BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1922
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Date of Hearing: May 5, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1922 (Davis) - As Amended: April 14, 2010
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:6-2
Business and Professions
7-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the California Civil Rights Education
Commission (CCREC), within the State Department of Education
(SDE), to provide assistance and advice to the State Board of
Education (SBE) on the inclusion of civil rights education in
the history/social science framework and criteria for evaluating
instructional materials (IM). Specifically, this bill:
1)Authorizes the CCREC to act as a liaison with various
entities, including the U.S. Congress, the State Legislature,
and the National Association of the Advancement of Colored
People, in advising the SBE on the curriculum framework.
2)Requires the CCREC to consist of 15 members and 11 members,
required to serve terms, as specified. This measure also
requires the 11 members to apply to a four-person committee
consisting of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and
representatives of the state's higher education institutions.
3)Requires the members of the four-person committee to serve on
CCREC and make their appointments by July 1, 2011. This bill
also requires the members to be California residents and
geographically represented.
4)Prohibits CCREC members from receiving compensation, but
requires members to be reimbursed for their expenses in
performing commission duties.
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5)Authorizes SDE to apply and receive gifts, grants, and
donations from any public or private sources for the CCREC.
6)Requires the SBE to work with the CCREC in implementing the
following: (a) providing information to public schools with
respect to the civil rights movement; (b) creating an
inventory of civil rights memorials, exhibits and resources
that could be used in the classroom; and (c) compiling a list
of volunteers who are willing to share their knowledge and
experiences concerning the struggle for civil rights.
FISCAL EFFECT
GF administrative costs of at least $250,000 to SDE to support
the CCREC.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . Over the past five years, 115 episodes of vandalism
involving hate speech have occurred on the University of
California's (UC) 10 campuses. Recently, there have been
several high profile incidents involving race and gender at
both UC San Diego and UC Davis. According to the author, "The
rise of hate crimes and racial tension in California and
across the nation, most recently on several campuses within
the UC system, provides a compelling reason to completely
re-approach the process of developing state curriculum in the
field of history/social science. Far too many citizens
obviously do not appreciate the complexity of racial, social,
economic, and political problems."
This bill establishes the CCREC to provide assistance and
advice to the SBE on the inclusion of civil rights education
in the history/social science framework and criteria for
evaluating IM.
2)Existing law. Prior to the enactment of AB 2 X4, Chapter 2,
Statutes of 2009 in July 2009 (see below), statute required
the SBE to adopt basic instructional materials (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 the SBE to
adopt statewide academically rigorous content standards in the
core curriculum areas. These content standards are implemented
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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.
The development of curriculum frameworks is a multi-year
process. 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.
In June 2003, the SBE adopted the history/social science
curriculum framework for grades K-12. The current framework
states a goal of the framework is to ensure textbooks provide
"sociopolitical literacy," including information on the civil
rights movement. Also, specific information on civil rights
is noted in the framework for grade 11.
Statute also requires the SBE to adopt content standards in
the curriculum area of history/social science. In October
1998, the SBE adopted the History/Social Science Content
Standards for grades K-12. These content standards require
pupils to be taught about the civil rights movement in grade
11 (the evolution of federal law) and in grade 12 (landmark
Supreme Court decisions).
3)AB 2 X4 (Evans), Chapter 2, Statutes of 2009 , specified that
local education agencies are not required to purchase IM
through the 2012-13 fiscal year. Consistent with the
non-purchasing requirement, Chapter 2 also suspended the
requirement for SBE to adopt IM or conduct other procedures
associated with adoption (i.e., adopting curriculum
frameworks) until the 2013-14 school year.
Prior to the enactment of AB 2 X4, the next history/social
science curriculum framework was scheduled for adoption in May
2010, with IM for this subject to be adopted in 2011.
However, this timeline is no longer relevant and the next
adoption of this framework has not been determined.
4)Related legislation . AB 2069 (Carter), pending in this
committee, establishes a timeline for resuming the submission
of IM to the SBE, including the adoption the history/social
science curriculum framework.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
AB 1922
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319-2081