BILL NUMBER: SB 1415 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 950
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 29, 1998
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 28, 1998
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 28, 1998
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 27, 1998
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 25, 1998
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 26, 1998
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 31, 1998
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 16, 1998
INTRODUCED BY Senator Burton and Assembly Member Olberg
(Principal coauthor: Senator Lockyer)
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Perata)
(Coauthors: Senators Alpert, Hughes, Karnette, Rainey, Solis, and
Vasconcellos)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Aroner, Figueroa, Leach, Sweeney,
and Torlakson)
JANUARY 16, 1998
An act relating to the Chabot Observatory and Science Center, and
making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1415, Burton. Chabot Observatory and Science Center: Lewis
Center for Educational Research.
Existing law does not contain any provision relating to the Chabot
Observatory and Science Center or the Lewis Center for Educational
Research.
This bill would make various legislative findings and declarations
relative to the Chabot Observatory and Science Center, a joint
powers agency created by the City of Oakland, the Oakland Unified
School District, and the East Bay Regional Park District, and the
Lewis Center for Educational Research, which began as a public
educational facility under the Apple Valley Unified School District
in 1990 and is home to a California public school, grades K-12,
operated by the High Desert "Partnership in Academic Excellence"
Foundation.
This bill would appropriate from the General Fund a sum not to
exceed $5,000,000 to the joint powers agency to fund the completion
of a new Chabot Observatory and Science Center facility and its
science education programs and a sum not to exceed $2,000,000 to the
town of Apple Valley for a grant to the foundation to purchase land
and build the new Lewis Center for Earth Science. The bill would also
require the Legislative Analyst to review and report to the
Legislature on the use of those funds upon completion of the
facilities.
Appropriation: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The historic Chabot Observatory began as a public observatory
in downtown Oakland, serving Oakland citizens and the greater bay
area community, and through its programs has welcomed and educated
over two million visitors since 1883.
(b) In the early 20th century, the observatory was administered by
the Oakland Unified School District which made the facility an
integral part of formal science education programs and also made it
available for a large public program.
(c) The current Chabot Observatory and Science Center facility,
consisting of a 1915-era observatory building, a separate
planetarium, and several temporary classrooms and laboratories,
severely limits the science center's ability to fulfill the vision
for science education due to technological and structural safety
issues, including its location directly on an active rift of the
Hayward Fault and the interference from surrounding city lights that
have encroached in the years since the observatory's construction and
affect viewing through its historic 8-inch and 20-inch public
telescopes.
(d) In 1989, Oakland's interest in having a regional science
center that was responsive to the science education needs of its
children and neighboring communities led to the creation of a joint
powers agency by the City of Oakland, the Oakland Unified School
District, and the East Bay Regional Park District, and these partner
agencies have together contributed over $25,600,000 to this project.
(e) The Lewis Center for Educational Research began as a public
educational facility under the Apple Valley Unified School District
in 1990 and has provided science education programs for over 80,000
students throughout southern California during its eight years of
operation. The center is home to a California public school, grades
K through 12, operated by the High Desert "Partnership in Academic
Excellence" Foundation, Incorporated (the foundation), a nonprofit
educational foundation.
(f) Five hundred students attend science, astronomy, and aviation
classes at the 11,000 square foot Lewis Center facility. Students
can attend ground school and fly the T-40 Jet Flight Simulator
provided by the United States Air Force. Students also learn
computer skills in the Gateway to Excellence Program sponsored by
GTE, and work in the greenhouse or study physics in the laboratory.
(g) In partnership with NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL) in Pasadena, the Lewis Center operates the DSS 12, a deep space
antenna located at the Goldstone Deep Space Tracking Station. This
$11,000,000 antenna was converted into a radio telescope for the
Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope project (GAVRT). Students
from across California and the nation direct this powerful scientific
instrument by remote control via telecommunications through "Mission
Control" housed at the Lewis Center. Staff from the Lewis Center
and JPL train teachers from all areas of the United States to perform
scheduled missions with their students, providing interactive
opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds and locations to
work together via telecommunications to study the wonders of the
heavens.
