BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    AB 2862


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          Date of Hearing:  May 4, 2016


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                               Lorena Gonzalez, Chair


          AB  
          2862 (O'Donnell) - As Amended April 12, 2016


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          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  NoReimbursable:  No


          SUMMARY:


          This bill authorizes the Superintendent of Public Instruction  
          (SPI) to recommend to the State Board of Education (SBE),  
          revisions to the visual and performing arts (VAPA) content  
          standards, and requires the SBE to adopt, reject, or modify  
          recommendations by January 1, 2019. Specifically, this bill: 


          1)Requires, if the SBE modifies the revisions recommended by the  
            SPI, the SBE to explain, in writing, to the Governor and the  
            Legislature the reasons for modifying the recommended revised  
            content standards.









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          2)Requires the SPI, in consultation with the SBE, to select a  
            group of experts in VAPA for purposes of assisting in  
            developing recommendations.


          3)Requires the SPI to hold a minimum of two public hearings to  
            receive input on the revisions. Requires the SBE to adopt,  
            reject, or modify those recommendations at a subsequent public  
            meeting.


          4)Requires that, if the VAPA standards   are modified, during the  
            next revision of the VAPA curriculum framework and evaluation  
            criteria, the IQC ensure that the modifications are  
            incorporated into that curriculum framework and evaluation  
            criteria for purposes of adopting instructional materials. 





          FISCAL EFFECT:


             1)   General Fund costs to the California Department of  
               Education (CDE) of approximately $660,000 to develop VAPA  
               content standards.  CDE would need to develop a timeline to  
               implement standards development, costs would be ongoing  
               until the process is complete. Costs are also associated  
               with hiring experts in visual and performing arts to  
               consult on the standards. 


             2)   The adoption of new content standards has a multiplier  
               effect that will lead to additional costs. Once new  
               curriculum standards are adopted, frameworks aligned to  
               those standards must be adopted.  After frameworks are  
               adopted, instructional materials adoption follows. General  








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               Fund administrative costs for these activities average  
               about $1 million each. In addition to these costs, local  
               education agencies would incur additional Proposition 98/GF  
               costs in the millions of dollars to purchase instructional  
               materials and provide professional development.


          


          COMMENTS:


          1)Purpose. California's visual and performing arts standards,  
            adopted in 2001, are one of the oldest sets of state  
            standards that have not been revised. According to the  
            author, these standards are in urgent need of an update to  
            allow students to benefit from current curriculum,  
            instruction, and instructional materials.  The state's visual  
            and performing arts standards are also not aligned with  
            current career technical education instruction - curriculum  
            necessary for career readiness in the arts.  The author  
            states it is in the economic interest of students and the  
            state to provide students the most current and relevant  
            instruction in the visual and performing arts.



          2)Background. Academic content standards define the knowledge,  
            concepts, and skills that students should acquire at each  
            grade level.  Curricular frameworks are the blueprint for  
            implementing the standards, and include criteria by which  
            instructional materials are evaluated.
          


            There is no statutory authority for the review or updating of  
            standards.  A schedule once existed for the review and update  
            of frameworks and instructional materials in many subject  








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            areas, but those processes were suspended in July of 2009 due  
            to budget constraints.  AB 740 (Weber), pending in the  
            Senate, proposes a process for the regular updating of  
            content standards.  Such a comprehensive approach would  
            create a predictable and rational system of curriculum for  
            local school districts. 


            


          3)Prior legislation. This bill is similar to SB 725 (Hancock)  
            of 2015 which would have required the VAPA standards be  
            updated if a schedule for the regular updating of standards  
            were adopted by the SBE.  That bill was amended to address a  
            different topic before being heard in this committee. This  
            bill is different from SB 725 in that it does not reference  
            the National Core Arts standards as the basis for the  
            revision; however, it is likely that the process of updating  
            the VAPA standards would begin with a review of the National  
            Core Arts Standards.
          Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081