BILL ANALYSIS Ó Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Kevin de León, Chair SB 201 (Liu) - Instructional Materials Amended: As Introduced Policy Vote: Education 8-1 Urgency: No Mandate: No Hearing Date: May 23, 2013 Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED. 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 SB 201 (Liu) Page 1 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 SB 201 (Liu) Page 2 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. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED: Amend per author to continuously appropriate the revenue from publishers fees to the CDE. SB 201 (Liu) Page 3