BILL ANALYSIS Ķ
AB 1330
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1330 (Furutani)
As Amended September 2, 2011
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |78-0 |(June 2, 2011) |SENATE: |37-0 |(September 7, |
| | | | | |2011) |
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Original Committee Reference: ED.
SUMMARY : Adds, commencing with the 2012-13 school year, career
technical education (CTE), as defined, as an option for pupils
to fulfill the existing high school graduation requirement to
complete a course in visual or performing arts (VPA) or foreign
language, and repeals the provisions of this bill on July 1,
2017, or on July 1 of the year in which the number of CTE
courses that satisfy the foreign language requirement for
admission to the University of California (UC) or the California
State University (CSU) doubles, whichever is earlier. Requires
districts that elect this option to notify parents, teachers,
pupils and the public, as specified.
The Senate amendments :
1)Require a school district that elects to allow a CTE course to
satisfy the high school graduation requirements, pursuant to
this bill, to include in the existing annual notification sent
to parents:
a) Information about the high school graduation
requirements of the school district and how each
requirement does/does not satisfy admission requirements
for the UC and CSU; and,
b) A complete list of CTE courses offered by the district
that satisfy the subject matter requirements for admission
to the UC/CSU, and which specific requirements these
courses satisfy.
2)Revise the definition of "CTE course" to also include courses
through a regional occupational center or program (ROC/P).
3)Require the California Department of Education (CDE) to submit
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a comprehensive report to the appropriate policy committees of
the Legislature on the addition of CTE courses to satisfy the
graduation requirements, including, but not limited to, the
following information:
a) A comparison of the pupil enrollment in CTE, foreign
language, and VPA courses for the 2005-06 to 2011-12 school
years, inclusive, to the pupil enrollment in the same
courses for the 2012-13 to 2016-17 school years, inclusive;
b) The reasons, reported by school districts, that pupils
give for choosing to enroll in a CTE course to satisfy the
high school graduation requirements;
c) The type and number of CTE courses that were conducted
for the 2005-06 to 2011-12 school years, inclusive,
compared to the type and number of CTE courses that were
conducted for the 2012-13 to 2016-17 school years,
inclusive;
d) The number of CTE courses that satisfied the subject
matter requirements for admission to the UC or the CSU;
e) The extent to which the CTE courses chosen by pupils are
aligned with the California Career Technical Education
Standards (CTE Standards), and prepare pupils for
employment, advanced training, and postsecondary education;
f) The number of CTE courses that also satisfy the VPA
requirement, and the number of CTE courses that also
satisfy the foreign language requirement; and,
g) Annual pupil dropout and graduation rates for the
2011-12 to 2014-15 school years, inclusive.
4)Requires the report to be submitted on or before July 1, 2017.
5)Stipulate that for purposes of completing the report, the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) may use existing
state resources and federal funds, and if funds are not
available or sufficient, allows the SPI to apply for and
accept grants, and receive financial and technical support
from specified public and private sources for purposes of
completing the report.
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6)Authorize the bill to sunset before the specified five-year
sunset date if the number of CTE courses that satisfy the
foreign language requirement for admission to the UC/CSU
doubles from the number of such courses as of January 1, 2012,
as determined by the CDE. In this case, the bill sunsets on
July 1 of the year in which the number of such courses
doubles.
7)Stipulate that if a pupil completed a CTE course prior to the
sunset date of this bill, the course shall be deemed to meet
the VPA/foreign language course requirement for graduation.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY, this bill added, commencing with the
2012-13 school year, CTE, as defined, as an option for pupils to
fulfill the existing high school graduation requirement to
complete a course in VPA or foreign language, and repealed the
provisions of this bill on July 1, 2017.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, potentially significant General Fund cost pressure
for CTE course offerings and $22,000 annually for CDE reporting.
COMMENTS : The existing minimum high school graduation
requirements include one course in either VPA or foreign
language. This bill adds CTE to this category as a course
option to meet the minimum graduation requirements in lieu of a
course in either VPA or foreign language. An argument could be
made that this bill provides more options for pupils to complete
the minimum high school graduation requirements. On the other
hand, this is a significant change that raises arguments over
whether the approach taken by this bill will reduce access to
courses in the curriculum that some would argue should be
expanded. This is particularly relevant in light of the growing
concern over the narrowing of the curriculum in schools and the
reductions of course offerings in arts and foreign language.
