BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 575|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 575
Author: O'Donnell (D)
Amended: 8/15/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 9-0, 6/29/16
AYES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Huff, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan,
Vidak
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/11/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 41-31, 6/4/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Instructional materials: follow up adoptions
SOURCE: California Department of Education
DIGEST: This bill re-establishes a fee supported process for
the follow up adoption of instructional materials.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1) Provides, in the State Constitution, and related statutes,
for the State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt textbooks
and other instructional materials for Kindergarten and
grades 1-8. (Constitution of California, Article IX, § 7.5)
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Page 2
2) Requires the SBE 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)
3) No longer provides for follow up adoptions of
instructional materials. Statutes specifically authorized
follow up adoptions from 2004-2011; those provisions were
for a limited period of time and have been repealed.
This bill re-establishes a fee supported process for the follow
up adoption of instructional materials. Specifically, this
bill:
1) Provides that a follow up adoption is any adoption other
than the primary adoption that occurs within the existing
eight-year cycle.
2) Requires the California Department of Education (CDE),
before conducting a follow up adoption in a given subject
area, to post an appropriate notice on its Web site and
notify all publishers or manufacturers known to produce
basic instructional materials in that subject area.
3) Requires the notice to specify that each publisher or
manufacturer choosing to participate in the follow up
adoption 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.
4) Requires the fee to offset the cost of conducting the
follow up adoption process and reflect the CDE's best
estimate of the cost. This bill requires the CDE to 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.
5) Requires the CDE, before incurring substantial costs for
the follow up adoption, to require that a publisher or
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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.
6) Requires the CDE, 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, to assess a fee.
7) Requires the CDE, if it determines that there is little or
no interest by publishers and manufacturers in participating
in a follow up adoption, to recommend to the SBE that the
follow up adoption not be conducted and authorizes the SBE
to choose not to conduct the follow up adoption.
8) Requires the fee to 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.
9) Prohibits a submission from being 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.
10) States legislative intent that the fee not be so
substantial that it prevents small publishers or
manufacturers from participating in a follow up adoption.
11) Authorizes the SBE, upon the request of a small publisher
or manufacturer, to reduce the fee for participation in the
follow up adoption.
12) Defines "small publisher" and "small manufacturer" as 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 $10 million or less
over the previous three years.
13) Requires revenue derived from fees to be budgeted as
reimbursements and subject to review through the annual
budget process and authorizes the fees to be used to pay
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costs associated with any adoption and any costs associated
with the review of instructional materials.
14) Modifies existing provisions regarding the submission of
instructional materials from every eight years to at least
once but not more than twice every eight years.
15) Sunsets the provisions of this bill on January 1, 2024.
Comments
Need for follow-up adoptions. 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 assessments would measure the
proficiency of the Standards for Mathematical Practice and the
California common core standards. The CDE believes another
opportunity to adopt instructional materials for mathematics is
appropriate to expand district choice and to provide flexibility
for districts that have a local policy requiring the use of
SBE-adopted instructional materials (rather than
district-adopted materials).
Why not limit to mathematics? According to the CDE, this bill
is not limited to mathematics because "school districts want a
dynamic list of available instructional materials for existing
subject areas. AB 575 allows the SBE to conduct a follow up
adoption when appropriate. This authority would allow the state
to be responsible to the needs of the field quickly - without
having to seek legislation for each subject area and conducting
the necessary rulemaking process to establish appropriate
regulations, all of which would take much more than a year. CDE
believes a comprehensive approach would streamline the process
and provide the SBE flexibility to determine when a follow up
adoption is required. CDE anticipates that English language
arts and the Next Generation Science Standards will also require
follow up adoptions because of the statewide assessments. CDE
will need authority to improve the quality of instructional
materials programs after assessment results become available."
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FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
This bill will likely not result in significant costs to the
state. It expands the authority of the CDE to conduct one
follow up instructional material adoption in a subject area if
necessary, in addition to the primary adoptions that are
supposed to occur every eight years. It allows a fee to be
assessed to publishers who submit materials to offset the cost
of the follow up adoption and prohibits the use of General
Fund to support these adoptions. To the extent CDE determines
that there is insufficient interest by publishers and
manufacturers in participating in the adoption, the CDE will
recommend to the SBE not to conduct the adoption.
Minor costs to the CDE to recommend to the SBE that a follow
up adoption not be conducted.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/12/16)
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson
California Art Education Association
California Association for Bilingual Education
California Association for Health, Physical Education,
Recreation and Dance
California Language Teachers Association
California Music Education Association
Californians Together
California Science Teachers Association
California School Boards Association
California Teachers Association
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/12/16)
None received
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ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 41-31, 6/4/15
AYES: Alejo, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Burke, Calderon, Campos,
Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Eggman, Cristina Garcia,
Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Low, McCarty, Medina,
Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Rodriguez,
Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NOES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Brough, Chang,
Chávez, Dababneh, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Gatto, Grove,
Hadley, Harper, Jones, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, Melendez, Obernolte, Olsen,
Patterson, Steinorth, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Brown, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Frazier,
Ridley-Thomas, Salas, Weber
Prepared by:Lynn Lorber / ED. / (916) 651-4105
8/15/16 20:01:55
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