BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 756
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 4, 2005

                           ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                               Jackie Goldberg, Chair
                    AB 756 (Goldberg) - As Amended:  April 7, 2005
           
          SUBJECT  :   Instructional materials.

           SUMMARY  :   Page limitation.  Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Prohibits the State Board of Education (SBE) and the governing  
            board of any local education agency (LEA) from adopting any  
            instructional material that exceeds 200 pages in length.

          2)Encourages the use of technology and multimedia materials to  
            create higher interest and more up-to-date information from  
            varied sources.

           EXISTING LAW  

          1)Requires the SBE to adopt instructional materials for grade  
            K-8 in the core curriculum areas of language arts,  
            mathematics, history/social science, science, bilingual and  
            bicultural subjects, and any other subject, discipline, or  
            interdisciplinary subject for which the SBE determines the  
            adoption of instructional materials to be desirable or  
            necessary.

          2)Requires the governing boards of LEAs to adopt textbooks for  
            use in grade 9-12 and authorizes adoption only for textbooks  
            which comply with certain social compliance regulations.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   None, according to Legislative Counsel.

           COMMENTS  :   

          Textbooks are too laden with print supplemental materials, and  
          too uninteresting in style.  In the 21st century, the  
          information age, information changes more rapidly than books can  
          be printed.  Educated, informed citizens of the 21st century  
          will have to rely on technology and media for information.   
          Textbooks should provide an overview of the critical questions  
          and issues of a subject, and then become a roadmap to guide  
          students to other means and sources of information. Students  
          need to begin learning to use these means and sources in school  








                                                                  AB 756
                                                                  Page  2

          so they can consider the advantages and hazards of information  
          acquired from these sources and use them wisely.

          Through the Digital High School program, all high schools have  
          been equipped with computers.  The K-12 high speed internet has  
          provided high speed internet connectivity to every county  
          office.  California needs to make every classroom in California  
          a state-of-the-art technology/media classroom, and prepare  
          students to live and work in the 21st century environment.

          The American Association of Publishers opposes this bill on the  
          grounds that the page limitation is arbitrary, will force  
          publishers to produce multiple volumes of texts which would cost  
          more, and that the page limitation would require a change in the  
          curriculum standards.

          The author will take amendments in the Education Committee to  
          exclude mathematics books from the page limitations.

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          None on file.

           Opposition 
           
          American Association of Publishers
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Dee Brennick / ED. / (916) 319-2087