BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 1914
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|Author: |Bonilla |
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|Version: |May 27, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: June 15, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Lynn Lorber |
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Subject: Public postsecondary education: academic materials:
textbooks: access codes
SUMMARY
This bill requires the academic senates of campuses of the
California State University (CSU) and the University of
California (UC) to develop policies regarding instructional
materials to encourage efforts to reduce redundancy in the
delivery of materials, and requires the CSU Trustees to review
and adopt those policies.
BACKGROUND
Existing federal law, the Higher Education Opportunity Act:
1) Requires each institution of higher education (IHE) that
receives federal financial assistance, to the maximum
extent possible, to:
a) Disclose, on the IHE's online course schedule,
the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) and
retail price information of required and recommended
textbooks and supplemental materials for each course
listed in the course schedule.
b) Include on the IHE's written course schedule a
notice that textbook information is available on the
IHE's online course schedule, and the web link to that
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schedule.
1) Provides exceptions to the disclosure requirement as
specified.
2) Encourages IHEs to also provide to students information
regarding:
a) Available institutional programs for renting
textbooks or for purchasing used textbooks.
b) Available institutional guaranteed textbook
buy-back programs.
c) Available institutional alternative content
delivery programs.
d) Other available institutional cost-saving
strategies.
1) Requires each institution of higher education (IHE) that
receives federal financial assistance to make available to
college bookstores that are operated or affiliated with the
institution the most accurate information available
regarding the IHE's course schedule for the subsequent
academic period and the information described in 1) and 2)
above for each course or class offered for the subsequent
academic period.
2) Provides that the information is to be provided to the
college bookstore as soon as is practicable upon the
request of the college bookstore.
(United States Code, Title 20, § 1015)
Existing state law:
1) Requires the California State University (CSU) Trustees
and the California Community College (CCC) Board of
Governors, and requests the Regents of the University of
California (UC), to work with the academic senates to
encourage faculty to give consideration to the least costly
practices in assigning textbooks and to encourage faculty
to disclose to students how new editions of textbooks are
different from previous editions. Existing law also urges
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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. In addition, publishers are 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 § 66406)
2) The College Textbook Transparency Act requires each
campus bookstore at any public postsecondary educational
institution to post in its store or on its Web site a
disclosure of the retail price policy on new and used
textbooks. These provisions also encourage adopters to
consider cost in the adoption of textbooks, require
institutions to encourage adopters to place orders with
sufficient lead time to enable the college bookstore to
confirm the availability of the requested materials. This
Act also requires textbook publishers to:
a) Respond in a timely manner to requests from
faculty or other adopter for specified information,
such as costs of textbooks.
b) Print on or in a textbook how new editions are
different. (EC § 66406.7)
1) The College Textbook Affordability Act, establishes the
Open Educational Resources Adoption Incentive Program to
incentivize faculty to accelerate the adoption of lower
cost, high-quality, open educational resources (OERs) at
campuses of the CCC and the CSU. This program provides
funding for faculty professional development, professional
development for staff, OER curation activities, curriculum
modification and requisite release time for faculty, and
technology support. (EC § 67420)
2) Establishes the California Digital Open Source Library,
administered by the CSU in coordination with the CCC, for
the purpose of housing open source materials
while providing Web-based access for students, faculty and staff
to find, adopt, utilize, or modify course materials for little
or no cost. (EC § 66408)
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3) Establishes the California Open Education Resources
Council and requires the council to be responsible for,
among other things, developing a list of 50 strategically
selected lower division courses in the public postsecondary
segments for which high-quality, affordable, digital open
source textbooks and related materials are to be developed
or acquired. (EC § 66409)
ANALYSIS
This bill requires the academic senates of campuses of the
California State University (CSU) and the University of
California (UC) to develop policies regarding instructional
materials to encourage efforts to reduce redundancy in the
delivery of materials, and requires the CSU Trustees to review
and adopt those policies. Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires the respective academic senates of campuses of the
CSU and the UC, in collaboration with students and campus
administrators, to develop policies regarding required
academic materials in order to encourage efforts to reduce
redundancy in the delivery of academic materials, including
but not limited to, textbooks and access codes.
2) Requires the policies to include, but not be limited to,
all of the following:
a) Guidelines prioritizing the use of ancillary and
additional academic platforms and materials already
available to enrolled students that are determined by
faculty to meet the requirements of a course at no
additional cost to enrolled students on their campuses
or to the campus itself (excluding textbooks).
b) A requirement that the cost of academic materials
from the current semester or quarter be provided to
faculty by the campus bookstore when academic
materials are being chosen for an upcoming academic
term, if available.
c) The establishment, in consultation with the
campus bookstore, of deadlines by the campus for
faculty or an academic department to notify the campus
bookstore of required and recommended textbooks and
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other instructional materials so that the bookstore
may verify availability, source, and lower cost
options when practicable, and provide this information
to faculty for consideration when exploring
alternatives.
d) A determination, in consultation with the campus
bookstore, of approved descriptors to post next to
academic materials offered for sale at the campus
bookstore, including a requirement that the bookstore
clearly identify any recommended course materials that
are suggested by the bookstore but not by the faculty
member who assigned the materials.
3) Requires the Trustees of the California State University
(CSU) and requests the Regents of the University of
California (UC) to review and adopt the policies developed
for their respective campuses.
4) Defines "access code" as an identification number or
password, or both, that is used to gain access to digital
content.
