BILL ANALYSIS
AB 487
Page A
Date of Hearing: April 1, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 487 (Brownley) - As Introduced: February 24, 2009
SUBJECT : Instructional materials: sale of surplus or
undistributed obsolete instructional materials
SUMMARY : Makes changes to the existing restrictions placed on
the disposal of surplus or obsolete undistributed instructional
materials and establishes the Surplus Instructional Materials
(SIM) fund, as specified. Specifically, this bill :
1)Establishes the SIM fund under the administration of the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) and provides that
the moneys in the SIM fund are available, subject to
appropriation, for the purpose of allowing school districts,
county offices of education, and charter schools to acquire
supplemental instructional materials.
2)States that all moneys appropriated from the SIM fund shall
supplement, rather than supplant, existing funds available for
instructional materials, and requires that any deposit made
into the SIM fund, and the allocation of any moneys from this
fund, including the subsequent use of those moneys, be subject
to the annual audit of local educational agencies required by
existing law.
3)Expands application of the provisions related to disposal of
undistributed obsolete instructional materials to county
offices of education and charter schools.
4)Deletes a provision authorizing the sale of surplus or
undistributed obsolete instructional materials to any
organization that agrees to use the materials solely for
educational purposes and authorizes districts, county offices
of education and charter schools to sell surplus and obsolete
materials.
5)Requires that 50% of the proceeds of any sale of surplus or
undistributed obsolete instructional materials made under the
provisions of this bill be remitted to the state and deposited
in the SIM fund.
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6)Deletes a provision requiring an organization or institution
receiving obsolete instructional materials to certify that it
agrees to make no charge to the persons to whom the
organization gives or lends the materials, and requires an
organization that receives donated obsolete materials to
certify that the materials will be used for educational
purposes.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes the Instructional Materials Fund in the State
Treasury as a means of annually funding the acquisition of
instructional materials as required by the California
Constitution.
2)Requires the State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt basic
instructional materials for use in kindergarten and grades one
to eight, inclusive consistent with the six and eight year
adoption cycles for all subject areas.
3)Authorizes the SBE and school districts to dispose of surplus
or undistributed obsolete instructional materials that are
usable for educational purposes, to specified entities,
including by sale to any organization that agrees to use the
materials solely for educational purposes and to make no
charge of any kind to the persons to whom the organization
gives or lends the materials.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Current law requires the SBE to adopt Kindergarten to
grade 8, inclusive, (K-8) basic instructional materials in
language arts, mathematics, science, social science, and
bilingual or bicultural subjects not less than two times every
six years, and not less than two times every eight years in any
other subject for which the SBE determines the adoption of
instructional materials to be necessary or desirable. There has
been at least one adoption of instructional materials every year
since 2005. Current law requires local governing boards to
provide pupils with standards-aligned textbooks or basic
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instructional materials no later than 24 months<1> after those
materials have been adopted by the SBE, and therefore districts
practically have had to purchase materials every year for the
last number of years.
The state spends a considerable amount of resources in providing
instructional materials. The 2008-09 revised budget provides
$353,367 for instructional materials, a slightly lower amount
than what has been allocated in previous years. According to
the author, "Over the last four fiscal years the Legislature has
appropriated more than $1.3 billion for the acquisition of
instructional materials to be used in California's nearly 10,000
schools." The resources coupled with the frequent adoptions and
requirements for districts to purchase new instructional
materials, assures that there is and will continue to be a
steady abundance of used, surplus, and obsolete instructional
materials. Nevertheless, districts have limited options for the
disposal of such materials.
Some school districts dispose of used obsolete instructional
materials by donating them to non-profit entities that, in turn,
pass the books on to others such as individuals, home schooling
groups or overseas organizations. Districts may also donate
them to libraries, children or adults for the purpose of
increasing the general literacy of people or districts may sell
them to an organization that agrees to use the materials solely
for educational purposes and that agrees will not charge for
those materials. This bill does not limit the ability of school
districts to donate or transfer their surplus or obsolete
materials directly to any other party or for any other use
currently allowed. In fact, the bill extends that same
authority to county offices of education and charter schools.
Other school districts dispose of the materials as a combination
of solid waste disposal and recycling and others pay for storage
of these materials.
Districts are currently prohibited from selling or donating
surplus and obsolete materials to organizations that will resell
them. This bill would allow districts to sell such materials to
any organization but remit 50% of the proceeds to the state to
---------------------------
<1> The enactment of SB 4 X3 (Ducheny), Chapter 12, Statutes of
2009, the education budget trailer bill, provides districts
flexibility with regards to the 24-month purchasing requirement
until July 1, 2010.
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be deposited in a special fund for the Legislature to
appropriate for purposes of purchasing supplemental
instructional materials. The other 50% would remain with the
school districts. To the extent that districts choose to sell
their surplus or obsolete instructional materials, this measure
will create a revenue source for school districts and the state.
Prior legislative attempts to change the existing restrictions
in the disposal of surplus or obsolete materials have been
unsuccessful. Two bills that sought to allow the sale of
materials to organizations that would then sell them for a
profit were held in different Committees along the legislative
process. The opponents of such legislation argued that it would
not be appropriate to allow for profit organizations to benefit
from materials that were purchased with public funds.
