BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                      



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                   AB 339|
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                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 339
          Author:   Bonilla (D)
          Amended:  7/6/11 in Senate
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE  :  6-2, 6/29/11
          AYES:  Lowenthal, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Price, Simitian
          NOES:  Blakeslee, Huff
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Runner, Vargas, Vacancy

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  6-1, 8/15/11
          AYES:  Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg
          NOES:  Walters
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Emmerson, Runner
           
          ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  52-27, 5/31/11 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    Instructional materials:  social content 
          reviews:  fees

           SOURCE  :     Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom 
          Torlakson


           DIGEST  :    This bill reestablishes provisions of the 
          Education Code that recently sunset relating to the social 
          content review of instructional materials conducted at the 
          request of publishers.  Sunsets on January 1, 2017.

           ANALYSIS  :    Existing law requires instructional materials, 
          in addition to meeting the requirements of the content 
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          standards, curriculum frameworks, and evaluation criteria, 
          to also be approved for social content, for example:

          1. Provides that instruction in social sciences shall 
             include the early history of California and a study of 
             the role and contributions of both men and women, black 
             Americans, American Indians, Mexicans, Asians, Pacific 
             Island people, and other ethnic groups to the economic, 
             political, and social development of California and the 
             United States with particular emphasis on portraying the 
             role of these groups in contemporary society.  

          2. Requires instructional materials used in schools to 
             accurately portray the contributions of both men and 
             women in all types of roles, including professional, 
             vocational, and executive role and the role and 
             contributions of Native Americans, African Americans, 
             Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans, 
             and members of other ethnic and cultural groups to the 
             total development of California and the United States, 
             as well as the role and contributions of the 
             entrepreneur and labor in the total development of 
             California and the United States.

          3. States that the governing board of a school district 
             shall require, when appropriate to the comprehension of 
             pupils, that textbooks for social science, history or 
             civics classes contain the Declaration of Independence 
             and the United States Constitution when adopting 
             instructional materials for use in the schools.  

          4. Prohibits school districts from adopting instructional 
             materials that contain any matter reflecting adversely 
             upon persons because of their race, color, creed, 
             national origin, ancestry, sex, handicap, or occupation 
             or any sectarian or denominational doctrine or 
             propaganda contrary to law. 

          5. Provides that all instructional materials adopted by any 
             governing board for use in the schools shall be, to the 
             satisfaction of the governing board, accurate, 
             objective, and current and suited to the needs and 
             comprehension of pupils at their respective grade 
             levels.  

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          6. Authorizes, in the event that, after the good faith 
             acquisition of instructional materials by a governing 
             board, the instructional materials are found to be in 
             violation of provisions pertaining to instructional 
             materials and the governing board is unable to acquire 
             other instructional materials which meet requirements in 
             time for them to be used when the acquired materials 
             were planned to be used, the governing board may use the 
             acquired materials but only for that academic year. 
           
           This bill reestablishes provisions of the education code 
          that recently sunset relating to the social content review 
          of instructional materials conducted at the request of 
          publishers.  More specifically, this bill:

          1. Requires the State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt 
             regulations to govern the social content reviews 
             conducted at the request of a publisher or manufacturer 
             of instructional materials outside the primary 
             instructional material adoption processes.  (This 
             requirement sunset as of January 1, 2011.)

          2. Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to 
             do the following:

             A.    Conduct, or contract for, social content review of 
                instructional materials, as defined, outside the 
                primary adoption process, provided that the publisher 
                pays a fee assessed by the CDE.

             B.    Assess a fee on a publisher or manufacturer that 
                does not exceed the reasonable costs to the 
                department to conduct a social content review 
                pursuant to this statute.

             C.    Provide notice to publishers and manufacturers of 
                the establishment of the fee.  

             (These requirements sunset as of January 1, 2011.)

          3. Remains in effect until January 1, 2017, unless a later 
             enacted statute, enacted prior to January 1, 2017, 
             deletes or extends that date.

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           Comments  

          Until the beginning of this year, the CDE was authorized to 
          conduct social content reviews for state-adopted 
          instructional materials, and also conducted reviews for 
          non-adopted instructional materials, such as supplemental 
          materials.  The publisher or manufacturer requesting the 
          review would be charged a fee for the out-of-cycle social 
          content review.  The CDE contends that the social content 
          review of non-SBE-adopted instructional materials is a 
          service offered to school districts to ensure all 
          instructional materials comply with social content 
          requirements. 
           
          Social content review and fee assessment  .  Generally, the 
          Legislature has provided for the sunset of statutes that 
          typically allow for the imposition of fees in order to 
          provide periodic review of the necessity and efficacy of 
          the fee. 

           Instructional Material (IM) adoption process  .  Statute, 
          prior to its suspension, requires the SBE to adopt basic IM 
          in the core academic content areas (English language arts, 
          mathematics, history/social science, and science) every six 
          years for use in grades K-8.  It also established a 
          schedule for the adoption of IM in other subjects.  Statute 
          also required the SBE to adopt statewide academically 
          rigorous content standards in the core curriculum areas.  
          These content standards are implemented through the 
          curriculum frameworks, as adopted by SBE.  The adopted IM 
          must be consistent with the criteria and standards of 
          quality prescribed in the adopted curriculum frameworks.  
          The development of curriculum frameworks is a multi-year 
          process.  Also, the governing board of each school district 
          maintaining one or more high schools is authorized to adopt 
          IM for use in the high schools (grades 9-12) under its 
          control.    
           
          Related Legislation
           
          SB 302 (Yee), 2011-12 Session, also reinstates the 
          California Education Code Section relating to social 
          content reviews of instructional materials with a sunset on 

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          January 1, 2017.  (In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

          AB 250 (Brownley), 2011-12 Session, attempts to revise the 
          IM adoption process, including the role of the Curriculum 
          Development and Supplemental Materials Commission.  (In 
          Senate Appropriations Committee)

          SB 140 (Lowenthal), 2011-12 Session, establishes a 
          streamlined process for the state-level adoption of 
          instructional materials that are aligned with the Common 
          Core Academic Content standards, and expands the authority 
          of local school boards to adopt instructional materials to 
          include K-8 schools.  (In Assembly Appropriations 
          Committee)

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes   
          Local:  No

          According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:

                          Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

             Major Provisions        2011-12     2012-13    2013-14    Fund  

            Social content reviews          Potentially significant 
            costs, fully                    Fees*
                                  reimbursed by fees

            * Publisher fees submitted with instructional materials
           
           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  8/17/11)

          Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson (source)

           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :    According to the author's office, 
          the CDE indicates that without this measure, they will not 
          be able to charge fees to support the process necessary to 
          conduct review of instructional materials outside the 
          primary adoption process.  Therefore, local districts will 
          have to conduct their own review of instructional materials 
          for out-of-social content. This result places a burden on 
          those local districts and allows the possibility of 
          inconsistencies in social content reviews from district to 
          district.

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           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  52-27, 5/31/11
          AYES:  Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Block, 
            Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, 
            Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, 
            Chesbro, Davis, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, 
            Furutani, Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon, Hall, Hayashi, Roger 
            Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Lara, Bonnie 
            Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Pan, Perea, V. 
            Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, 
            Torres, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
          NOES:  Achadjian, Bill Berryhill, Conway, Cook, Donnelly, 
            Fletcher, Beth Gaines, Garrick, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, 
            Harkey, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Logue, Mansoor, Miller, 
            Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Silva, Smyth, 
            Valadao, Wagner
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Gorell

          CPM:mw  8/17/11   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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