BILL ANALYSIS
AB 307
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 307 (Chavez)
As Amended August 10, 2006
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |79-0 |(January 26, |SENATE: |40-0 |(August 16, |
| | |2006) | | |2006) |
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Original Committee Reference: ED.
SUMMARY : Specifies that schools' required technology plans
shall include a component to educate pupils and teachers on
ethical behavior in the use of information technology, the
concept, purpose and significance of a copyright, and the
implications of illegal peer-to-peer network file sharing.
The Senate amendments:
1)Require school technology plans to include instruction on
copyrights, so that pupils can distinguish between lawful and
unlawful downloading.
2)Require the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) on or
before July 1, 2007, to develop guidelines and criteria for
inclusion in education technology plans, information on
Internet safety and the avoidance of plagiarism for the
education of students and teachers.
3)Do not require schools that have an education technology plan
in place on July 1, 2008, to amend these plans to include
these specifications until the plans expire or are replaced.
EXISTING LAW :
1) Establishes that on or after January 1, 2005, as a
precondition to receiving a technology grant administered by
the State Department of Education (SDE), a school district
shall have a current three- to five-year education technology
plan. The State Board of Education may waive this requirement
if it determines that the applicant school district made a
good faith effort to develop a plan, but for reasons beyond
its control, the district cannot develop the plan before
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receipt of the technology grant.
2) States that on or after January 1, 2005, the SPI shall
ensure that each school district has access to technical
assistance and an approved online technology plan builder that
the SDE determines is in compliance with state and federal
requirements.
3) SDE shall maintain a record of school districts that have
a three to five year education technology plan and shall make
that information available to interested public agencies.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantively the same
as the version passed by the Senate, except for the Internet
safety and plagiarism specifications required by the Senate
amendments.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, minor, absorbable costs to the General Fund for the
SPI to develop criteria and guidelines.
COMMENTS : Within the last two years, the illegal downloading
and of copyrighted materials over the Internet has become a
global problem costing the California entertainment industries
billions of dollars in losses. Public schools and college
campuses expend precious and costly bandwidth resulting in
increased cost to taxpayers. The illegal downloading of
copyrighted materials could also pose a security risk to public
schools and college campuses in the form of undetected viruses.
The Digital High School Technology Grant Act did require high
schools to have each student sign an "acceptable use policy" in
the past. Many schools already include prohibitions in their
"acceptable use policies," against the use of school property
for the "transmittal of copyrighted materials" which students,
parents and employees are required to sign before using school
computers and networks.
Los Angeles Unified School District puts this prohibition in
their acceptable use policy: "Accessing or transmitting
pornography of any kind, obscene depictions, harmful materials,
materials that encourage others to violate the law, confidential
information or copyrighted materials."
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Analysis Prepared by : Guy Strahl / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0016163