Conversely, a bill that sought to emphasize that surplus or
obsolete materials could only be sold to organizations that
agreed to use the materials solely for educational purposes and
that agreed not to resell them for a profit also faced
opposition. The opposition came from Follet Educational
Services arguing, "it would eliminate our ability to do business
with the California schools and districts since we are a 'for
profit' organization. It would also eliminate a much-needed
source of revenue back into our California schools." From these
arguments, one can conclude that despite provisions in the code
prohibiting the sale of surplus materials to organizations that
resell them, that such transactions could be taking place out of
compliance with current law.
Waiver request : In 2005, the State Board of Education (SBE)
rejected a request from a school district seeking to waive
provisions of the Education Code (EC) restricting the sale of
surplus or obsolete instructional materials "solely for
educational purposes" and to agencies that do not intend to
charge a fee to the recipient. The district wanted to sell such
materials, for a profit, to an organization that intended to
resell them to educational agencies in other states. The
district alleged that "approval of this waiver would allow it to
resell obsolete instructional materials that it current sells
for scrap for approximately $420/year, to a for-profit textbook
reseller." The district anticipated that it could make $6-8
million dollars from these sales. The basis for SBE's denial of
the waiver according to information on the SBE's agenda is the
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following:
The fact that the district can be motivated by profit
to make this resale should not be considered an excuse
for not pursuing the current option that the district
has of donating these materials to other needy
students. Approval of this waiver would likely result
in a surge of other districts seeking to dump their
old materials onto the resale market in other states.
The district has stated how much they hope to recover
from a waiver of these sections, but what is unknown
is the amount of profit that the "national book
vendors" noted in its waiver application would make by
selling materials that California has deemed
"obsolete" to students in other states.
The waiver of EC sections designed to protect the
interests of students in order to facilitate corporate
profits, with the justification that the obsolete
materials are not being sold in California, seems to
run counter to the intent of these statutes.
Suggested amendments : There has been interest in expanding
access to technology-based electronic instructional materials,
but lack of funding for such resources and equipment has made it
difficult. Staff recommends the bill be amended to expand the
allowable uses of the SIM fund to include technology-based
materials. On page 2 line 16 after "materials" add: "or
technology-based materials"
The bill requires that 50% of the revenue generated by the sale
of surplus or obsolete instructional materials be remitted to
the state and deposited in the SIM fund but it does not specify
what the allowable uses are for the remainder of the funds.
Staff recommends that the revenue generated from the sale of
these materials be used for purchasing instructional materials.
Staff recommends the bill be amended to specify that the school
district shall use the remaining 50% of revenue generated by the
sale of surplus or obsolete materials for the purchase of
instructional materials, supplemental instructional materials or
technology-based materials.
Current law requires any organization that receives obsolete
instructional materials either by sale or donation to certify to
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the school district that it agrees to use the materials for
educational purposes and that it agrees not to charge persons to
whom the organization gives or lends the materials. This bill
deletes the requirement that the materials be used for
educational purposes when an organization purchases these
materials, but maintains the requirement for organizations that
receive these materials by donation. The inclusion of this
language is relevant to the existing restrictions on the sale of
surplus and obsolete materials, but because this bill now allows
the sale of these materials to any organization without regard
to whether the materials will be used for an educational purpose
or not, the same rules on usage should apply to organizations
that acquire the materials by donation. Staff recommends the
bill be amended to delete the requirement that organizations
that acquire instructional materials by donation agree to use
such materials for educational purposes.
This bill also allows organizations that acquire surplus or
obsolete instructional materials by donation to resell the
materials. This raises the question of whether organizations
that acquire these materials by donation should be allowed to
resell or to charge for lending the materials, especially
because these materials were purchased with public funds. Staff
recommends the bill be amended to reinstate language requiring
an organization that acquires obsolete instructional materials
by donation to certify that it will not make a charge of any
kind to the persons to whom the organization gives or lends such
materials.
The author states, "Some school districts dispose of used
instructional materials by donating the materials to non-profit
entities that, in turn, pass the books on to others such as
individuals, home schooling groups or overseas organizations for
educational purposes. Other school districts dispose of the
materials as a combination of solid waste disposal (cover stock
and glued bindings) and recycling (paper). Some districts even
pay for warehouse storage space to house obsolete instructional
materials. During these tough economic and budget strapped
times these obsolete instructional materials are wasted
resources that schools should be utilizing."
Related legislation: AB 525 (Anderson) authorizes school
districts to sell surplus or obsolete instructional materials to
any organization. AB 525 (Anderson) does not include provisions
requiring districts to remit any of the funds back to the state,
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nor does it require assurances that the materials be used solely
for educational purposes and not resold when the materials have
been donated. These materials were purchased with public funds
and donating them to organizations that could in turn sell them
and make a profit out these materials may raise concerns. AB
525 (Anderson) is in direct conflict with this bill. Staff
recommends the Committee consider approving one of the two
measures and avoid passing competing measures that are in direct
conflict with one another.
Previous legislation : AB 1342 (Mendoza) of 2007 changes the
restrictions placed on the State Board of Education and school
districts in the disposal of surplus or undistributed obsolete
instructional materials. AB 1342 was held in the Assembly
Education Committee.
AB 2654 (Coto) of 2006 authorizes the sale of usable surplus or
undistributed obsolete instructional materials by school
districts to organizations that would be permitted, with an
assurance the materials will be used for educational purposes,
to sell the materials for a profit. AB 2654 was held in the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 93 (J. Horton) of 2005 Allows school districts to sell
surplus and obsolete instructional materials to any organization
that agrees to use the materials only for educational purposes
and that agrees not to resell the materials for a profit. AB 93
was held in the Assembly Education Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Avi?a / ED. / (916) 319-2087