BILL ANALYSIS
AB 970
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Date of Hearing: May 20, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 970 (Block) - As Amended: May 4, 2009
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill encourages the State Board of Education (SBE) and the
Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission
(Curriculum Commission) to ensure that the history-social
science framework, evaluation criteria, and instructional
materials (IM) include information about American Indians,
emphasizing California Native Americans, as specified. This
measure further specifies that these revisions occur as part of
the next adoption cycle. Specifically, this bill:
1)Encourages instruction about American Indians, emphasizing
California Native Americans, including tribal and sovereign
governments and their relationship with the California state
government.
2)Encourages all state and local professional development
activities to provide teachers with content background and
recourses to assist teaching about American Indians, including
tribal and sovereign governments and their relationship with
the California state government.
3)Requires the SBE, within one year following the inclusion of
the first adoption cycle for history/social science IM that
occurs after January 1, 2010, to report to the Legislature and
the Governor regarding the progress of achieving the goals of
this measure.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Minor absorbable GF administrative costs to the SBE to ensure
that the History/Social Science Framework, evaluation
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criteria, and IM include information about American Indians
(specific to California) and complete the required report, as
specified.
2)GF/98 cost pressure, of at least $200,000, to modify existing
state and local professional development activities to provide
teachers with content background and resources to teach issues
associated with American Indians, including their existing
tribal and sovereign governments and their relationship with
the California state government, as specified.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . SB 41 (Alpert), Chapter 870, Statutes of 2001,
established a competitive grant program, administered by the
State Librarian (SL), for the development of educational
materials on California Native American history, culture, and
tribal sovereignty for use in grades K-12.
In September 2007, the SL submitted the educational materials
to the Curriculum Commission for review and approval. The
materials submitted were limited to grade 8.
In reviewing the submitted materials, the Curriculum
Commission noted that the materials did not meet the
requirements related to audience (i.e., only grade 8 and not
grades K-12) and content (specifically related to California
history). Therefore, it recommended to the SBE that a panel
review the proposed curriculum and report to both the
Curriculum Commission and the SBE on whether or not the
materials are consistent with the intent of Chapter 870. In
July 2008, the SBE appointed eight individuals to review the
proposed curriculum and prepare an advisory report for January
2009. In January 2009, the SBE, based upon the Curriculum
Commission's recommendation, took action to not approve the
supplemental materials developed by the SL.
The author states: "At the states recent history/social
science textbook adoption there was no inclusion of any
current events past the 1800's related to California Native
Americans. Without mention of these events in student
instruction or in student textbooks, the existence of Native
Americans as a people, with sovereign governments, continues
to be obsolete; and students will lack the understanding that
California Native Americans are part of this state's cultural,
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political and historical and current events."
2)Current law requires the SBE to adopt basic IM in the core
academic content areas (English language arts, mathematics,
history/social science, and science) every six years for use
in grades K-8. It is also required to adopt statewide
academically rigorous content standards in the core curriculum
areas, including history/social science. These content
standards are implemented through the curriculum frameworks,
as adopted by SBE. The adopted IM must be consistent with the
criteria and standards of quality prescribed in the adopted
curriculum frameworks. Also, the governing board of each
school district maintaining one or more high schools is
authorized to adopt IM for use in the high schools (grades
9-12) under its control.
The history/social science curriculum framework is scheduled
to be adopted in 2009 and the adoption of IM for this area is
to occur in 2011. The SBE has approved guidelines to direct
the work of the history/social science curriculum framework
and evaluation criteria committees. The guidelines include
the following recommendation for the framework: "Update the
narrative to improve the inclusively of the History/Social
Science Framework, and to reflect the contributions of all
groups to the history of California and United States."
3)Previous legislation . AB 2034 (Nunez), similar to this
measure, was vetoed in September 2008 with the following
message:
"While I respect the author's intent to recognize the role of
Native Americans and their tribal and sovereign governments'
relationship with the state, I have consistently vetoed
legislation that has attempted to include specific details or
events into areas of instruction. The State Board of Education
adopted content standards are developed by a diverse group of
experts and are intentionally broad in order to allow coverage
of various events, developments, and issues. I continue to
believe that the State should establish rigorous academic
standards and frameworks, but refrain from being overly
prescriptive in specific school curriculum."
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081