BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 391
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 17, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
AB 391 (Wieckowski) - As Amended: April 9, 2013
SUBJECT : Pupil Instruction: Personal Finance
SUMMARY : Establishes the "Common Cents Curriculum Act of
2013," requires the history social science framework, when
updated, to include financial literacy, and requires the
one-semester instructional program entitled consumer economics
already developed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) and adopted by the State Board of Education (SBE) to be
updated to include instruction in specified areas of financial
literacy. Specifically, this bill :
1)Establishes the "Common Cents Curriculum Act of 2013."
2)Presents findings and declarations of the Legislature relevant
to the need for financial literacy education.
3)Amends the requirements relating to revisions of the
History-Social Science (H/SS) Framework to require that when
these frameworks are amended, they encourage instruction
related to the understanding of personal finances, including,
but not limited to:
a) Budgeting;
b) Savings;
c) Credit and loans;
d) Identity theft; and
e) Paying for postsecondary education
4)Amends the requirements relating to the revision to the H/SS
frameworks to identify resources and curriculum to assist
educators in delivering this instruction.
5)Requires the SPI and the SBE to include specified areas of
instruction in the consumer economic course including
budgeting, checking, use and cost of loans, identity theft and
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security, and planning and paying for post-secondary
education.
6)Specifies the curriculum to be developed pursuant to this
bill, be made available by the SPI no later than July 1, 2015.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the revision of textbooks and curriculum frameworks
in the social sciences, health, and mathematics to ensure that
these academic areas integrate specified components, including
financial preparedness.
2)Requires the SPI, with the approval of the SBE, to plan and
develop a one-semester course entitled consumer economics,
which includes instruction on the uses and costs of credit,
for use in schools maintaining any of the seventh to twelfth
grades, inclusive.
3)Requires students to complete a one-semester course in
economics in order to be eligible to graduate from high
school.
4)Requires the SBE to adopt statewide academic content standards
in core curriculum areas, pursuant to the recommendations of
the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) for the
establishment of academic content standards. The H/SS
Standards for California Public Schools were adopted in 1998
and the curriculum framework for those standards was adopted
in October 2000.
5)Although the update of the H/SS framework was originally
scheduled to be completed in 2010, the process for reviewing
frameworks and adopting instructional materials has been
suspended since July 2009. Current law permits the SBE to
consider the adoption of a revised curriculum framework and
evaluation criteria for instructional materials in H/SS and
permits the California Department of Education (CDE) to begin
this work only after it has completed work related to the
development of curriculum frameworks for the common core
academic contents standards pursuant to Education Code section
60207.
6)Requires the SBE to integrate financial preparedness into the
instructional materials and frameworks social science, health,
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and mathematics.
FISCAL EFFECT : State Mandated Local Program
COMMENTS : According to the author, economics and financial
education are core life skills. The financial crisis has made
economic matters front page news, requiring individuals to
understand concepts such as deficit, national debt, and interest
rates. It is nearly impossible to be a citizen today without
understanding personal financial matters such as credit cards,
student loans, interest rates, and mortgages.
Moreover, the rising cost of college education requires that
students and their families start planning for college as soon
as possible, to be savvy about financial aid, and to manage
student loans effectively. The average graduating college senior
in 2011 received their diploma after accruing $27,000 in debt.
This is up over $10,000 from just 5 years ago, demonstrating the
drastic changes facing the next generations and the need for
sound financial literacy.
Recent research shows that students from states where a
financial education course is required are more likely to save,
less likely to max out their credit cards, and less likely to
make late credit card payments.
Content Standards and Curriculum Frameworks . California
curriculum is based on content standards. The curriculum
frameworks are guidelines for implementing the standards that
are developed by the IQC and approved by the SBE. The IQC is an
18-member commission consisting of one member of the Assembly,
one member of the Senate, and 16 public members. At least seven
of the public members must have taught, written, or lectured on
the subject areas required for graduation. The H/SS standards
were developed in 1998 and the H/SS framework was last revised
in 2005. A review and update of this framework was underway and
nearly complete when the state suspended the process on July 28,
2009 due to fiscal constraints. The SBE is specifically
prohibited from reviewing frameworks and adopting instructional
materials until the 2015-16 school year. SB 1540 (Hancock),
Chapter 288, Statutes of 2012, authorizes the SBE to consider
the adoption of a revised curriculum framework and evaluation
criteria for instructional materials in H/SS, but prohibits the
CDE from conducting any work until after CDE has completed its
work related to the development of curriculum frameworks for the
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common core content standards.
