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  








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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.

          AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED: Amend per author to continuously  
          appropriate the revenue from publishers fees to the CDE.
          









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