BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 798
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(Without Reference to File)
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
798 (Bonilla)
As Amended September 9, 2015
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: | 78-0 | (June 4, |SENATE: | | (September 11, |
| | |2015) | | |2015) |
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(vote not available)
Original Committee Reference: HIGHER ED.
SUMMARY: Establishes, until July 1, 2020, a state grant program
to incentivize increased adoption of open source educational
resources at campuses of the California Community Colleges
(CCC), and the California State University (CSU).
The Senate amendments:
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1)Specify that the California Digital Open Source Library, as
specified, shall also be known as the California Open Online
Library for Education (COOL4Ed)
2)Specify that the Open Educational Resources (OER) Adoption
Incentive Program is established to carry out the purpose of
this measure; and, unless context otherwise requires,
"program," as specified, means the OER Adoption Incentive
Program.
3)Specify monies appropriated, as specified for the program,
shall be used by CCC and CSU campuses to further the purposes
of the College Textbook Affordability Act, as established by
this measure, including any of the following purposes:
a) Faculty professional development (PD), which shall
include learning about COOL4Ed; and, faculty who
participate in this PD shall be reimbursed in accordance
with their campus' approved plan, as specified;
b) Professional development for staff whose work supports
providing students with OER;
c) Open educational resource curation activities. All new
OER developed and available that are adopted as course
material pursuant to this program shall be added to the
established COOL4Ed;
d) Curriculum modification and requisite release time for
faculty in accordance with a campus' approved plan, as
specified, related to the adoption of OER as course
materials; and,
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e) Technology support for faculty, students, and staff
whose work furthers the goals specified in a campus'
approved plan.
4)Specify monies appropriated, as specified for the program,
shall not be used for direct compensation for faculty members
who adopt OER, except as provided to compensate for PD, as
specified, or for purchasing new equipment.
5)Clarify that a Creative Commons license is a viable example of
an OER property license.
6)Specify that in order to participate in the program, the local
academic senate of a campus of the CCC or CSU shall do both of
the following:
a) Adopt a local campus resolution to increase student
access to high-quality OER and reduce the cost of textbooks
and supplies for students in course sections for which OER
are to be adopted to accomplish cost savings for students;
and,
b) Approve a plan, in collaboration with students and
campus administration, that describes evidence of the
faculty's commitment and readiness to effectively use grant
funds to support faculty adoption of OER.
7)Specify that the California OER Council may provide a model
plan to campuses.
8)Specify a variety of details the plan shall include; and, that
faculty, at their discretion, may choose courses that are to
adopt OER under the plan.
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9)Delete specified benchmarks the plans must outline.
10)Specify the academic senate of a local campus of the CCC or
CSU may submit the resolution and plan developed, as
specified, to the California OER Council as its application
for an initial grant no later than June 30, 2016.
11)Specify the California OER Council shall make an initial
grant to a campus within 60 days of the Council's receipt of
the campus' application if the campus has satisfied the
requirements, as specified.
12)Specify that the California OER Council may award up to 100
initial grants.
13)Clarify that if the total amount requested in applications
received is equal to or less than two million dollars, the
California OER Council shall make grants for each approved
application equal to the amount requested in the application;
and, if the total amount requested in applications received
exceeds $2 million, the California OER Council shall make
grants for the full amount requested in approved applications
on a competitive basis based on the strength of evidence
provided of faculty commitment to the adoption of OER.
14)Specify each application approved by the California OER
Council shall be submitted by the Council to the CSU
Chancellor no later than 30 days after the Council approves
the application; and, the Chancellor shall award grants to
recipients, as specified.
15)Specify that administrative support may be provided to the
Council by COOL4Ed to help the Council carry out its duties.
16)Delete the $10,000 cap on an initial grant awards and bonus
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grants for up to three years if specified benchmarks are
reached.
17)Specify that no later than June 30, 2018, a campus may apply
for a bonus grant equal to the amount of its initial grant.
The application shall include evidence that the campus has met
or exceeded total cost savings of greater than 30% for the
required number of course sections specified in the approved
plan for the campus' initial grant in the 2017-18 academic
year.
18)Specify that a campus may also compute the total cost savings
for each course section and include that figure in its
application for a bonus grant.
19)Specify that the total cost savings for each course section
shall be the number of students enrolled in a course section
multiplied by the per-student decrease in the costs of books
and supplies for the course in the term resulting from the
adoption of OER.
20)Specify the bonus grants shall be used to further the goals
of the campus' approved plan for its initial grant.
21)Specify that if the total amount of requests in applications
for bonus grants exceeds the total amount of funds available,
the California OER Council shall award grants on a competitive
basis to approved applications for the full amount of the
initial grant based on the overall percentage savings achieved
by the initial plan in the courses covered by the plan.
22)State the Legislature intends for the initial bonus grants to
provide the impetus for campuses to adopt, and continue to
use, OER as course materials.
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23)Specify that the COOL4Ed, in consultation with the
Intersegmental Committee of Academic Senates, shall report to
the Legislature September 1 each year, as specified.
24)Change the sunset of the program to September 1, 2020.
25)Reappropriate, effective January 1, 2016, three million
dollars of the monies appropriated, as specified, to the CSU
Chancellor, without regard to fiscal years, for allocation for
the program.
