BILL NUMBER: AB 2329	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bonilla

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2016

   An act relating to school curriculum.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2329, as introduced, Bonilla. Computer science curriculum:
study.
   The California Council on Science and Technology is a nonprofit
corporation organized pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the federal
Internal Revenue Code. Existing law provides that the council was
established at the request of the Legislature for the specific
purpose of offering expert advice to state government on public
policy issues significantly related to science and technology.
Existing law authorizes school districts that require more than 2
years of mathematics courses for graduation to award mathematics
credit for completion of a California State University and University
of California approved "category C" computer science course.
Existing law requires the California State University and requests
the University of California to develop guidelines for high school
computer science courses to be approved for purposes of recognition
for admission to the California State University and the University
of California, respectively, and would encourage the University of
California to ensure that computer science courses that satisfy the
mathematics subject area requirements for admission build upon
fundamental mathematics content provided in courses that align with
the academic content standards developed by the Academic Content
Standards Commission.
   This bill would request that the council undertake and complete a
study, and submit the study to the Legislature, by January 1, 2018,
analyzing the status and impact of recently enacted laws, as
specified. The bill would state that the goal of the study is to help
the Legislature, through a data-driven review, understand the needs
to advance computer science in California's high school curriculum
and to move forward with policy that increases computer science
education opportunities in high school, leading to an increase in the
number of computer science degree holders produced by public
postsecondary educational institutions in California.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares both of the
following:
   (1) The California Council on Science and Technology was
established by California academic research institutions, including
the University of California, the University of Southern California,
the California Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and the
California State University, and was organized as a nonprofit
corporation pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue
Code, in response to Assembly Concurrent Resolution 162 (Resolution
Chapter 148 of the Statutes of 1988).
   (2) The council was uniquely established at the request of the
Legislature for the specific purpose of offering expert advice to
state government on public policy issues significantly related to
science and technology.
   (b) The California Council on Science and Technology is hereby
requested to undertake and complete a study, and to submit the study
to the Legislature, by January 1, 2018, analyzing the status and
impact of recently enacted laws that do both of the following:
   (1) Authorizes school districts that require more than two years
of mathematics courses for graduation to award mathematics credit for
completion of a California State University and University of
California approved "category C" computer science course.
   (2) Requires the California State University and requests the
University of California to develop guidelines for high school
computer science courses to be approved for purposes of recognition
for admission to the California State University and the University
of California, respectively, and would encourage the University of
California to ensure that computer science courses that satisfy the
mathematics subject area requirements for admission build upon
fundamental mathematics content provided in courses that align with
the academic content standards developed by the Academic Content
Standards Commission.
   (c) The goal of the study is to help the Legislature, through a
data-driven review, understand the needs to advance computer science
in California's high school curriculum and to move forward with
policy that increases computer science education opportunities in
high school, leading to an increase in the number of computer science
degree holders produced by public postsecondary educational
institutions in California.
   (d) The study is requested to focus on, but not be limited to, the
implementation of Assembly Bill 1764 (Chapter 888 of the Statutes of
2014) and Senate Bill 1200 (Chapter 518 of the Statutes of 2014),
and is requested to include all of the following:
   (1) The number of schools that require three years of mathematics
for graduation requirements.
   (2) The associated number of schools that have a qualifying
computer science course that can satisfy the third year of the
mathematics requirement.
   (3) The number of pupils taking a computer science course
identified in paragraph (2).
   (4) The diversity by gender and ethnicity of those pupils
identified in paragraph (3).
   (5) The number of pupils who took a computer science course
identified in paragraph (2), graduated, and went to a postsecondary
educational institution.
   (6) The number of pupils studying or continuing computer science
course study at the postsecondary level.