BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 2016
AUTHOR: Campos
AMENDED: May 1, 2014
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 25, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : Sexual abuse and sexual assault awareness and
prevention
standards.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the State Board of Education to consider
adopting, by March 1, 2017, content standards in sexual abuse
and sexual assault awareness and prevention upon the
recommendations of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
BACKGROUND
Academic content standards define the knowledge, concepts,
and skills that students should acquire at each grade level.
Curricular frameworks are the blueprint for implementing the
standards, and include criteria by which instructional
materials are evaluated.
The health framework was last adopted in 2003, and was in the
process of being revised when the statutory (and budgetary)
suspension of that process took effect in July 2009.
Adoption of the revised health framework was projected for
March 2011. The processes for reviewing frameworks and
adopting instructional materials have been suspended since
July 28, 2009. The State Board of Education (SBE) is
specifically prohibited from reviewing frameworks and
adopting instructional materials until the 2015-16 school
year (other than as specifically authorized for common core
English language arts and mathematics, the revised science
standards and framework, and the revised history-social
science framework). (Education Code § 60200.7, § 60200.8,
and § 60200.9)
Current law:
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1) Requires school districts to ensure that all students in
grades 7-12 receive HIV/AIDS prevention education, as
specified, from instructors trained in the appropriate
courses. Each student must receive this instruction at
least once in junior high or middle school and at least
once in high school.
(Education Code § 51934)
2) Authorizes school districts to provide comprehensive
sexual health education, as specified, consisting of
age-appropriate instruction, in any grade, using
instructors trained in the appropriate courses. (EC §
51933)
3) Provides that parents have the right to excuse their
child from all or part of comprehensive sexual health
education, HIV/AIDS prevention education, and assessment
related to that education. Current law requires school
districts to notify the parent of each student about
instruction in sexual health and HIV/AIDS prevention and
research on student health behaviors and risks planned
for the coming year. (EC § 51938)
ANALYSIS
This bill requires the State Board of Education to consider
adopting, by March 1, 2017, content standards in sexual abuse
and sexual assault awareness and prevention upon the
recommendations of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires the State Board of Education (SBE), based upon
the recommendations of the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI), to consider adopting age-appropriate
content standards for transitional kindergarten,
kindergarten, and grades 1-12 in sexual abuse and sexual
assault awareness and prevention, including information
on available counseling and resources for children who
are sexually abused.
2) Requires the SBE, based upon a recommendation by the
SPI, to consider including information in sexual abuse
and sexual assault awareness and prevention, including
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information on available counseling and resources for
children who are sexually abused, in the next revision
of the health framework.
3) Authorizes school districts, county offices of education
and charter schools to provide age-appropriate
instruction, pursuant to the standards proposed by this
bill, in sexual abuse and sexual assault awareness and
prevention.
4) Requires a student to be excused from this instruction
upon written request of the parent.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Standards . Content standards are currently in place for
the following subjects:
a) English language arts.
b) English language development.
c) Mathematics.
d) Science.
e) History-social science.
f) Career technical education.
g) Health.
h) Physical education.
i) Visual and performing arts.
j) Model school library.
aa) World language.
Standards for sexual abuse and sexual assault are more
appropriate for inclusion in the health standards.
Staff recommends amendments to delete the requirement
that standards be developed in sexual abuse and sexual
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assault, and instead require that the next revision of
the health standards include sexual abuse and sexual
assault. This amendment would delete the March 1, 2017
timeline, and require the standards to be developed and
adopted using the existing process (standards are
typically developed by a panel of experts in the subject
area, and recommended by the Superintendent of Public
Instruction for adoption by the State Board of
Education).
Academic content standards do not exist, in any subject,
for transitional kindergarten. Staff recommends an
amendment to strike all references to transitional
kindergarten in this bill.
2) Health framework . The State Board of Education (SBE)
adopted the health education framework in 2003, and
adopted the health content standards in March of 2008.
The health framework was scheduled for review in 2011
but the entire process to revise the frameworks and
adopt instructional materials has been suspended until
the 2015-16 school year. There does not appear to be a
specific plan for the resumption of the process of
reviewing and updating the health framework. Assuming
the prior schedule is resumed as it was upon suspension,
the health framework would likely be revisited in 2018
at the earliest.
This bill requires the SBE, based upon recommendations
of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), to
consider including information on sexual abuse and
sexual assault awareness and prevention in the health
framework upon its next revision. The Instructional
Quality Commission (IQC) is charged with developing and
revising the curricular frameworks, not the SPI.
Therefore, staff recommends an amendment to strike
reference to the SPI and instead require the IQC to
consider including this instruction in the next revision
of the health framework, for adoption by the SBE.
3) Instruction . This bill authorizes but does not require
schools to provide sexual abuse and sexual assault
awareness and prevention education. The Education Code
is permissive, and as such, schools may currently
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provide this instruction. This bill requires a student
to be excused from this instruction upon written request
of the parent, which is consistent with current law
relative to comprehensive sexual health education.
4) Fiscal impact . According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill could impose:
a) General Fund administrative costs to CDE in
the range of $200,000 to $300,000 for the
Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) to develop
content standards for consideration by the SBE.
b) General Fund/Proposition 98 cost pressure,
potentially in the millions of dollars, to purchase
materials aligned to the standards.
5) Related legislation . SB 1165 (Mitchell) requires the
IQC to consider a distinct category on sexual abuse and
sex trafficking prevention education in the next
revision of the health framework. SB 1165 is scheduled
to be heard in the Assembly Education Committee on June
25.
SB 1057 (Corbett) requires the SPI to recommend
history-social science standards to the SBE by March 30,
2018, and requires the SBE to adopt, modify or reject
the standards by July 30, 2018.
6) Prior legislation . SB 13 (Correa, 2011) and SB 1300
(Correa, 2010) would have required schools that elect to
provide teen dating violence prevention education to
ensure that the instruction meets certain criteria, and
requires the State Board of Education to incorporate
teen dating violence and sexual violence curriculum into
the health curriculum framework. This instruction would
have included components about, inappropriate sexual
behavior, sexual harassment, sexual violence, and sexual
assault. Both bills included parental notification and
opt-out provisions. Concerns were raised about blending
violence prevention education with sexual health
education, and the ability of parents to opt-out of
violence prevention education. SB 13 failed passage in
this Committee, and SB 1300 failed passage in the
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Assembly Education Committee.
AB 1373 (Fong, 2011) would have authorized school districts
or the county office of education to provide education
programs to promote healthy relationships and prevent
teen dating violence to pupils in grades 7-12. AB 1373
did not reference sexual abuse or violence and therefore
did not include parental notification and opt-out
provisions. SB 1373 was held in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
SUPPORT
Brighter Beginnings
OPPOSITION
None on file.