26)Clarify that monies allocated, as specified, or a portion of
monies appropriated, as specified, shall not be encumbered
unless at least 100% of that amount encumbered is matched by
private funds, and, if not matched by private funds, shall
revert to the Golden State Scholarshare Trust, for specified
purposes.
27)Specify that of the unencumbered amount appropriated, as
specified, as of June 30, 2015:
a) Up to $200,000 may be used for administration of the
COOL4Ed to continue developing and updating its services,
as specified, until September 1, 2020; and,
b) Up to $27,000 may be used for stipends to members of the
California OER Council in order for the members to carry
out their duties in accordance with the program.
28)Make minor clarifying and technical changes.
EXISTING LAW:
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1)Requires the CSU Trustees and the CCC Board of Governors, and
requests the UC Regents to work with the academic senates to
encourage faculty to give consideration to the least costly
practices in assigning textbooks; to encourage faculty to
disclose to students how new editions of textbooks are
different from previous editions; and, the cost to students
for textbooks selected, among other things. Current law also
urges textbook publishers to provide information to faculty
when they are considering what textbooks to order, and to post
information on the publishers' Web sites, including "an
explanation of how the newest edition is different from
previous editions." Publishers are also asked to disclose to
faculty the length of time they intend to produce the current
edition and provide faculty free copies of each textbook
selected (Education Code (EC) Section 66406).
2)Creates the College Textbook Transparency Act, which, among
other things, requires faculty members and academic
departments at an institution of higher education to consider
cost in the adoption of textbooks; and, requires textbook
publishers to disclose specified information (EC Section
66406.7).
3)Establishes the California Digital Open Source Library as
administered by the CSU, in coordination with the CCC, for the
purpose of housing open source materials while providing an
Internet Web-based way for students, faculty, and staff to
easily find, adopt, utilize, or modify course materials for
little or no cost. Specifies that the CSU shall also act in
coordination with the University of California (UC) in
administering the California Digital Open Source Library (EC
Section 66408).
4)Establishes the California OER Council, composed of faculty
leaders from the three segments of public postsecondary
education (CCC, CSU, and UC), and shall be administered by the
Intersegmental Committee of the Academic Senates of the three
segments of public postsecondary education, or a successor
group. Stipulates that the Council shall be responsible for
the development of a list of 50 strategically selected lower
division courses in the public postsecondary segments for
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which high-quality, affordable, digital open source textbooks
and related materials shall be developed or acquired (EC
Section 66409).
5)Requires, by January 1, 2020, publishers of textbooks used at
the UC, CSU, and the CCC, or private postsecondary educational
institutions, to the extent practicable, to make textbooks
available in whole or in part for sale in an electronic format
and requires the electronic format to contain the same content
as the printed version (EC Section 66410).
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, the expansion of the use of previously appropriated
funds will allow expenditure of approximately $4 million in
unspent funds from the General Fund from the initial
appropriation.
COMMENTS: Background. According to the College Board, the
average undergraduate student should budget between $1,200 and
$1,300 for textbooks and supplies each year. That figure is as
much as 40% of tuition at a two-year community college and 13%
at a four-year public institution. According to the Student
Public Interest Research Groups (Student PIRGs), February 2015
report, entitled "Open Textbooks: The Billion-Dollar Solution,"
since 1978, college textbook costs have increased to 812%, that
is to say, it means that textbook prices have increased at 3.2
times the rate of inflation. A 2014 Student PIRG study found
that 65% of students skipped buying or renting a textbook
because it was too expensive, and 94% of those students felt
that in so doing, there grade would suffer in a course.
Additionally, almost half of the students said the cost of
textbooks impacted how many course they were able to take.
What are OER? OER are educational materials such as textbooks,
research articles, videos, assessments, or simulations that are
either licensed under an open copyright license or are in the
public domain. OERs provide no-cost access and no-cost
permission to revise, reuse, remix, or redistribute the
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materials. According to a 2012 policy brief by the Center for
American Progress and EDUCAUSE, digital OERs offer many
advantages over traditional textbooks: they allow students and
faculty to access textbooks and related materials for free
online or purchase hardcopies that are more affordable than
traditional textbooks; they enable faculty to customize learning
materials to suit their course objectives; and, they can provide
students with a more flexible set of tools that can contribute
to a richer learning experience.
SB 1052 (Steinberg), Chapter 621, Statutes of 2012, established
the California OER Council, to develop a list of 50 lower
division courses across the three segments for which
high-quality, affordable digital open source textbooks and
related material shall be developed or acquired, to create and
administer a review and approval process for open source
materials, and to establish a competitive request-for-proposal
process in which faculty members, publishers, and other
interested parties would apply for funds to produce 50
high-quality, affordable, digital open source textbooks and
related materials. An appropriation of $5 million was provided
for this effort, to be matched by nonstate funds.
California OER Council. The California OER Council reports
that it has thus far selected the 50 courses, identified more
than 150 appropriate OERs for said courses, developed a
standardized peer review and approval process, and recruited
faculty to conduct the reviews. As of March 2015, the
California OER Council reports that reviews are completed for 10
courses, involving 34 OER textbooks.
Analysis Prepared by:
Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916) 319-3960
FN: 0002383
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