A number of bills have been introduced this year proposing to
require instruction include a specific topic. The Committee
should consider the extent to which content should be developed
through statutory incorporation versus through the IQC process.
The IQC members have subject matter expertise and can balance
competing demands for limited instructional time.
Related Legislation : AB 166 (Hernández), also passed out of this
committee on March 20, 2013, requires the instruction in
economics provided in grades 7 through 12 to include instruction
related to personal finances.
AB 424 (Donnelly), failed to pass out of this committee on April
3, 2013, requires instruction in the social sciences to include
the development of democracy and the history of the development
of the United States Constitution and requires specified
historical documents be included in the history-social science
framework.
AB 700 (Gomez), pending in this Committee, requires instruction
in the social sciences in grade 8 and in any grades 9 to 12,
inclusive, and the one-semester course in American government
and civics that is required for high school graduation, to
include a voter education component providing instruction on how
to register and cast votes in local, state, and federal
elections, and how to use the voter information pamphlet and
other materials to become an informed voter.
SB 552 (Calderon), pending in the Senate Education Committee,
provides instruction in the area of social sciences may include
instruction on violence awareness, which may include a component
drawn from personal testimony in the form of oral or video
histories of individuals who were involved with violence
awareness efforts.
Previous legislation : SB 1080 (Lieu, 2012) authorized
instruction provided in economics to include personal finances,
including, but not limited to, mathematics, budgeting, savings,
credit, and identity theft. The bill would have required the CDE
to develop a personal finances curriculum in the next cycle in
which the mathematics and history-social science curriculum
framework were to be adopted. This measure was not heard by this
committee and died in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.
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SB 779 (Lieu, 2011) authorized a school district, as part of
providing economics instruction in grades 7-12, to include
personal finances, including, but not limited to, budget
savings, credit, and identify theft. This bill would have also
required the CDE to consider developing a personal finances
curriculum in the next cycle in which the history/social science
curriculum framework would have been adopted. This bill was
passed out of the Assembly Education Committee, but died in the
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SB 223 (Wyland, 2009) required that one-half of the economics
course required for high school graduation focus on personal
finance and financial literacy. This measure was passed by this
Committee on a 9-0 vote and was later held by the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
AB 1502 (Lieu, 2008) required the SBE and the Curriculum
Development and Supplemental Materials Commission (now the IQC)
to ensure that information about financial literacy be included
in appropriate subject area frameworks, encouraged school
districts to include instruction in personal finance, as
specified in economics, and authorized the SPI to accept private
donations for the purposes of implementing these provisions.
This measure was not heard by the Assembly Education Committee
and was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger.
AB 150 (Lieu, 2007) required the SPI to administer a California
Financial Literacy Initiative as a program for improving pupil
financial literacy. This measure was passed by the Assembly
Education Committee on a 9-0 vote and later vetoed by Governor
Schwarzenegger. In his veto message, the Governor opined that
school districts already have the flexibility to incorporate
money management into their lesson plans and the content
standards are intentionally broad in order to allow coverage of
various issues.
AB 1950 (Lieu, 2006) authorized school districts to provide
instruction in economics courses relating to the understanding
of personal finances. This measure was passed by the Assembly
Education Committee on an 8-0 vote and was later vetoed by
Governor Schwarzenegger. In his veto message, the Governor
opined that school districts already have the flexibility to
incorporate money management into their lesson plans and the
content standards are intentionally broad in order to allow
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coverage of various issues.
AB 2435 (Wiggins, 2004) authorized school districts to include
instruction related to the understanding of personal finances.
This measure was passed by the Assembly Education Committee on a
10-1 vote and was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. In his
veto messages the Governor opined that school districts already
have the flexibility to incorporate money management into their
lesson plans and the content standards are intentionally broad
in order to allow coverage of various issues.
In order to ensure the relevance and timeliness of the
curriculum, staff recommends, amending Section 6 to require the
SPI to maintain the curriculum.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Council on Economic Education
California State Treasurer, Bill Lockyer
Opposition
None of file
Analysis Prepared by : Jill Rice / ED. / (916) 319-2087