BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
97 (Torlakson)
Hearing Date: 08/27/2009 Amended: 08/19/2009
Consultant: Dan Troy Policy Vote: ED 6-2
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 97 would establish a process for the revision
and review of the K-12 state content standards in the English
language arts and mathematics subject areas. The bill would
also delete the authority of the State Board of Education to
modify revised standards proposed by the panels, though approval
would still be necessary.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
Content standards revision $1,300 to revise ELA and
science areas General
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
The academic content standards specify the content that students
are expected to acquire at each grade level from kindergarten to
grade twelve and they are the foundation for the accountability
system, instructional materials and staff development programs.
The curriculum frameworks (which guide instruction), teacher
training and professional development, textbooks, student
assessments, and the state's accountability and intervention
programs are all aligned to the academic content standards.
While current law provides for a periodic review and revision of
curriculum frameworks as part of the instructional materials
adoption process, there is currently no process for reviewing
academic content standards. Panels have previously been
established to develop content standards in the subject areas of
English language arts, Mathematics, History-Social Science,
Science, Visual and Performing Arts, Career Technical Education,
Health Education, World Languages, and Physical Education Model
Content Standards for review and approval by the State Board of
Education (SBE). As the authority for these panels have
expired, the content standards for some core academic areas have
not been reviewed since the 1990s.
This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction
to establish the Academic Content and Performance Standards
Review Panel made up of a diverse group of experts to review and
propose revisions to the content standards for English language
arts and mathematics. The SBE would be required to hold
hearings on the Panel's proposals to revise the standards and
either adopt or reject them, but would have no authority to
revise the work of the panel. The bill further provides that
the science and history-social science content areas would be
reviewed upon a schedule adopted by the SBE, and when funding
permits. The provisions of the bill would be operative upon an
appropriation for the purpose in the annual Budget Act and would
sunset in 2015. The bill would also extend the operating date
for the existing authority to establish new content areas from
2011 until 2017.
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AB 97 (Torlakson)
According to the Department of Education, the costs for the
review and revision of each content standard would be
approximately $180,000 with additional costs of $460,000 to
revise the curriculum frameworks to math the modified standard.
Total costs, then, to
update the English language arts and mathematics content areas
would be approximately $1.3 million. It's also likely that
there would be significant downstream costs relating to
revisions of the state's assessment and accountability systems
and professional development programs. These costs would likely
be in the millions. Staff notes that given the critical nature
of the standards, having some process for an occasional review
would appear to be warranted.
Other recent bills have outlined procedures for reviewing and
revising the content standards. AB 1454 (Richardson) of 2007
failed passage in the Senate Education Committee. AB 1100
(Mullin) of 2005 was held by the Assembly Appropriations
Committee. AB 2744 (Goldberg, 2004), was vetoed by the
Governor. Last year, SB 1097 (Torlakson) was vetoed by the
Governor, whose message expressed concern about dilution of the
authority of the Governor and of the State Board of Education.