5) States legislative intent to encourage faculty to continue
their commitment to making academic materials affordable by
considering free or inexpensive options, including open
access options, in selecting academic materials to assign
to their students.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author, "AB 1914
ensures that students are not paying for underutilized
instructional materials by increasing the transparency of
the instructional materials selection process for faculty
and bookstores. For example, most recently, access codes
are assigned along with textbooks. An access code is an
identification number or password that is used to access
digital content. Each student must purchase their access
code; they cannot be shared. Access codes cost students
$50 to $100 in addition to what they pay for all of the
other instructional materials required for a course. Not
only are access codes an additional cost, but sometimes
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they are used for tasks that could be completed by
platforms already available to both professors and students
on campus. For example, access codes have been used for
the submission of assignments (without grading), storing
and maintaining grades, and for communication between
faculty members and students. The same concept can occur
with textbooks when a student is assigned a book but are
only assigned one chapter from the book."
2) What's new? Existing law encourages faculty to consider
price, requires publishers to respond in a timely manner to
requests from faculty for specified information including
costs of textbooks, requires institutions to encourage
adopters to place orders with sufficient lead time to
enable the college bookstore to confirm the availability of
the requested materials, and requires bookstores to post
the price policy.
This bill requires the academic senates of the CSU and UC to
develop policies that include a requirement that the cost
of academic materials from the current semester or quarter
be provided to faculty by the campus bookstore when
academic materials are being chosen for an upcoming
academic term, if available. Currently, faculty may have
this information only if the faculty requests it from
publishers or from the bookstore.
This bill requires the policies to include the establishment, in
consultation with the campus bookstore, of deadlines by the
campus for faculty or an academic department to notify the
campus bookstore of required and recommended textbooks and
other instructional materials so that the bookstore may
verify availability, source, and lower cost options when
practicable, and provide this information to faculty for
consideration when exploring alternatives. Generally, the
current process consists of faculty submitting their lists
of required and recommended instructional materials to the
bookstore, and the bookstore fills the order (although some
faculty work more cooperatively with the bookstore than
described here). This bill requires policies that would
essentially require faculty to submit lists of materials to
the bookstore within a specified timeframe, the bookstore
would research prices and options, and submit that
information to the faculty, and the faculty would consider
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that information and subsequently submit the order for
instructional materials (whether or not the faculty
adjusted the list of materials based on information
received by the bookstore).
3) Campus vs. system policies. This bill requires academic
senates to develop policies for each campus, and requires
the Trustees of the California State University (CSU) and
requests the Regents of the University of California (UC)
to review and adopt the policies developed for their
respective campuses. Is it unclear how the governing board
of a system would adopt numerous policies for each of their
campuses. Staff recommends an amendment to instead require
the policies developed by the academic senates to be
forwarded to the Trustees and Regents for their review.
4) What about the community colleges? This bill does not
apply to the academic senate of the California Community
Colleges (CCC). The CCC has in place policies that address
portions but not all provisions of this bill.
Specifically, the CCC policy:
a) Requires, where instructional materials are
available to a student temporarily through a license
or access fee, to be provided options at the time of
purchase to maintain full access to the materials for
varying periods of time ranging from the length of the
class up to at least two years.
b) Requires policies and regulations specifying the
conditions under which instructional materials will be
required to direct instructors to take reasonable
steps to minimize the cost and endure the necessity of
instructional materials.
c) Prohibits required instructional materials from
including materials used or designed primarily for
administrative purposes, class management, course
management or supervision.
Amendments taken in the Assembly removed the CCCs from this
bill. It is unclear why the academic senates of the CCCs
should not develop policies pursuant to this bill. The CCC
policy is available through this link:
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[http://extranet.cccco.edu/Portals/1/AA/Miscellaneous/Instru
ctionalMaterialsGuidelines1.28.13.pdf]
5) Access codes, the new CD ROM? An access code is a password
needed in order to access course content online. The
content a student accesses depends on the course, but can
include things such as practice exam questions, interactive
videos, and course assignments. Access codes are not
always included with a subscription to an electronic book.
Additionally, access codes
are generally tied to specific textbooks; a student has to
purchase the access code that accompanies the specific
textbook. This bill does not prohibit the use of access
codes.
6) Approved descriptors. This bill requires the policies
developed by the academic senates to include, among other
things, a determination of approved descriptors to post
next to academic materials offered for sale at the campus
bookstore, including a requirement that the bookstore
clearly identify any recommended course materials that are
suggested by the bookstore but not by the faculty member
who assigned the materials. Background materials provided
by the author describe situations where college bookstores
label instructional materials as being "highly recommended"
but do not indicate that those materials are recommended by
the bookstore and not by the faculty.
7) Fiscal impact. According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee's analysis, this bill would impose the following
costs:
a) California State University (CSU). Adopting and
implementing the new policies at the CSU, assuming
$5,000 per campus, would cost $115,000 (General Fund)
annually. This would include coordination among staff
to ensure awareness of the policy, provide the
required information, and ensure compliance with
posting requirements.
b) University of California (UC). Minor and
absorbable costs.
8) Related legislation. SB 1359 (Block, 2016) requires each
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campus of the California Community Colleges and the CSU,
and requests each campus of the UC, to clearly highlight
the courses that at least in part use digital course
materials that are free of charge and have a low-cost
option for print version. SB 1359 is pending referral in
the Assembly.
SUPPORT
Academic Senate of the California State University
California State Student Association
OPPOSITION
None received.
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