AB 252, as introduced, Holden. Advanced placement program: grant program: STEM curriculum.
Existing law contains legislative findings and declarations stating that advanced placement courses, among other things, help to improve the overall curriculum at schools where they are provided and provide a cost-effective means for high school pupils to obtain college-level coursework experience. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to annually update the information on advanced placement available on the Internet Web site of the State Department of Education to include current information on the various means available to school districts to offer or access advanced placement courses, and to annually communicate with high schools that offer advanced placement courses in fewer than 5 subjects and inform them of the various options for making advanced placement courses and other rigorous courses available to pupils who may benefit from them.
This bill, until July 1, 2021, would establish a grant program overseen by the department for purposes of awarding grants to cover the costs associated with a high school establishing or expanding its advanced placement STEM curriculum , as defined. The bill would require the Superintendent to submit no later than July 1, 2021, a specified report to the Legislature describing the effectiveness of the grant program.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 52245 is added to the Education Code,
2to read:
(a) For purposes of this section, “STEM curriculum”
4means courses in any of the following subject areas:
5(1) Biology.
6(2) Calculus.
7(3) Chemistry.
8(4) Computer science.
9(5) Environmental science.
10(6) Physics.
11(7) Statistics.
12(b) There is hereby established a grant program for the purpose
13of
awarding moneys to cover the costs associated with a high
14school establishing or expanding its advanced placement STEM
15curriculum.
16(c) A high school may apply to the department for grant funding
17pursuant to this section if all of the following conditions are met:
18(1) The high school meets either of the following criteria:
19(A) Does not offer advanced placement courses in the STEM
20curriculum.
21(B) Offers advanced placement courses in the STEM curriculum,
22but those courses are sufficiently oversubscribed.
23(2) The high school has identified pupils who have demonstrated
24they have high potential to be successful in one or more advanced
25placement courses in the STEM curriculum. The high school may
26
identify pupils using any means it deems appropriate, including,
27but not limited to, a pupil’s score on the preliminary SAT.
28(d) (1) No later than July 1, 2021, the Superintendent shall
29submit a report to the Legislature describing the effectiveness of
30the grant program established pursuant to this section. The
31Superintendent is encouraged to consult with the College Board
32in preparing the report pursuant to this subdivision. The report
33shall include both of the following:
34(A) Number of pupils who have access to advanced placement
35courses in the STEM curriculum.
P3 1(B) Success rates in the advanced placement courses in the
2STEM curriculum that include core demographics, including, but
3not limited to, gender and race.
4(2) A report
submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall be
5submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government
6Code.
7(e) The department shall implement this section only to the
8extent that moneys are available to the department and the
9Superintendent for the purposes of this section. The moneys may
10be derived from any source, including, but not limited to, state
11funding, federal funding, and nonstate funding sources.
12(f) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2021, and,
13as of January 1, 2022, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
14that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2022, deletes or
15extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
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