BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 201 (Liu) - Instructional Materials
Amended: As Introduced Policy Vote: Education 8-1
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: April 15, 2013
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: This bill authorizes the State Board of Education
(SBE) to adopt, by November 30, 2015, K-8 instructional
materials that are aligned to the Common Core English language
arts (ELA) standards and Common Core English language
development (ELD) standards.
Fiscal Impact:
Reviews: Significant state costs, which will be fully
recovered by publishers' fees.
Instructional materials: Substantial cost pressure for
local educational agencies (LEAs) to purchase new
instructional materials.
Background: Academic content standards define the knowledge,
concepts and skills that pupils should learn at each grade
level. Curricular frameworks serve as a blueprint for how to
implement the standards and provide guidance to publishers,
along with evaluation criteria, for the development of
instructional materials. The processes for the revision of
curricular frameworks and adoption of instructional materials
are suspended until the 2015-16 school year. (EC � 60200.7)
Notwithstanding the suspension, existing law requires the
development of frameworks specific to the Common Core standards
in ELA and mathematics, and evaluation criteria relative to
supplemental instructional materials that are aligned to the
Common Core standards. Thus, in August 2010, the SBE adopted the
Common Core academic content standards in mathematics and ELA.
(EC � 60207 and � 60605.86)
Existing law authorizes the SBE to conduct an adoption of basic
instructional materials in mathematics, by March 30, 2014. It
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also prohibits the SBE from adopting basic instructional
materials in English language arts or mathematics in the year
succeeding the year in which the SBE adopts basic materials in
the other subject for the same grade levels. (EC � 60200 and �
60207)
The currently suspended process for the review and adoption of
instructional materials involved the submission of materials by
publishers for review by committees of the Instructional Quality
Commission, public hearings of both the Commission and the State
Board of Education (SBE), and adoption by the SBE. That process
typically took 30 months to complete.
Proposed Law: This bill authorizes the SBE to adopt
instructional materials for grades K-8 that are aligned to the
Common Core ELA standards and Common Core ELD standards. For
purposes of conducting the adoption, this bill:
1) Lifts the restriction on the back-to-back adoption of
instructional materials in mathematics and ELA.
2) Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to
provide notice to all publishers or manufacturers known to
produce basic instructional materials in ELA and ELD, as
specified.
3) Requires the CDE to charge a fee to each publisher choosing
to participate in the adoption, as specified, which does
not exceed reasonable departmental costs for the adoption.
4) Authorizes the SBE, upon the request of a small publisher,
as defined, to reduce the fee for participation in the
adoption.
5) Specifies that revenue derived from fees to be budgeted as
reimbursements and subject to review through the annual
budget process.
Related Legislation: AB 1246 (Brownley) Ch. 668/2012 authorized
the adoption of K-8 instructional materials in mathematics by
March 30, 2014, and established fees for participation in
instructional materials reviews.
Staff Comments: This bill authorizes the adoption of
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instructional K-8 instructional materials for ELA and ELD,
following the process established in AB 1246 for the adoption of
mathematics instructional materials. The bill allows publishers
to submit revisions to currently adopted instructional materials
for review. It also allows publishers to submit materials for
review and establishes a process for recovering state costs
through fees charged to publishers in order to have their
materials reviewed. The CDE has indicated that the process
ensures that the CDE will fully recover its costs for these
activities.
This bill does not require that school districts purchase new
instructional materials. Schools are also not restricted to
materials adopted by the SBE. Adopting new materials that are
specifically aligned to the Common Core standards (which schools
will be required to implement in 2015) does, however, create
cost pressure to purchase those new materials in preparation for
the new assessments. Currently, instructional materials block
grants (totaling approximately $334 million) are subject to
categorical flexibility, intended to help LEAs better manage
their budget reductions; this bill creates pressure to use those
funds for their original purpose instead of other educational
priorities.
Staff notes that as part of the 2013-14 Governor's Budget, the
Administration proposes to restructure the existing K-12 finance
system and eliminate over 40 existing programs. The
Administration proposes to primarily fund schools using a new
formula known as the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). The
LCFF would consolidate the vast majority of state categorical
programs and revenue limit apportionments into a single funding
stream and would eliminate the statutory and programmatic
requirements for almost all existing categorical programs,
including the instructional materials block grant. The LCFF has
a 7-year "roll out" period for schools to reach their target
funding levels. If the LCFF is enacted, adopting new ELA and ELD
new instructional materials during the roll out period will
likely create cost pressure to provide state supplemental
funding to LEAs to purchase new instructional materials.
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