BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 1258
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|Author: |Chau |
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|Version: |July 8, 2015 Hearing |
| |Date: July 15, 2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Lynn Lorber |
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Subject: Elementary and secondary education: Computer Science
Education Grant Pilot Program
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
establish a computer science education grant pilot program for
local educational agencies (LEA) to establish, expand and
maintain computer science courses and provide professional
development in computer science.
BACKGROUND
Existing law:
1)Requires the Instructional Quality Commission, on or before
July 31, 2019, to consider developing and recommending to the
State Board of Education, K-12 computer science content
standards pursuant to recommendations developed by a group of
computer science experts. (Education Code § 60605.4)
2)Requires the California State University (CSU) and requests
the University of California (UC) to develop guidelines for
high school computer science courses to be approved for
admission, and encourages the UC to ensure that computer
science courses that satisfy the math subject area
requirements for admission build upon fundamental math content
in courses that align with the academic content standards
developed by the Academic Content Standards Commission. (EC
§ 66205.5)
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ANALYSIS
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) to establish a computer science education grant pilot
program for LEA to establish, expand, and maintain computer
science courses and provide professional development in computer
science. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the SPI to establish a public-private computer science
education grant pilot program through which a participating
LEA may receive funding to establish and expand or maintain
computer science courses, and to provide professional
development for teachers to teach computer science, either as
a stand-alone course or as integrated into other courses.
2)Establishes the grant pilot program as the Computer Science
Education Grant Pilot Program, which is intended to support
both of the following:
a) Innovative ways to introduce students in underserved
areas and students from groups historically
underrepresented in the field of computer science who would
not otherwise have those opportunities to study computer
science and inspire them to enter computer science careers.
b) Professional development for teachers to acquire the
knowledge and skills necessary to teach computer science,
either as a stand-alone course or as integrated into other
courses.
Eligibility criteria
3)Requires local educational agencies (LEA) to demonstrate at least
two of the following criteria to be eligible for a grant:
a) Engaged and committed leadership in support of
introducing students who would not otherwise have
opportunities to study computer science.
b) A plan to engage these students with the subject
matter of computer science.
c) That certificated staff of the LEA are appropriately
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trained to carry out the plan.
d) The capacity to maximize the use of grant resources
by addressing the availability of appropriate physical
space and technology, projected enrollment, and other
specific requirements set forth by the Superintendent of
Public Instruction (SPI).
e) A history of successful partnerships within the
community and partner support for computer science.
Partnership support may include supplying materials or
technology, instruction support, internships, mentorships,
and apprenticeships.
f) The capacity to continue in the school years
succeeding the initial grant year or years.
4)Requires the SPI to give priority for awarding grants to
applicant LEAs with higher percentages of unduplicated
students pursuant to the local control funding formula and as
much as feasible, award grants to LEAs that collectively
represent the geographic and socioeconomic diversity of the
State.
5)Authorizes the SPI to consult with computer science experts to
discuss and refine the eligibility criteria, and authorizes
the SPI to consult with the panel of experts to be convened to
develop the computer science content standards pursuant to
current law.
Application
6)Requires an applicant local education agencies (LEA) to submit a
specific plan, developed in consultation with teachers
employed by the applicant LEA, for either, or both, of the
following:
a) A computer science course designed to be of maximum
value in meeting the particular needs of the students of
that LEA, including students from groups historically
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underrepresented in the field of computer science.
b) Professional development for teachers employed by
that LEA to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to
teach computer science to the LEA students, either as a
stand-alone course or as integrated into other courses.
7)Requires the grant application to be on a form developed by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) and include, at a
minimum, an itemized budget for the use of the grant funds, an
identification of local matching resources constituting an
amount equaling the amount that would be allocated from the
grant pilot program, and an agreement by the grant recipient
to provide the SPI with the data needed to complete the report
(see #17).
Grant awards
8)Authorizes grant funds to be used for purposes associated with
the costs of establishing or expanding computer science
courses, or maintaining computer science courses that were
previously established or expanded pursuant to this bill,
including instructional materials, hardware, software, and
firmware, and to fund professional development related to
computer science education for participating teachers in
accordance with the submitted plan.
9)Requires the SPI to award grants, not to exceed two years in
duration, to applicant LEAs deemed eligible by the SPI. This
bill authorizes a LEA that receives a grant to apply for a
grant in a subsequent year, and prohibits grants from being
automatically renewed for an additional year. This bill
prohibits the SPI from awarding grants unless he or she
determines there are sufficient funds in the Computer Science
Education Grant Matching Account (see #10).
Matching Account
10)Establishes the Computer Science Education Grant Matching
Account in the State Treasury to be used solely and
exclusively for the grant pilot program pursuant to this bill.
The purpose of the account is to provide funds for the grant
pilot program.
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11)Requires grants, and related administrative costs, to be funded
by a combination of funds from the account and matching funds
provided by a participating LEA. This bill requires a LEA
that receives a grant to provide local matching resources,
which may include in-kind donations, constituting an amount
equal to the amount that
would be allocated to the local educational agencies (LEA)
from the account. This bill prohibits expenditures from the
account, with respect to a particular grant, from exceeding
the amount of corresponding matching funds.
12)Authorizes the State Treasury to receive, and deposit into the
Computer Science Education Grant Matching Account, any gifts,
grants, or donations received from private persons or
entities.
13)Requires the funds deposited in the account to be available,
upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act or in another
statute, to the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI),
for the purpose of funding grants and covering related
administrative costs to the California Department of Education
(CDE). This bill requires administrative costs to be kept to
a minimum, and in no event are expenditures from the account
to the CDE to exceed 5% of the allocations made from the
account in any fiscal year.
