BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 934
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
AB 934
(Bonilla) - As Amended April 20, 2015
SUBJECT: Education technology: K-12 High-Speed Network:
advisory board duties
SUMMARY: Requires the K-12 High Speed Network (HSN) advisory
board, on or before January 1, 2017, to identify strategies to
address the lack of technical expertise at K-12 public schools
and engage all relevant stakeholders to identify strategies to
support public schools with, at a minimum, network designs,
network implementation, and network maintenance.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the K-12 HSN for the purpose of enriching pupil
educational experiences and improving pupil academic
performance by providing high-speed, high-bandwidth Internet
connectivity to the public school system.
2)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to measure
the success of the K-12 HSN and ensure that the benefits of
the K-12 HSN are maximized to the extent possible.
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3)Requires the K-12 HSN to provide critical services and
functions for public primary and secondary local educational
agencies, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
a) Reliable and cost-effective Internet service;
b) Reliable and secure interconnectivity among public
school entities offering kindergarten or any of grades 1 to
12, inclusive, in California, connection to higher
education institutions of California, and connection to
state and local agencies to facilitate efficient
interaction, including transmission of data;
c) Videoconferencing and related distance learning
capabilities; and
d) Statewide coordination of network uses to benefit
teaching and learning.
4)Requires the SPI to use a competitive grant process to select
a local educational agency to serve as the Lead Education
Agency to administer the K-12 HSN on behalf of the
Superintendent and to establish a K-12 HSN advisory board to
be composed of all of the following members:
a) The SPI, or his or her designee;
b) The county superintendent of schools of the Lead
Education Agency;
c) A county superintendent of schools of a county with an
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average daily attendance of more than 60,000 pupils,
appointed by the SPI. The member appointed pursuant to this
paragraph shall serve a renewable two-year term;
d) Three school district superintendents, appointed by the
SPI. Members appointed pursuant to this paragraph shall
represent school districts that are diverse as to geography
and size, and that serve socioeconomically and culturally
diverse pupil populations. Members appointed pursuant to
this paragraph shall serve renewable two-year terms;
e) Two county superintendents of schools appointed by the
majority of the votes of all of the county superintendents
of schools. Members appointed pursuant to this paragraph
shall serve renewable two-year terms;
f) Three schoolsite representatives, at least two of whom
shall be classroom teachers or instructional specialists;
and
g) The president of the state board or his or her designee.
5)Requires the advisory to meet quarterly and to:
a) Recommend policy direction and provide broad operational
guidance to the SPI and the Lead Education Agency;
b) Develop recommendations for measuring the success of the
network, improving network oversight and monitoring,
strengthening accountability, and optimizing the use of the
K-12 HSN and its ability to improve education; and
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c) Report its recommendations to the Legislature, the
Governor, the Department of Finance, the president of the
state board or his or her designee, and the Legislative
Analyst's by Office by March 1, 2007.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: The SPI has selected the Imperial County Office of
Education to serve as the Lead Education Agency to administer
the K-12 HSN. The mission of the network is to enable
educators, students and staff across the state to have access to
a reliable high speed network that has the capacity to deliver
high quality online resources to support teaching and learning
and promote academic achievement.
Language in the 2014 Budget Act directed the network to prepare
a report to include all of the following:
An assessment of existing network connectivity
infrastructure that takes student population at respective
school sites into consideration and compares existing
Internet usage and speeds with those required to implement
the computer-based assessments included in the state's
assessment system;
All alternative network connectivity options that take
geography, isolation, student population, and cost into
consideration;
Available infrastructure that will expand broadband
capacity with minimal future costs;
Federal, state, and local funding that has been invested
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in the past and may be available in the future for network
connectivity infrastructure or to expand broadband capacity
at respective school sites, including state funding for
academic content standards implementation that will support
Internet infrastructure upgrades; and
A detailed estimate of the costs associated with
upgrading Internet infrastructure to implement the
computer-based assessments included in the state's
assessment system.
This report was due March 1, 2015, and was released April 17,
2015
The report makes the following "key observations and possible
strategies:"
Key Observation 1: The quality of technical support of
network infrastructure varies among districts and county
offices of education and could be improved.
o Possible Strategies:
§ Identify and disseminate best
practices for improving the quality of technical
support.
§ Educate the field about accessing
additional funding from broadband subsidy
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programs to support connectivity improvements.
§ Document and share the impact of
these improvements on teaching, learning,
assessment and school administration.
Key Observation 2: California's K-12 public schools lack
access to last and middle mile infrastructure.
o Possible Strategies:
§ Implement last mile solutions for
un-served sites identified during the Broadband
Infrastructure Improvement Grant (BIIG) program.
§ Provide funding for upgraded
connectivity for a new group of school sites that
do not currently have the capacity to administer
computer based assessments.
§ Develop a plan for middle mile
infrastructure that would benefit schools and
communities with last mile challenges.
Key Observation 3: Some school sites in California
cannot fully utilize their last mile connection because
their internal infrastructure is inadequate.
o Possible Strategy:
§ Provide assistance with improving
local broadband infrastructure inside schools.
Key Observation 4: State and national reports call for
expanded broadband capacity to meet 21st Century goals for
teaching, learning and assessment.
o Possible Strategies:
§ Broaden the conversation about
high-speed broadband in K-12 schools in
California related to the goals set forth in
national reports.
§ Align work in California to take
advantage of support at the federal level.
Key Observation 5: Data collection on connectivity in
K-12 schools is inconsistent, impacting planning efforts in
school districts and county offices of education.
o Possible Strategies:
§ Create a mechanism for collecting
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real-time data related to technology
infrastructure in the classroom.
§ Pilot a small, voluntary network
performance-reporting program.
Need for this bill. According to the author's office, the
current mandate of the K-12 HSN is sufficient to address most of
the areas of need identified in the report, but "it does not go
far enough to require K-12 HSN to specifically target the
problem of lack of technical support and need for assistance in
network designs. Under current law, K-12 HSN can meet its
mandate, yet schools could continue to have good networks that
are poorly maintained or that are not well utilized by
educators. By directing the K-12 HSN to evaluate this problem,
which was clearly identified in its newest April 2015 report, we
can focus existing resources and highlight this issue on a state
level. While one could argue improving technical expertise and
support is a subset of K-12 HSN's mission to optimize the use of
the network, [this bill] pulls out technical expertise out of
this broad responsibility to ensure that everyone is
interpreting this clause in the same way and that this item does
not go short on attention."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None received
Opposition
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None received
Analysis Prepared by:Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087