Additionally, this change may have an effect on postsecondary
admission eligibility for pupils that exercise this option,
thereby resurfacing the "either/or" debate that has often
dominated the discourse over CTE.
This bill appears to be based on the premise that foreign
language and VPA are non-core courses, and therefore, proponents
of this bill would argue that this bill would add one more
subject to the list of what are often viewed as elective
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courses. However, the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
defines "core academic subjects" to mean English, reading or
language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics
and government, economics, arts, history, and geography.
Supporters of foreign language and VPA argue that these two
subjects are core subject areas and thus should not be diluted
as a requirement for high school graduation. It can be argued
that each one of these subjects plays a role in providing pupils
a complete and well-rounded education that keeps students
engaged and motivated to stay in school.
The benefits and importance of foreign language study has been
widely documented. The Committee for Economic Development, an
independent research and policy organization of business leaders
and educators, released a report in 2006 titled, Education for
Global Leadership: The importance of International Studies and
Foreign Language Education for U.S. Economic and National
Security. The report points out, "To confront the twenty-first
century challenges to our economy and national security, our
education system must be strengthened to increase the foreign
language skills and cultural awareness of our students.
Supporters of VPA education would argue that arts courses
enhance creativity and critical thinking abilities, which are
recognized as important skills for the workplace. Like CTE,
arts education has proven to be an effective way to engage
students in learning and in preventing dropouts. A review of
research through a survey, "Critical Links: Learning in the
Arts and Student Academic and Social Development," suggests that
"education in the arts not only fosters other specific skills
but also improves students' self-confidence and motivation to
learn, particularly among poor and other at risk students."
There is evidence that CTE has a role in engaging students in
academic learning and there is much support in expanding
opportunities that prepare pupils to make choices for life after
high school. The State Board of Education (SBE) adopted CTE
Standards in 2005. CTE course offerings range in method of
delivery and course content. CTE courses can be delivered by
Regional Occupational Centers/Programs (ROC/Ps), partnership
academies, agricultural programs, and tech-prep programs and the
courses offered vary in the degree of rigor and alignment to the
CTE standards. There are a number of CTE courses that do meet
and even exceed the rigor of high school graduation courses and
are approved and recognized to meet the UC/CSU eligibility
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criteria but not all CTE courses do. This bill requires CTE
courses counted towards meeting the graduation requirements to
be CTE-standards aligned. It is difficult to know how many of
the CTE courses in fact meet the CTE standards, as there is no
statewide mechanism in place to review and ensure that CTE
courses are aligned to the CTE standards.
Effect on UC/CSU admission eligibility: The Board of Admissions
and Relations with schools (BOARS) establishes the subject areas
and pattern of courses required for minimum eligibility for
freshman admission to the UC. These requirements are known as
the A-G requirements, and the CSU system also accepts courses
certified by BOARS as minimum eligibility requirements. The A-G
requirements consist of 15 courses and three recommended courses
as follows:
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|History/Social Science - 2 years required |
|----------------------------------------------|
|English - 4 years required |
|----------------------------------------------|
|Mathematics - 3 years required, 4 years |
|recommended |
|----------------------------------------------|
|Laboratory Science - 2 years required, 3 |
|years recommended |
|----------------------------------------------|
|Language Other than English - 2 years |
|required, 3 years recommended |
|----------------------------------------------|
|Visual and Performing Arts - 1 year required |
|----------------------------------------------|
|College-Preparatory Electives - 1 year |
|required |
| |
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This bill could result in high school students graduating
without taking a single course in foreign language, or VPA, and
therefore this bill could have an effect on a pupil's
eligibility for admission to UC and CSU, as both of these
courses are required for minimum eligibility for freshman
admission to California's four-year public postsecondary
institutions.
