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. ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Version: April 28, 2015 |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0 | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Urgency: No |Mandate: No | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Hearing Date: May 18, 2015 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 SB 725 (Hancock) Page 1 of ? 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 SB 725 (Hancock) Page 2 of ? 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. SB 725 (Hancock) Page 3 of ? 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. -- END --