BILL NUMBER: AB 974 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 26, 2004
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 23, 2004
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 2, 2003
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 21, 2003
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 7, 2003
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Nation
(Principal coauthor: Senator Karnette)
FEBRUARY 20, 2003
An act to add and repeal Section 60401 of the Education Code,
relating to instructional materials , and making an
appropriation therefor .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 974, as amended, Nation. Public schools: basic instructional
materials.
Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt at
least 5 separate basic instructional materials for each grade level
and each subject area, with certain requirements, for the purposes of
any provision of the California Constitution that requires the
adoption of textbooks for use in elementary schools.
This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction
to create and implement a process to review high school basic
instructional materials, with certain requirements. The bill would
require a fee to be imposed on publishers and manufacturers of
instructional materials who choose to participate in the review, and
would continuously appropriate these funds to the State
Department of Education create the High School Basic
Instructional Materials Review Fund in the State Treasury into which
moneys derived from those fees would be deposited for purposes
of conducting high school basic instructional materials reviews.
Those funds would only be available to the superintendent for
that purpose upon appropriation by the Legislature.
This bill would repeal those provisions on January 1, 2009.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes no
. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) All pupils, including pupils in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, are
expected to meet the academic content standards adopted by the State
Board of Education.
(b) The "White Paper on Improving Student Achievement in
California's High Schools" written by the California
State Department of Education stated "the
academic achievement of students in California's elementary schools
and to a somewhat lesser extent our middle schools - is steadily
increasing." These results have been aided by "a new generation of
instructional materials that give teachers the tools necessary to
deliver a more rigorous content." That white paper also stated that
"California's high schools are not following the general trend toward
increased student achievement."
(c) A governing board of a school district is required, under the
Instructional Materials Funding Realignment Program, to use funds for
instructional materials to ensure that all pupils have been provided
with standards-aligned instructional materials.
(d) A governing board of a school district is required to hold an
annual public hearing and to determine whether each pupil in the
school district has, or will have prior to the end of that
fiscal year, sufficient textbooks or instructional materials in each
subject that are consistent with the content and cycles of the
curriculum frameworks adopted by the State Board of Education.
(e) There is a statewide instructional materials adoption for
kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, that includes determining
the instructional materials' alignment
alignment of instructional materials with state academic
content standards. The preceding white paper also stated that
"elementary principals and district administrators attribute much of
their recent academic progress to structured, focused
standards-aligned materials that provide the appropriate amount of
support for both the novice and experienced teacher."
(f) There is currently no statewide adoption or review of
textbooks or basic instructional materials for grades 9 to 12,
inclusive. Existing law requires each governing board maintaining
one or more high schools to adopt instructional materials for use in
the high schools under its jurisdiction. School districts devote
substantial time and effort to determine if the instructional
materials being considered for adoption are aligned to state academic
content standards and other requirements for instructional
materials.
(g) Implementing a review process for basic instructional
materials in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, to ensure accuracy of
content, alignment with academic content standards and compliance
with legal and social content requirements would create a list of
materials for local consideration. This review process would reduce
the number of duplicative reviews currently conducted by each
school district maintaining a high school and would provide a
much-needed service to the 935 California high schools serving
1,568,501 pupils.
(h) It is the intent of the Legislature that teachers with
classroom experience be involved in the review conducted
pursuant to Section 60401 conducted pursuant to
Section 60401 of basic instructional materials used in high
schools conducted pursuant to Section 60401.
SEC. 2. Section 60401 is added to the Education Code, to read:
60401. (a) The High School Basic Instructional Materials
Review Fund is hereby created in the State Treasury for the purposes
of funding the expenses of a high school basic instructional
materials review pursuant to this section. Moneys derived from fees
collected pursuant to subdivision (e) shall be deposited into the
fund and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, shall be available
to the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
(b) For purposes of this section, the following terms have
the following meanings:
(1) "Academic content standards" means those standards adopted by
the state board pursuant to Section 60605 in reading, writing,
mathematics, history and social science, and science.
