BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                             Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
                            2015 - 2016  Regular  Session

          SB 725 (Hancock) - Pupil instruction and services: visual and  
          performing arts content standards.
          
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          |Version: April 28, 2015         |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0          |
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          |Urgency: No                     |Mandate: No                     |
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          |Hearing Date: May 18, 2015      |Consultant: Jillian Kissee      |
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          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.


          Bill  
          Summary:  This bill requires, by June 30, 2017, the State Board  
          of Education (Board) to adopt, reject, or modify visual and  
          performing arts content standards submitted by the  
          Superintendent of Public Instruction (Superintendent).


          Fiscal  
          Impact:  
           The California Department of Education (CDE) indicates that  
            this bill will result in costs of approximately $1.2 million  
            General Fund over two years.  This estimate includes costs for  
            the advisory committee, as required by this bill, and for  
            additional staff (5.7 positions) to support committees and  
            draft the standards.

           This bill creates a significant cost pressure to update  
            corresponding curriculum frameworks, instructional materials,  
            professional development, and assessments to integrate the  







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            content standards into the educational system.  


          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.

          Standards in several subject areas were adopted by the Board  
          beginning in the late 1990s; standards in visual and performing  
          arts were adopted in January 2001. 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 areas, but those  
          processes were suspended on July 28, 2009 due to budget  
          constraints.  Specific authority has since been provided to  
          develop new standards in specific subjects (statutory authority  
          was also provided to develop frameworks and instructional  
          materials in some of these subjects).


          Proposed Law:  
           This bill requires, by June 30, 2017, the Board to adopt,  
          reject, or modify visual and performing arts content standards  
          submitted by the Superintendent.  Specifically, this bill:

             1.   Requires the Board to adopt visual and performing arts  
               content standards pursuant to the following requirements:

                  A.        Requires the Superintendent, in consultation  
                    with the Board, to convene a panel of visual and  
                    performing arts experts, as specified. 

                  B.        Requires the Superintendent and expert panel  
                    to recommend visual and performing arts content  
                    standards for adoption to the Board and use the  
                    National Core Arts Standards developed by the National  
                    Coalition for Core Arts Standards as the basis for  
                    their deliberations.

                  C.        Requires the Superintendent to hold at least  
                    two public meetings in order for the public to provide  
                    input on the visual and performing arts content  








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                    standards.

             2.   Requires the Superintendent to submit the recommended  
               visual and performing arts standards to the Board by  
               January 30, 2017.

             3.   Requires the Board, by June 30, 2017, to adopt, reject,  
               or modify the visual and performing arts standards  
               submitted by the Superintendent. 


             4.   Requires the Board, if it modifies the visual and  
               performing arts standards, to provide written reasons for  
               its modifications in a public meeting and requires the  
               Board to adopt the modifications, no sooner than, at the  
               next regularly scheduled public Board meeting. 


             5.   Requires the Superintendent and the Board to present to  
               the Governor and appropriate policy and fiscal committees  
               of the Legislature a schedule and implementation plan for  
               integrating the visual and performing arts content  
               standards into the state educational system. 


             6.   States that nothing in this bill is to be construed as  
               mandating an assessment of students in visual or performing  
               arts. 




          Related  
     Legislation:1. AB 740 (Weber, 2015) requires the Superintendent, by January 1,  
          2017, to recommend to the Board a schedule for the regular  
          update of academic content standards in all subjects for which  
          standards have been adopted by the Board.   AB 740 is pending in  
          the Assembly Appropriations Committee. 

          AB 711 (Santiago, 2015) requires the Board to adopt World  
          Languages content standards that are in accordance with the  
          World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages.  AB 711 is  
          pending in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. 









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          SB 652 (Allen, 2015) delays by one year, until January 31, 2017,  
          the date by which the Board is required to consider the adoption  
          of a revised framework for science.  SB 652 is pending in this  
          committee. 

          SB 1057 (Corbett) requires the Superintendent to recommended  
          history-social science content standards to the Board on or  
          before March 30, 2018, and requires the Board to adopt, reject,  
          or modify the history-social science content standards by July  
          30, 2018.


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