Amended in Senate August 2, 2016

Amended in Senate June 20, 2016

Amended in Assembly June 2, 2015

Amended in Assembly May 13, 2015

Amended in Assembly May 4, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 7, 2015

Amended in Assembly March 25, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 575

Introduced by Assembly begin delete Members end delete begin insert Member end insert O'Donnell begin delete and Atkins end delete

February 24, 2015

An act to amend Section 60200 of, and to add begin insert and repeal end insert Section 60227 begin delete to, end delete begin insert of, end insert the Education Code, relating to instructional materials.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 575, as amended, O'Donnell. Instructional materials: follow up adoptions.

Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt instructional materials for kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, and to adopt procedures for the submission of instructional materials, and provides that instructional materials may be submitted for adoption in specified subject areas every 8 years.

This bill would instead provide that instructional materials may be submitted for adoption at least once but no more than twice every 8 years. The begin delete bill end delete begin insert bill, until January 1, 2024, end insert would require the State Department of Education, before conducting a follow up adoption, as defined, in a given subject area to post a notice on the department’s Internet Web site and notify all publishers or manufacturers known to produce basic instructional materials in that subject area that each publisher and manufacturer choosing to participate in the follow up adoption shall be assessed a fee, as specified.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 60200 of the Education Code is amended
to read:

60200.  

The state board shall adopt basic instructional materials
for use in kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, for governing
boards, subject to the following provisions:

(a) The state board shall adopt at least five basic instructional
materials for all applicable grade levels in each of the following
subject areas:

(1) Language arts, including, but not limited to, spelling, reading,
and English language development. The state board may not adopt
basic instructional materials in this subject area or the subject area
specified by paragraph (2) in the year succeeding the year in which
the state board adopts basic instructional materials in this subject
area for the same grade level.

(2) Mathematics. The state board may not adopt basic
instructional materials in this subject area or the subject area
specified by paragraph (1) in the year succeeding the year in which
the state board adopts basic instructional materials in this subject
area for the same grade level.

(3) Science.

(4) Social science.

(5) Bilingual or bicultural subjects.

(6) Any other subject, discipline, or interdisciplinary areas for
which the state board determines the adoption of instructional
materials to be necessary or desirable.

(b) The state board shall adopt procedures for the submission
of basic instructional materials in order to comply with each of
the following:

(1) Instructional materials may be submitted for adoption in any
of the subject areas pursuant to paragraphs (1) to (6), inclusive, of
subdivision (a) at least once but not more than twice every eight
years. The state board shall ensure that curriculum frameworks
are reviewed and adopted in each subject area and that the criteria
for evaluating instructional materials developed pursuant to
subdivision (b) of Section 60204 are consistent with subdivision
(c). The state board may prescribe reasonable conditions to restrict
the resubmission of materials that have been previously rejected
if those resubmitted materials have no substantive changes.

(2) If a publisher or manufacturer submits revisions to currently
adopted instructional material for review after the timeframe
specified by the state board, the department shall assess a fee on
the submitting publisher or manufacturer in an amount that shall
not exceed the reasonable costs to the department to conduct a
review of the instructional material pursuant to this section.

(3) Submitted instructional materials shall be adopted or rejected
within six months of the submission date of the materials pursuant
to paragraph (1) unless the state board determines that a longer
period of time, not to exceed an additional three months, is
necessary due to the estimated volume or complexity of the
materials for that subject in that year, or due to other circumstances
beyond the reasonable control of the state board.

(4) The process for review of instructional materials shall
involve review committees, which shall include, but not be limited
to, volunteer content experts and instructional material reviewers,
and shall be composed of a majority of classroom teachers from
a wide variety of affected grade levels and subject areas.

(5) The rules and procedures for adoption of instructional
materials shall be transparent and consistently applicable regardless
of the format of the instructional materials, which may include,
but not be limited to, print, digital, and open-source instructional
materials.