(2) "Core course" means a one-year course that is aligned to the
academic content standards or a one-semester course that is aligned
to the grade 12 history-social science standards for either economics
or government and civics.
(3) "Bundled instructional materials" means a grouping of two or
more types of instructional materials from one or more source or
publisher.
(b) (1)
(c) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall develop
and conduct a process to review high school basic instructional
materials and shall determine the extent to which high school basic
instructional materials for pupils in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, are
aligned to the content standards adopted by the state board.
(2) For each high school basic instructional material submitted
for review, the superintendent shall detail the content standards
that are covered in sufficient depth by that high school basic
instructional material.
(3) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall form a panel to
develop the advisory list required in paragraph (2). This panel
shall be composed of a majority of high school teachers with
classroom experience and expertise in a certain subject matter, and
shall also include, but shall not be limited to, high school
administrators, parents, scholars, and members of school district
governing boards.
(4) In developing the advisory list, the superintendent shall
consider that high schools use multiple instructional media and
sources that provide a standards-based program in the various content
areas. The advisory list shall include, where appropriate, both
individual and bundled instructional materials that provide the basis
for rigorous standards-based instruction and learning.
(5) This review process shall include a schedule for review of
textbooks and basic instructional materials.
(c)
(d) On or before July 1, 2005, the superintendent shall
commence the process of reviewing basic instructional materials for
use in high schools.
(d)
(e) (1) The department shall determine the amount of
and collect a fee from each publisher and manufacturer that
chooses to submit instructional materials for review. The fee shall
be paid before the textbook or other item of instructional materials
is considered by the department.
(2) All fees collected by the department under paragraph (1) are,
notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, continuously
appropriated to the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the
purposes of funding the expenses of any high school basic
instructional materials review.
(3)
(2) Upon the request of a small publisher or manufacturer,
as defined in paragraph (3) of subdivision (d) of Section 60227, the
department may determine a fee reduction and accordingly
reduce the fee imposed in paragraph (1).
(e)
(f) Before conducting a review of basic instructional
materials for use in high schools in a subject area, the department
shall provide notice to all publishers or manufacturers known to
produce basic instructional materials in that subject, post an
appropriate notice on the department's Internet site, and take other
reasonable measures to ensure that appropriate notice is widely
circulated to interested publishers and manufacturers. The notice
shall specify the date for the commencement and conclusion of the
high school basic instructional materials review, the core course or
courses that will be included in the review, and that each publisher
or manufacturer choosing to participate in the high school basic
instructional materials review shall be assessed a fee for each
textbook or basic instructional materials program submitted for each
core course.
(f)
(g) The department, prior to incurring substantial costs for
a review, shall require that a publisher or manufacturer who wishes
to participate in the review first declare the intent to submit one
or more specific textbooks or basic instructional materials programs
for the review. After a publisher or manufacturer declares the
intent to submit one or more textbooks or basic instructional
materials programs, the publisher or manufacturer shall be assessed
the fee imposed in paragraph (1) of subdivision (d)
(e) . The fee shall be payable by the publisher
or manufacturer even if the publisher subsequently chooses to
withdraw a program. A submission by a publisher or manufacturer may
not be reviewed until the fee assessed has been paid in full. The
department shall conduct a review only if it determines that there is
interest in participating in a review by publishers and
manufacturers.
(g)
(h) The governing board of a school district shall retain
the authority under Section 60400 to adopt instructional materials
for use in the high schools under its jurisdiction. The list of
reviewed materials produced as a result of the high school basic
instructional materials review process developed pursuant to
subdivision (b) (c) is advisory only
and provided as a service for high schools and their districts.
(h)
(i) This article shall become inoperative on July 1, 2008,
and, as of January 1, 2009, is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute that is enacted before January 1, 2009, deletes or extends
the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.