(h) The Lewis Center observatory, with its 14-inch telescope
provides optical viewing to support the work of radio astronomers.
The center operates a telescope on Mount Wilson by remote control
through the Telescopes in Education Program. The center's growing
expertise in remote operations of scientific equipment and status as
the worldwide educational site for grades K-12, inclusive, radio
astronomy will provide a powerful statewide linkage to the Chabot
Observatory and Science Center.
(i) The vision of the new Chabot Observatory and Science Center
and the Lewis Center for Educational Research is to create the nation'
s premier model for teaching science and technologies, where one can
imagine, understand, and learn to shape the future through science.
(j) The goals of these two observatories and science centers are
as follows:
(1) To present more effective and engaging ways for children and
adults to explore science and technology.
(2) To train teachers in science education's best practices and
new teaching technologies, and equip them with resources to use these
in the classroom.
(3) To inspire students and their families to pursue higher levels
of scientific literacy.
(4) To demonstrate the relevance of science and technology in
everyday living.
(5) To electronically link these two innovative science centers
together, and to link these centers with other similar organizations,
via telecommunications and the Internet, to support a dynamic
statewide science education platform.
(k) California's youth must be science-literate and comfortable
with technology to be competitive job seekers, and it is widely
recognized that the quality of science, mathematics, and
environmental education needs to be improved in California and
nationwide, and that there are endemic cycles of low achievement that
persist in many high minority-enrolled public schools, low-income
neighborhoods, rural areas, and historically underrepresented groups.
(l) These deficiencies are particularly pressing in the diverse
San Francisco Bay area and the greater Los Angeles area, where the
growth in science and technology-related industries has created an
enormous demand for educated, skilled workers.
(m) Many respected researchers have demonstrated the need for a
fundamental shift in methods of science teaching to emphasize
curriculum that is project-based, anchored in a "real world context,"
discovery oriented, and interdisciplinary, and the education of
teachers must be approached in a different way to reflect new
approaches to curriculum, activities, and student needs.
(n) The educational programs of the Chabot Observatory and Science
Center and the Lewis Center for Educational Research complement and
supplement the school district's efforts to implement a more
effective educational model by offering a wide range of programs and
resources that schools and districts cannot provide on their own.
These science centers will create effective statewide platforms for
testing and evaluating distance learning, performance-based
education, collaborative learning, and new experimental methods for
education in the 21st century.
(o) The Chabot Observatory and Science Center and the Lewis Center
for Educational Research place a major emphasis on engaging
populations that are historically not well represented in science and
technology education, including women, minorities, and low-income
youth.
(p) The Chabot Observatory and Science Center has planned to build
a new 77,000 square foot science education center in the Joaquin
Miller Park of Oakland, to fulfill these goals and offer new programs
for the people of the bay area.
(q) The Chabot Observatory and Science Center has raised over
$47,400,000 to build a new science education center, including a
$17,500,000 grant from the United States Air Force Office of
Scientific Research. In recognition of its national significance,
the Chabot Observatory and Science Center has been named a community
affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, one of eight in the
country. Moreover, in conjunction with the White House Millennium
Celebration Project, the Chabot Observatory and Science Center will
link the nation's 30 Challenger Centers as the lead for a national
student project on Mars exploration.
(r) The citizens of Oakland in 1996 voted approval for $6,500,000
for this new facility through the general obligation bond act known
as Measure I.
(s) The Chabot Observatory and Science Center has raised over
$1,500,000 in peer-reviewed scientific grants, $785,000 from private
foundations, $800,000 from corporations, and over $1,500,000 from
individuals to support planning and design of this new science
education center.
