BILL NUMBER: AB 1344 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 10, 2007
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Mendoza
FEBRUARY 23, 2007
An act relating to instructional materials.
An act relating to preschool, and making an appropriation
therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1344, as amended, Mendoza. Instructional materials:
local selection. State preschool programs.
The Child Care and Developmental Services Act establishes various
full- and part-time programs for a comprehensive, coordinated, and
cost-effective system of developmental services for children to age
13 and their parents. Existing law requires the Superintendent of
Public Instruction to administer state preschool programs including
part-time day and preschool appropriate programs for prekindergarten
children 3 to 5 years of age, and requires the Superintendent and the
State Department of Education to administer prekindergarten and
family literacy programs in accordance with specified funding and
other requirements.
This bill, commencing with the 2006-07 fiscal year, would require
the Superintendent to annually rollover unspent funds from the state
preschool program into the prekindergarten and family literacy
program until all eligible children are served. The bill additionally
would appropriate $50,000,000 in the 2008-09 fiscal year and
$45,000,000 in the 2009-10 fiscal year from the General Fund for
purposes of the prekindergarten and family literacy program. Priority
for these funds would go to schools that meet certain criteria. The
funds appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum
funding requirements for school districts and community college
districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California
Constitution.
Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt at
least 5 separate basic instructional materials for each grade level
and each required subject area. The governing board of a school
district is required to provide for substantial teacher involvement
in the selection of instructional materials and to promote the
involvement of parents and other members of the community in the
selection of instructional materials.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to improve the curriculum for all California pupils by
giving teachers more input in the selection of the instructional
materials used in their classrooms.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no yes
. Fiscal committee: no 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) The prekindergarten years are a time when brains children are
rapidly developing and literacy interventions can be especially
effective.
(b) Long-term national studies show that children who attended
effective preschool had better vocabulary and language skills, and
significantly higher reading scores on standardized tests through the
sixth grade.
(c) Effective prekindergarten provides a language-rich environment
that strongly contributes to successful beginning reading in
kindergarten and beyond.
(d) Children who live in the attendance areas of schools in the
lowest three deciles of the Academic Performance Index tend to have
fewer language resources, starting school well behind their peers in
terms of vocabulary and language skills that are the foundation for
reading.
(e) Data show that only 16 percent of Latino children score
"proficient" on fourth-grade reading tests, compared to 41 percent of
white, non-Hispanic children.
(f) Research shows that 80 percent of that gap can be attributed
to one that exists when children start kindergarten.
SEC. 2. (a) The Legislature finds and declares
that the Targeted Preschool Initiative of the Governor contained in
the 2006-07 May Revision proposed the expenditure of fifty million
dollars ($50,000,000) from the Proposition 98 General Fund for the
first phase of a one hundred forty-five million dollar ($145,000,000)
preschool expansion for four-year-old children from low-income
families residing in school districts in the lowest three deciles of
the Academic Performance Index. The expansion would be phased in over
a three-year period, which would allow school districts to address
facility needs and to build capacity by hiring new teachers.
(b) The prekindergarten and family literacy program, as set forth
in Article 7 (commencing with Section 8235) of Chapter 2 of Part 6 of
the Education Code, which includes quality reforms designed to
promote family literacy, shall include six thousand dollars ($6,000)
per classroom to fund family literacy services.
(c) In order to carry out the policy direction of the Governor as
described in subdivision (a), commencing with the 2006-07 fiscal
year, the Superintendent of Public Instruction annually shall
rollover unspent funds from the state preschool program into the
prekindergarten and family literacy program until all eligible
children are served. In addition, the sum of fifty million dollars
($50,000,000) shall be appropriated from the General Fund in the
2008-09 fiscal year and the sum of forty-five million dollars
($45,000,000) shall be appropriated from the General Fund in the
2009-10 fiscal year to the Superintendent of Public Instruction for
purposes of the prekindergarten and family literacy program.
(d) Priority for funding from the funds described in subdivision
(c) shall be allocated to schools that meet all of the following:
(1) Is ranked in decile 1 to 3, inclusive, of the Academic
Performance Index and will provide preschool services to economically
disadvantaged four-year-old children from low-income families
residing in the attendance area of the school.
(2) Provide a combination of part-day preschool and wrap-around
general child care services for children in participating classrooms.
(3) Provide age and developmentally appropriate activities for
children in participating classrooms that are designed to facilitate
their transition to kindergarten.
(4) Provide opportunities for parent and legal guardians to work
with their children on literacy activities.
SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature
to enact legislation to improve the curriculum for all California
pupils by giving teachers more input in the selection of the
instructional materials used in their classrooms.