14)Requires unencumbered funds to be returned to their initial
donors. This bill authorizes the SPI to refund to the donor
all or a portion of any gift, grant, or donation made if the
funds received from the donor have not been encumbered because
the SPI has determined that there are surplus funds in the
account or because the provisions of this bill have not become
operative due to a lack of sufficient funds.
15)Prohibits the provisions related to the account from becoming
operative unless and until the SPI certifies, in writing, to
the Director of Finance that there are sufficient funds in the
account to implement the grant pilot program. This bill
defines "sufficient funds" as an amount sufficient to support
at least two grants and the associated administrative costs to
the CDE.
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16)States legislative intent that no moneys from the state General
Fund be used to fund the grant pilot program established by
this bill.
Miscellaneous
17)Requires the SPI to submit an annual report to the Governor and
the Legislature on the grant pilot program. This bill
requires the report to be submitted by January 10, beginning
in 2018, and annually thereafter through 2021. This bill
requires the report to include, but not be limited to, all of
the following data:
a) The number of applicants and grants awarded annually.
b) The number of student participants annually, the
number of unduplicated students and students from groups
historically underrepresented in the field of computer
science, who have taken a computer science course or a
computer science course with a teacher trained pursuant to
the grant pilot program, and to the extent available, any
increase in the number of students who enroll or intend to
enroll in computer science programs at postsecondary
educational institutions.
c) The increase in the number of courses offered and
teachers trained in computer science as a result of the
grant pilot program.
d) The amount of grant funds awarded each fiscal year,
classified by local educational agencies (LEA).
18)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to
provide notice of the grant pilot program to all LEAs and
encourage them to apply for participation. This bill
authorizes any LEA to apply for participation in the grant
pilot program. This bill defines "local educational agency"
as a charter school, school district, or county office of
education.
19)States legislative findings and declarations relative to the
benefits of computer science education and limited access to
computer science by underrepresented students.
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20)Sunsets the provisions of this bill on July 1, 2021.
STAFF COMMENTS
1)Need for the bill. According to the author, "As we continue to
move towards integrating computer science into all K-12
classrooms, we must also improve the future participation and
success of underrepresented populations in this field of
study. When we look at the number of students that took the
Advanced Placement Computer Science exam in California in
2013, out of the 4,964 students, 74 were African-American, 392
were Hispanic, and 1.074 were females. Consequently, there is
a need to incentivize school districts to support innovative
ways to introduce and engage students from historically
underrepresented groups to computer science. At the same
time, it is critical to encourage school districts to offer
professional development to their teachers on this emerging
subject matter."
2)Timing. Existing law requires the Instructional Quality
Commission, on or before July 31, 2019, to consider developing
and recommending to the State Board of Education, K-12
computer science content standards pursuant to recommendations
developed by a group of computer science experts. One could
argue that the development or expansion of computer science
courses and professional development for teachers should
follow the adoption of academic content standards in computer
science. On the other hand, it may be necessary to first
establish the Computer Science Education Grant Matching
Account to secure necessary funding for these efforts.
3)Teaching credentials in computer science. California has three
Single Subject Teaching Credentials (Mathematics, Business,
and Industrial and Technology Education) and a supplementary
authorization (Computer Concepts and Applications) that
authorize a teacher to provide instruction in computer
science. The Commission on Teacher Credentialing is currently
modifying their Computer Concepts and Applications
authorization to reflect a change in focus from teaching
basic computer use, keyboarding, and software application to
broader preparation in computer science education. Changes to
the authorization are expected later this year.
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4)Fiscal impact. This bill has been amended since the last fiscal
analysis. According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee's analysis of the prior version of this bill, the
bill would impose:
a) Unknown administrative costs to the California Department
of Education (CDE), likely in excess of $300,000. Costs to
administer these new grants will depend on the size and
scope of the grants. For example, a grant program that
awards $1 million dollars to 15 school districts will
necessitate a different staffing level than a program that
provides $10 million dollars to 150 school districts.
Staff will be needed to monitor account funds, develop
requests for applications, review and score applications,
notify grant recipients and collect data to comply with
annual reporting requirements. Further, CDE indicates they
do not currently have staff or resources available to
promote or advocate for donations and/or grants from
non-state sources.
b) This bill does not provide a specific grant amount and
specifies that the funding shall be contingent upon
"sufficient funds" in the newly created fund and subject to
an appropriation by the Legislature. The source of revenue
for the fund will be gifts, grants or donations.
5)Related and prior legislation.
RELATED LEGISLATION
AB 252 (Holden, 2015) establishes the Advanced Placement (AP) STEM
Access Grant Program through July 1, 2021, for purposes of
awarding funds to cover the costs associated with a high
school establishing or expanding its AP science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM) curriculum. AB 252 is
pending in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
PRIOR LEGISLATION
AB 1530 (Chau, 2014) required the Superintendent of Public
Instruction to consider identifying, developing or revising
model curriculum on computer science for kindergarten - 6th
grade. AB 1530 was held in the Senate Appropriations
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Committee.
AB 1540 (Hagman, 2014) expanded the opportunity for high school
students to enroll in community college computer science
courses and makes other changes to concurrent enrollment
provisions. AB 1540 was held in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
AB 2210 (Ting, 2014) required the Instructional Quality Commission
to consider incorporating computer science curriculum content
into the mathematics, science,
history-social science, and language arts frameworks. AB 2210
was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SUPPORT
California State PTA
California Teachers Association
OPPOSITION
None received.
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