BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 1719
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 18, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                   AB 1719 (Fuentes) - As Amended:  March 28, 2012 

          Policy Committee:                              Education 
          Vote:10-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill establishes a process for the State Department of 
          Education (SDE) to conduct a review of supplemental materials 
          aligned to the state Common Core Standards (CSS) in English 
          language arts (ELA) and the revised English Language Development 
          (ELD) Standards.  Specifically, this bill:  

          1)Requires SDE to recommend, and the State Board of Education 
            (SBE) to approve, evaluation criteria to guide the development 
            and review of supplemental instructional materials (IM). 

          2)Requires SDE to develop a list, on a one-time basis and on or 
            before July 1, 2014, of supplemental IM for use in 
            kindergarten through grade eight that are aligned to the 
            state's CSS in ELA and the revised ELD Standards.  Further 
            requires the IM to provide a bridge between the CSS in ELA and 
            the standards-aligned IM currently being used by local 
            education agencies (LEAs).  

          3)Requires SDE to recommend, and SBE to approve, content review 
            experts to review the supplemental IM submitted, as specified. 
             

          4)Requires SBE, on or before June 30, 2014, to (a) approve all, 
            or a portion, of the list of supplemental IM proposed by SDE 
            or (b) reject all, or a portion of the list of supplemental IM 
            proposed by SDE, as specified.  Further requires the SBE, if 
            it rejects all or a portion or adds an item to the 
            supplemental IM list, to provide written reasons for its 
            actions in a public meeting.  









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          5)Authorizes LEAs to approve supplemental IM other than those 
            approved by the SBE, if the LEA determines these materials are 
            aligned with the CSS in ELA and the revised ELD standards, as 
            specified.  

          6)Requires SDE to maintain a list of supplemental IM aligned to 
            the CSS in ELA and the revised ELD Standards, as approved by 
            the SBE, on its Internet website.  Sunsets the provisions 
            related to supplemental IM on July 1, 2014.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Moderate GF administrative costs to SDE, likely between $150,000 
          and $250,000, to conduct a supplemental adoption of materials 
          pursuant to this measure.  

           COMMENTS  

           1)Background  .  As a condition of applying for the federal Race 
            to the Top (RTT) grant program, states were required to adopt 
            the CCS in ELA and mathematics by the fall of 2010. In August 
            2010, the SBE adopted these standards.  

            In 2011, the Legislature approved and the governor signed the 
            following bills with the purpose of integrating the newly 
            adopted CCS in classrooms.  

             a)   AB 124 (Fuentes), Chapter 605, Statutes of 2011, 
               established the ELD Advisory Committee for the purpose of 
               aligning the ELD Standards to the CSS in ELA.  SDE is 
               currently beginning the process of implementing Chapter 605 
               and expects the advisory committee to complete its work in 
               the summer of 2012, with final SBE adoption of the revised 
               standards by November 2012.

             b)   SB 140 (Lowenthal), Chapter 623, Statues of 2011, 
               required SDE to develop a list of supplemental IM for 
               grades K-8 aligned with CCS in ELA.  The purpose of the 
               supplemental IM is to provide a bridge between the Common 
               Core Standards in ELA and the ELA content.  

             c)   AB 250 (Brownley), Chapter 608, Statutes of 2011, 
               required SDE to develop curriculum frameworks and 
               professional development modules aligned to the CCS and 
               prepares the state's assessment system for reauthorization 








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               and alignment with these new standards. 


           2)Purpose  .  Since the adoption of the CCS in August 2010, LEAs 
            have been anxious to understand how these standards will be 
            integrated into existing classroom curriculum.  Likewise, they 
            are also concerned with when their pupils and teachers will be 
            held accountable via the assessment system for teaching the 
            standards. Given the state's severe fiscal crisis, the SPI, 
            the SBE, the governor, and the Legislature have been hesitant 
            to make large scale decisions regarding the implementation of 
            these standards.  


            The enactment of SB 140 (Lowenthal) was intended to be a first 
            step in ensuring teachers and pupils have access to quality IM 
            to begin the instructional transition from the existing ELA 
            Standards to the CCS in ELA.  These materials are supplemental 
            because the state has currently placed a moratorium on the 
            adoption and purchase of state adopted IM.  


            With the requirement in AB 124 (Fuentes) to revise and align 
            the existing ELD Standards to the CSS in ELA, there is a need 
            to ensure that supplemental IM are developed that are aligned 
            to two sets of standards as well.  According to the author, 
            "SB 140 unintentionally omitted the process of aligning these 
            supplemental materials to the ELD Standards.  This bill 
            corrects this and simply ensures that districts and teachers 
            have the best tools available to them to instruct all 
            children, including ELL pupils, in the CSS in ELA."  


           3)AB 2 X4 (Evans), Chapter 2, Statutes of 2009  , specified that 
            LEAs are not required to purchase IM through the 2012-13 FY. 
            Consistent with the non-purchasing requirement, Chapter 2 also 
            suspended the requirement for SBE to adopt IM or conduct other 
            procedures associated with adoption (i.e., adopting curriculum 
            frameworks) until the 2013-14 school year. SB 70 (Committee on 
            Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 7, Statutes of 2011, 
            extended this suspension until the 2014-15 FY. This bill does 
            not require LEAs to purchase IM.











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           Analysis Prepared by  :    Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916) 
          319-2081