BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 575 (O'Donnell) - Instructional materials: follow up
adoptions
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|Version: August 2, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: August 8, 2016 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill re-establishes a fee supported process for
the follow up adoption of instructional materials, with a sunset
January 1, 2024.
Fiscal
Impact:
This bill expands the authority of the California Department
of Education (CDE) to conduct one follow up instructional
material adoptions in a subject area if necessary, in addition
to the primary adoptions that are supposed to occur every
eight years. The CDE indicates that the average cost for an
instructional materials adoption is $500,000, though actual
AB 575 (O'Donnell) Page 1 of
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costs vary depending upon the number submissions for each
adoption. This bill allows a fee to be assessed to publishers
who submit materials to offset the cost of the follow up
adoption. To the extent the fee set by the CDE is sufficient
to completely cover the costs of a follow up instructional
materials adoption this bill would not impose new costs to the
state. However, in the recent instructional materials
adoption for English Language Arts/English Language
Development, fee revenue fell short by about $190,000 and was
unable to cover the full costs of the adoption. Therefore, to
the extent the fee is set at a level that is insufficient to
cover the full costs of a follow up adoption, this bill could
result in significant General Fund costs.
Minor costs to the CDE to recommend to the State Board of
Education (Board) that a follow up adoption not be conducted
in the event of little or no interest by publishers to
participate.
Background: The State Constitution, and related statutes, provide for the
Board to adopt textbooks and other instructional materials for
kindergarten and grades 1 through 8. (Constitution of
California, Article IX, § 7.5)
Existing law requires the Board to adopt at least five basic
instructional materials for all applicable grade levels in
specific subject areas. Existing law authorizes instructional
materials to be submitted for adoption in any of the specified
subject areas every eight years. (Education Code § 60200)
Existing law no longer allows for follow up adoptions of
instructional materials. Statutes specifically authorized follow
up adoptions from 2004 through 2011. Those provisions had a
sunset date of January 1, 2011 which ended during the budget
crisis and were never extended.
According to the CDE, it has an urgent need for authority to
conduct a follow up instructional materials adoption for
mathematics because the adoption of mathematics materials in
2014 occurred on an extremely accelerated timeline that in
effect excluded the submission of more programs. In addition,
that adoption occurred before publishers knew how the
AB 575 (O'Donnell) Page 2 of
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assessments would measure the proficiency of the Standards for
Mathematical Practice and the California common core standards.
A follow up adoption would allow publishers to submit entirely
new programs for review to be considered for inclusion in the
Board-adopted list of instructional materials. Another
opportunity to adopt instructional materials would allow greater
flexibility for districts that rely upon Board-adopted
instructional materials (rather than district-adopted
materials). Finally, CDE anticipates that English language arts
and the Next Generation Science Standards will also require
follow up adoptions because of the statewide assessments. This
bill allows the CDE to conduct these follow up adoptions without
having to seek legislation for each subject area.
Proposed Law:
This bill re-establishes a fee supported process for the
follow up adoption of instructional materials with a sunset on
January 1, 2024.
Specifically, this bill:
Provides that a follow up adoption is any adoption other than
the one that occurs within an eight year cycle.
Requires that, before conducting a follow up adoption in a
given subject area, the CDE post a notice its website to
notify all publishers or manufacturers known to produce basic
instructional materials in that subject area.
Requires the notice to include that each publisher or
manufacturer choosing to participate in the follow up adoption
must be assessed a fee based on the number of programs that
will be submitted for review and the number of grade levels
proposed to be covered by each program.
Requires the CDE to take reasonable steps to limit costs of
the follow up adoption and keep the fee modest, recognizing
that some of the work necessary for the primary adoption need
not be duplicated.
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Requires that, before incurring substantial costs for the
follow up adoption, the CDE require a publisher or
manufacturer who wishes to participate in the follow up
adoption first declare the intent to submit one or more
specific programs, specifying which grade levels to be
covered, for the follow up adoption. The CDE is then required
to assess a fee.
Provides that if the CDE determines that there is little or no
interest by publishers and manufacturers in participating in a
follow up adoption, the CDE is required to recommend to the
Board that the follow up adoption not be conducted and the
Board may choose not to conduct the follow up adoption.
Authorizes the Board to reduce the fee for participation in
the follow up adoption for a small publisher or manufacturer,
as specified.
Provides that revenue derived from these fees must 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.
Specifies that instructional materials for grades 1 through 8
may be submitted for adoption by the Board at least once, but
not more than twice, every eight years.
Staff
Comments: This bill establishes the authority for the CDE to assess a fee
on publishers to offset the cost of conducting a follow up
adoption process. This bill defines a follow up adoption as any
adoption other than the primary adoption that occurs within the
eight- year cycle. It provides that before incurring
substantial costs for the follow up adoption, the CDE must
AB 575 (O'Donnell) Page 4 of
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require a publisher that is interested in participating, first
declare the intent to submit one or more specific programs.
After a publisher or manufacturer has declared their intent, the
CDE is required to assess a fee. Therefore, because the CDE
must assess a fee before substantial work gets underway, it is
possible that the appropriate fee level cannot be anticipated
causing fee revenue to fall short in some cases.
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