BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2862 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 4, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Lorena Gonzalez, Chair AB 2862 (O'Donnell) - As Amended April 12, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Education |Vote:|7 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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. AB 2862 Page 2 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 standardsare 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 AB 2862 Page 3 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 AB 2862 Page 4 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