(t) This act will provide $5,000,000 in state funds for the Chabot
Observatory and Science Center, and will leverage $4,000,000 in new
federal grants and an $8,000,000 challenge grant from a private
foundation that is contingent on the state's contribution. This
funding will enable completion of the observatory's west building,
which includes a National Science Foundation-funded solar system
dynamics modeling exhibition; a Challenger Center space mission
simulator; the Teacher Research and Training Center; the library,
computer lab, and media production studio; and the observatory's
historic transit telescope. A significant feature of the west
building is the Virtual Science Center, which enables classroom
teachers throughout the state to call on Chabot's telescopes,
laboratories, and media resources for everyday support in their
classrooms. In addition, this funding will enable the building of
three telescope observatories to house the eight-inch refractor, the
20-inch refractor, and a 36-inch reflector, the largest telescope
open to the public on a regular basis in the United States.
(u) This new facility is scheduled to open in 1999, and will
include the magnificent historic Chabot telescopes; a new 36-inch
computerized telescope; a state-of-the-art planetarium; interactive
science exhibits for children, adults, and families; a Challenger
Center space station and mission control simulator; a telescope
makers' workshop; a fiber optic-linked multimedia center; a virtual
science center for continuous online access and education in homes,
communities, libraries, and schools; infrared technology for
multilingual programs; and flexible, integrated laboratory spaces for
science exploration and education.
(v) The Lewis Center for Educational Research plans to purchase
land and build a second facility, the Lewis Center for Earth Science.
The location of the new building will take advantage of an
environmentally rich portion of the Mojave River that is a
destination for numerous migratory birds to provide students with
onsite capability to study planet Earth up close. A large portion of
the proposed tract of land will provide a preserve for native
species in a highly unique biome of southern California.
(w) The new facility will be linked electronically to the Lewis
and Chabot observatories to allow students from around the state to
work collaboratively studying the environment of our home planet to
compare and contrast the differences and similarities of objects
within our solar system and those of deep space.
(x) The Lewis Center's current facility has been funded from
community and business donations and other partnerships, including an
$850,000 grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban
Development and $500,000 contributed from the foundation. In 1998,
the Lewis Center received a $1,500,000 special purpose grant from
NASA for teacher training, curriculum development, and student
programs through GAVRT. The new facility will leverage funding
provided by these partnerships.
(y) The new Lewis Center for Earth Science will include a
planetarium, theater, classrooms, greenhouse, aviary, outdoor
research areas, and remote sensing devices including television
cameras to view the nocturnal creatures that inhabit this area. The
expansion will enable 3,000 students per month to participate in
field trip activities, and classes and will enable thousands more to
participate online. A new mobile planetarium, telescope, and
computer center will travel from the Lewis Center to schoolsites for
a four-day intensive infusion of science and teaching strategies
involving teachers, students, and families.
(z) The Chabot Observatory and Science Center and the Lewis Center
for Educational Research will become California-based centerpiece
institutions for public astronomy and science education in the
country, and will contribute toward the improvement of science
education and technological literacy for California students,
teachers, and families.
(aa) Seven million dollars ($7,000,000) of support from the state
will help make possible the timely completion of the new Chabot
Observatory and Science Center by November 1999, and the Lewis Center
for Earth Science by March 2000, with all facilities available to
the public and all education programs in place to serve the children,
teachers, and families of the state.
SEC. 2. (a) A sum not to exceed seven million dollars
($7,000,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to be
allocated as follows:
(1) A sum not to exceed five million dollars ($5,000,000) to the
Chabot Observatory and Science Center, a joint powers agency created
by the City of Oakland, the Oakland Unified School District, and the
East Bay Regional Park District, to fund the completion of the new
Chabot Observatory and Science Center facility in Oakland and its
programs for science education for the people of the state.
(2) A sum not to exceed two million dollars ($2,000,000) to the
town of Apple Valley to administer a grant to the nonprofit High
Desert "Partnership in Academic Excellence" Foundation, Incorporated
to purchase land and build the Lewis Center for Earth Science.
(b) The Legislative Analyst shall review the use of the funds
appropriated pursuant to subdivision (a) and shall submit to the
Legislature a report on its findings upon the completion of the new
Chabot Observatory and Science Center facility and the new Lewis
Center for Earth Science.