(c) In reviewing and adopting or recommending for adoption
submitted basic instructional materials, the state board shall use
the following criteria, and ensure that, in its judgment, the
submitted basic instructional materials meet all of the following
criteria:

(1) Are consistent with the criteria and the standards of quality
prescribed in the state board’s adopted curriculum framework. In
making this determination, the state board shall consider both the
framework and the submitted instructional materials as a whole.

(2) Comply with the requirements of Sections 60040, 60041,
60042, 60043, 60044, 60048, 60200.5, and 60200.6, and the state
board’s guidelines for social content.

(3) Are factually accurate and incorporate principles of
instruction reflective of current and confirmed research.

(4) Are aligned to the content standards adopted by the state
board in the subject area and the grade level or levels for which
they are submitted.

(5) Do not contain materials, including illustrations, that provide
unnecessary exposure to a commercial brand name, product, or
corporate or company logo. Materials, including illustrations, that
contain a commercial brand name, product, or corporate or
company logo may not be used unless the state board determines
that the use of the commercial brand name, product, or corporate
or company logo is appropriate based on one of the following
specific findings:

(A) If text, the use of the commercial brand name, product, or
corporate or company logo in the instructional materials is
necessary for an educational purpose, as defined in the guidelines
or frameworks adopted by the state board.

(B) If an illustration, the appearance of a commercial brand
name, product, or corporate or company logo in an illustration in
instructional materials is incidental to the general nature of the
illustration.

(6) Meet other criteria as are established by the state board as
being necessary to accomplish the intent of Section 7.5 of Article
IX of the California Constitution and of Section 1 of Chapter 1181
of the Statutes of 1989, provided that the criteria are approved by
resolution at the time the resolution adopting the framework for
the current adoption is approved, or at least 12 months before the
date that the materials are to be approved for adoption.

(d) If basic instructional materials are rejected, the state board
shall provide a specific, written explanation of the reasons why
the submitted materials were not adopted, based on one or more
of the criteria established under subdivision (c). In providing this
explanation, the state board may use, in whole or in part, materials
written by the Superintendent or any other advisers to the state
board.

(e) The state board may adopt fewer than five basic instructional
materials in each subject area for each grade level if either of the
following occurs:

(1) Fewer than five basic instructional materials are submitted.

(2) The state board specifically finds that fewer than five basic
instructional materials meet the criteria prescribed by paragraphs
(1) to (5), inclusive, of subdivision (c), or the materials fail to meet
the state board’s adopted curriculum framework. If the state board
adopts fewer than five basic instructional materials in any subject
for any grade level, the state board shall conduct a review of the
degree to which the criteria and procedures used to evaluate the
submitted materials for that adoption were consistent with the state
board’s adopted curriculum framework.

(f) This section does not limit the authority of the state board
to adopt materials that are not basic instructional materials.

(g) Consistent with the quality criteria for the state board’s
adopted curriculum framework, the state board shall prescribe
procedures to provide the most open and flexible materials
submission system and ensure that the adopted materials in each
subject, taken as a whole, provide for the educational needs of the
diverse pupil populations in the public schools, provide collections
of instructional materials that illustrate diverse points of view,
represent cultural pluralism, and provide a broad spectrum of
knowledge, information, and technology-based materials to meet
the goals of the program and the needs of pupils.

(h) Upon making an adoption, the state board shall make
available to listed publishers and manufacturers and all school
interests a listing of instructional materials, including the most
current unit cost of those materials as computed pursuant to existing
law. Items placed upon lists shall remain thereon, and be available
for procurement through the state’s systems of financing, from the
date of the adoption of the item and until a date established by the
state board. The date established by the state board for continuing
items on that list shall be the date on which the state board adopts
instructional materials based on a new or revised curriculum
framework. Lists of adopted instructional materials shall be made
available by subject and grade level to school districts and posted
on the department’s Internet Web site, and shall include
information from the reports of findings from the review
committees pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (b). The lists
shall terminate and shall no longer be effective on the date
prescribed by the state board pursuant to this subdivision.

