BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 798 Page 1 (Without Reference to File) CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 798 (Bonilla) As Amended September 9, 2015 Majority vote -------------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: | 78-0 | (June 4, |SENATE: | | (September 11, | | | |2015) | | |2015) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- (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: AB 798 Page 2 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, AB 798 Page 3 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. AB 798 Page 4 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 AB 798 Page 5 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. AB 798 Page 6 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: AB 798 Page 7 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 AB 798 Page 8 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 AB 798 Page 9 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 AB 798 Page 10