Sequences of courses and multiple pathway programs: Research
has shown that pupils that complete both an academic and a CTE
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sequence of courses in high school have the greatest likelihood
of being employed in professional, managerial, or skilled jobs
and have the greatest likelihood of being enrolled in
postsecondary education. A previously enacted measure, AB 2648
(Bass, Carter and Furutani), Chapter 681, Statutes of 2008,
requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to
develop, in conjunction with specified individuals, a report
that explores the feasibility of expanding and establishing
career multiple pathway programs. The integration of career
based themes and content across all subject areas is a promising
approach that would give students the opportunity to access both
core content and CTE without having to choose one over the
other. The report suggests that currently, the requirements for
high school graduation, as defined in the California Education
Code, do not meet actual admission requirements of many
postsecondary educational institutions, and while the report
does not include recommendations on this particular subject, it
does suggest that the multiple pathways approach could work to
relieve the concerns that students who take an applied course
sequence cannot be eligible for the UC or CSU, and that students
who complete the A-G sequence will have no room in their
schedule for CTE courses.
As amended in the Senate, this bill requires the CDE to submit a
comprehensive report to the appropriate policy committees of the
Legislature on the addition of CTE courses to satisfy the
graduation requirements. However, the report is due on or
before July 1, 2017, which means the report could be due on the
same date as the sunset date of the bill, or possibly after, if
the earlier sunset date is triggered. The purpose of the report
is to inform future decisions of the Legislature regarding the
policy of including CTE as a graduation requirement, but if the
report does not reach the Legislature until the day the bill
sunsets, or after it sunsets, the Legislature may not have the
opportunity to consider the information from the report by the
time a decision needs to be made about whether the provisions of
the bill should be allowed to sunset or whether the policy
merits an extension.
Arguments in support: The State Building and Construction
Trades Council, the sponsor of the bill writes, "AB 1330 would
increase access to these courses by allowing students to choose
to enroll in a CTE course instead of a visual or performing arts
course or a foreign language course. The ability to choose will
help students become more engaged in their education and will
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improve graduation rates and levels of postsecondary education
enrollment in college, universities or apprenticeship programs.
Since a recent study entitled: The Silent Epidemic:
Perspectives of High School Dropouts found that 47% of high
school dropouts indicated that they were not interested in or
engaged in their coursework the new choice that AB 1330 would
provide students might very well help mitigate that statistic."
Arguments in opposition: The California Alliance for Arts
Education writes, "AB 1330 would undermine access to arts
education courses by allowing students to substitute Career
Technical Education courses for current requirements in visual
and performing arts or foreign language. While we support
efforts to create pathways to the workforce for students, we
believe this legislation unfairly targets arts education and
prevents every student from gaining access to the unique
training and skills that grow from quality arts education.
Classes in dance, music, theater, and visual arts are the very
courses that engage at-risk students who might otherwise drop
out from school. With high school drop out rates soaring in
California, we cannot risk a further disincentive to attending
school."
Previous legislation: AB 2446 (Furutani) of 2010, a
substantially similar measure, would have added, commencing with
the 2011-12 school year, CTE, as defined, as an option for
pupils to fulfill the existing high school graduation
requirement to complete a course in VPA or foreign language.
Required the CDE, on or before January 1, 2015, to report to the
appropriate policy committees of the Legislature specified data
and information relative to the course taking in CTE and the
impact this bill has had on other subject areas, and required a
school district or COE that chose to offer CTE course as an
option for pupils to meet graduation requirements to notify the
public, as specified, through a regularly scheduled board
meeting and would have repealed the provisions of the bill on
July 1, 2016. AB 2446 was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger
with the following veto message:
Improving and expanding Career Technical Education
(CTE) opportunities has been among my highest
priorities. While I am supportive of the author's
intent to give CTE a prominent place in high school
graduation priorities, the final version of this bill
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omitted my Administration's proposed amendments that
were intended to limit the new costs to school
districts. Therefore, I am concerned that this bill
could be construed to impose higher costs without a
fund source, which could also be interpreted as a
state reimbursable mandate. Given that school budgets
are very constrained due to the recession, adding new
costs at this time is not advisable.
Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Aviņa / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0002768