Amended in Senate April 28, 2015

Senate BillNo. 725


Introduced by Senator Hancock

February 27, 2015


An act to repeal, add, and repeal Section 60605.1 of the Education Code, relating to pupil instruction and services.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 725, as amended, Hancock. Pupil instruction and services: visual and performing arts content standards.

Existing law required the State Board of Education, by June 1, 2001, to adopt content standards in the curriculum area of visual and performing arts pursuant to recommendations developed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

This bill would repeal those provisions and would require the state board, by June 30, 2017, to adopt, reject, or modify visual and performing arts standards submitted by the Superintendent in accordance with specified requirements. The bill would require the Superintendent to convene a panel of visual and performing arts experts, a majority of whom would be credentialed visual and performing arts teachers, for the purpose of deliberating on and recommending visual and performing arts content standards for adoption by the state board. The bill would require the Superintendent to comply with specified procedural requirements, including holding public meetings, and would require the Superintendent to submit its recommended visual and performing arts standards to the state board on or before January 30, 2017. The bill wouldbegin delete make the bill’s provisions inoperative on July 1, 2017, and wouldend delete repealbegin delete themend deletebegin insert the bill’s provisionsend insert on January 1, 2018.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:

3(a) Arts education helps prepare our pupils for the expectations
4of the 21st century workforce, which includes the ability to
5innovate, communicate, and collaborate. Employers across industry
6sectors stress the need for innovation and creativity skills that are
7developed by the arts.

8(b) In California, 1.4 million jobs, approximately 10 percent of
9all jobs, are directly or indirectly related to or induced by the arts.

10(c) Seven and eight-tenths percent of California’s gross domestic
11product is related to the creative industry.

12(d) It is in the state’s best economic interest to provide pupils
13the most current and relevant instruction in visual and performing
14arts.

15(e) The state’s current visual and performing arts content
16standards do not include connections to the Common Core State
17Standards or 21st century skills that are necessary to the careers
18of the future.

19(f) California’s content standards for the visual and performing
20arts were last adopted 14 years ago in 2001.

21(g) In the interim period, education has changed: pedagogy has
22improved and technology has been developed that impacts
23instruction in the visual and performing arts.

24(h) There is nothing in current law that requires visual and
25performing arts content standards to be reviewed and updated.

26(i) A standards-based, sequential visual and performing arts
27education should be accessible to all pupils in every school.

28(j) Extensive research has demonstrated that arts education
29engages pupils in learning, contributes to higher test scores, and
30reduces truancy and dropout rates.

31

SEC. 2.  

Section 60605.1 of the Education Code is repealed.

32

SEC. 3.  

Section 60605.1 is added to the Education Code, to
33read:

34

60605.1.  

(a) The state board shall adopt visual and performing
35arts content standards pursuant to the following requirements:

P3    1(1) The Superintendent, in consultation with the state board,
2shall convene a panel of visual and performing arts experts. The
3Superintendent shall ensure that members of the expert panel
4represent the breadth of the visual and performing arts and includes,
5but is not limited to, elementary and secondary visual and
6performing arts teachers, school principals, school district or county
7office of education administrators, and university professors. A
8majority of the expert panel shall be made up of credentialed visual
9and performing arts teachers. The Superintendent and the expert
10panel shall recommend visual and performing arts content standards
11for adoption to the state board and shall use the National Core Arts
12Standards developed by the National Coalition for Core Arts
13Standards as the basis for their deliberations.

14(2) The Superintendent shall hold a minimum of two public
15meetings pursuant to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Article
169 (commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of
17Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code) in order for the
18public to provide input on the visual and performing arts content
19standards that would be recommended pursuant to paragraph (1).

20(3) The Superintendent shall submit the recommended visual
21and performing arts content standards to the state board on or
22before January 30, 2017.

23(4) On or before June 30, 2017, the state board shall adopt,
24reject, or modify the visual and performing arts content standards
25submitted by the Superintendent.

26(5) If the state board modifies the visual and performing arts
27content standards presented by the Superintendent, it shall provide
28written reasons for its modifications in a public meeting. The state
29board shall adopt its modifications to the visual and performing
30arts content standards atbegin delete a subsequent public meeting no later than
31June 30, 2017.end delete
begin insert no sooner than the next regularly scheduled public
32meeting of the state board.end insert
The public meetings required by this
33paragraph shall be held pursuant to the Bagley-Keene Open
34Meeting Act (Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of
35Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government
36Code).

37(b) The Superintendent and the state board shall present to the
38Governor and the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the
39Legislature a schedule and implementation plan for integrating the
P4    1visual and performing arts content standards adopted pursuant to
2this section into the state educational system.

3(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed as mandating an
4assessment of pupils in visual or performing arts.

begin delete

5(d) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2017, and,
6as of January 1, 2018, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
7that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2018, deletes or
8extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.

end delete
begin insert

9(d) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2018,
10and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that
11is enacted before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends that date.

end insert


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