(i) The state board may approve multiple lists of instructional
materials, without designating a grade or subject, and the state
board may designate more than one grade or subject whenever it
determines that a single subject designation or a single grade
designation would not promote the maximum efficiency of pupil
learning. Any materials so designated may be placed on single
grade or single subject lists, or multigrade or interdisciplinary lists,
or may be placed on separate lists including other materials with
similar grade or subject designations.

(j) A composite listing in the format of an order form may be
used to meet the requirements of this section.

(k) The lists maintained pursuant to this section shall not be
deemed to control the use period by any school district.

(l) The state board shall give publishers the opportunity to
modify instructional materials, in a manner provided for in
regulations adopted by the state board, if the state board finds that
the instructional materials do not comply with paragraph (5) of
subdivision (c).

(m) This section does not prohibit the publisher of instructional
materials from including whatever corporate name or logo on the
instructional materials that is necessary to provide basic
information about the publisher, to protect its copyright, or to
identify third-party sources of content.

(n) The state board may adopt regulations that provide for other
exceptions to this section, as determined by the state board.

(o) The Superintendent shall develop, and the state board shall
adopt, guidelines to implement this section.

SEC. 2.  

Section 60227 is added to the Education Code, to read:

60227.  

(a) For purposes of this section, a follow up adoption
is any adoption other than the primary adoption that occurs within
the eight-year cycle established pursuant to subdivision (b) of
Section 60200.

(b) Before conducting a follow up adoption in a given subject
area, the department shall post an appropriate notice on the
department’s Internet Web site pursuant to subdivision (c) and
notify all publishers or manufacturers known to produce basic
instructional materials in that subject area.

(c) The notice shall specify that each publisher or manufacturer
choosing to participate in the follow up adoption shall be assessed
a fee based on the number of programs the publisher or
manufacturer indicates will be submitted for review and the number
of grade levels proposed to be covered by each program.

(d) The fee shall offset the cost of conducting the follow up
adoption process and shall reflect the department’s best estimate
of the cost. The department shall take reasonable steps to limit
costs of the follow up adoption and to keep the fee modest,
recognizing that some of the work necessary for the primary
adoption need not be duplicated.

(e) The department, before incurring substantial costs for the
follow up adoption, shall require that a publisher or manufacturer
who wishes to participate in the follow up adoption first declare
the intent to submit one or more specific programs for the follow
up adoption and specify the specific grade levels to be covered by
each program. After a publisher or manufacturer has declared the
intent to submit one or more programs and the grade levels to be
covered by each program, the department shall assess a fee. The
fee shall be payable by the publisher or manufacturer even if the
publisher or manufacturer subsequently chooses to withdraw a
program or reduce the number of grade levels covered. A
submission by a publisher or manufacturer shall not be reviewed
for purposes of adoption, either in a follow up adoption or in any
other primary or follow up adoption conducted thereafter, until
the fee assessed has been paid in full.

(f) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature that the fee not be so
substantial that it prevents small publishers or manufacturers from
participating in a follow up adoption.

(2) Upon the request of a small publisher or manufacturer, the
state board may reduce the fee for participation in the follow up
adoption.

(3) For purposes of this section, “small publisher” and “small
manufacturer” mean an independently owned or operated publisher
or manufacturer who is not dominant in its field of operation, and
who, together with its affiliates, has 100 or fewer employees, and
has average annual gross receipts of ten million dollars
($10,000,000) or less over the previous three years.

(g) Revenue derived from fees charged pursuant to subdivision
(e) shall be budgeted as reimbursements and subject to review
through the annual budget process and may be used to pay costs
associated with any adoption and any costs associated with the
review of instructional materials.

begin insert

(h) If the department determines that there is little or no interest
by publishers and manufacturers in participating in a follow up
adoption, the department shall recommend to the state board that
the follow up adoption not be conducted and the state board may
choose not to conduct the follow up adoption.

end insert begin insert

(i) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2024, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that is enacted before January 1, 2024, deletes or extends that
date.

end insert