facilities, and qualified teachers. Allegations included:

Inadequate facilities (e.g., lack of heating/air conditioning, unclean restrooms, vermin)

Lack of sufficient educational tools (e.g., textbooks, instructional materials)

Lack of credentialed teachers

Settlement
The settlement opened the door to a more systematic and timely identification and resolution of deficiencies in facilities, instructional materials and credentialed teachers in low-performing schools. The settlement covers a broad scope of issues:

Instructional materials

Facilities maintenance

Teacher credentialing and assignment monitoring

Enhanced public reporting in the School Accountability Report Cards (SARC)

Year Round Schools operating on the Concept 6 Calendar

Summary of Williams Legislation

SB 6 (Alpert) — Authorizes the School Facilities Needs Assessment Grant Program and creates a new School Facilities Emergency Repair Account

SB 550 (Vasconcellos) — Establishes new County Superintendent oversight requirements for schools in deciles 1-3 on the 2003 base API related to sufficiency of textbooks and adequacy of school facilities

AB 1550 (Daucher) — Establishes a phase-out schedule for schools operating on a year-round calendar known as Concept 6

AB 2727 (Daucher) — Modifies the Uniform Complaint Procedures (UCP) related to facilities issues

AB 3001 (Goldberg) — Strengthens state, county superintendent, and district reporting regarding teacher credentialing and misassignments

For details and analysis of the Williams Legislation visit: www.assembly.ca.gov and click on "Legislation" or visit ACOE's Williams Settlement Section.

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A. Framing Williams Legislation: An Opportunity
	Not a "gotcha." County superintendents work collaboratively with the lowest-performing schools and their districts to identify and address deficiencies in textbooks, facilities and teacher assignments that may impede learning.
	Aligns with current goals of equity of educational opportunity and closing the achievement gap in California.
	Intended to ensure that all students have access to textbooks and instructional materials, facilities that are safe and in good repair, and appropriately certificated and assigned teachers (i.e., every school in the state is impacted by Williams Legislation).
	Places an emphasis on the lowest-performing schools in the state (i.e., those in deciles 1-3 on the 2003 base API) by advancing a process with checks and balances that results in the timely, systematic identification and resolution of deficiencies. Provides funds to address deficiencies in instructional materials and facilities.
	Education in California is still greatly underfunded; but Williams brings badly needed money to our schools that need the most support.

B. How the Williams Legislation Affects Schools
	All schools are affected. The Williams Legislation creates mechanisms for identifying and correcting deficiencies in the areas of instructional materials, facilities, and teacher assignments. All schools must:
	Hold an annual public hearing to determine if each student has sufficient textbooks and instructional materials.
	Post notices in each classroom informing parents and guardians about how to file complaints about conditions of facilities, and textbook availability.
	Adopt a policy for a modified Uniform Complaint Procedures to identify and resolve issues related to instructional materials, facilities and teacher vacancies and misassignments.
	Include in the School Accountability Report Card (SARC) information about facilities maintenance, availability of instructional materials, and teacher misassignments and vacancies.