BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2019
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Date of Hearing: April 28, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2019 (Torlakson) - As Amended: April 20, 2010
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:6-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill specifies the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) has authority to convene a task force for education
technology and requires the task force to develop
recommendations for a comprehensive statewide plan on the use of
technology in delivering instruction in schools, as specified.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the operation of the task force to be funded by
private donations and requires the membership of the task
force to consist of no more than 15 education experts, as
specified.
2)Requires the task force to address specific issues (including
reasonable funding levels) in making recommendations to the
State Board of Education (SBE) and the Legislature, on or
before September 1, 2012, on a comprehensive statewide
education technology plan. This measure also requires the task
force to consider previously developed state technology plans
as part of this process, as specified.
3)Requires the SBE to adopt a comprehensive statewide education
technology plan, based on the task force's recommendations, on
or before January 1, 2013. This bill also authorizes the State
Department of Education (SDE) to accept private donations to
support the expenses incurred in operating the task force.
4)Sunsets this measure on September 1, 2016.
FISCAL EFFECT
AB 2019
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One-time costs of $150,000 to $225,000, to establish the task
force to develop recommendations for the basis of a statewide
technology plan. This bill specifies that funding shall be from
private donations.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, "While there is widespread
consensus on the benefits of education technology and a
high-quality education, California is considered a high-tech
state with a low-tech learning environment. Though some
school districts are effectively using technology, California
still ranks in the bottom 10% of education technology use."
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also
known as the "Nation's Report Card," randomly assesses pupils
in grades 4, 8, and 12 across the United States in reading and
mathematics. In October 2008, NAEP's national governing board
decided to administer the Technological Literacy assessment in
2012. In anticipation of administering this assessment, the
governing board awarded WestED, a national education research
and development organization based in San Francisco, CA, to
develop the 2012 NAEP Technological Literacy Framework. The
framework will provide NAEP's governing board with guidance on
what items should be part of the assessment and at what grade
levels the assessment shall be administered.
This bill requires a task force on education technology to
develop recommendations for a statewide technology plan for
approval by the SBE, as specified.
2)Need for a statewide technology plan ? The federal No Child
Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) requires each state to maintain
a statewide technology plan for the purpose of ensuring that
technology use is consistent with the state's strategies for
improving student academic achievement, including improving
the capacity of teachers to integrate technology into
curricula and instruction. As a result, in May 2005, the SBE
approved the NCLB State Technology Plan. This plan, updated in
June 2006, describes the state's strategies for improving
student academic achievement through the use of technology and
efforts to leverage statewide education technology services,
regional services, grant administration, monitoring, and
outreach efforts so that all efforts focus on promoting
research-based proven practices.
AB 2019
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Also, as a condition for receiving any state or federal
education technology funding, school districts are required to
develop or update their district technology plans in alignment
with the SBE's Education Technology Planning: A Guide for
School Districts. These guidelines encourage districts to
focus on using technology to improve student achievement and
to develop the components of the technology plan, including
curriculum; professional development; infrastructure,
hardware, technical support and software; funding and budget;
and monitoring and evaluation.
In May 2009, the governor signed an executive order
establishing the California ICT Digital Literacy Leadership
Council (Leadership Council), chaired by the state's chief
information officer (CIO), to develop an ICT Digital Literacy
Policy, to ensure that Californians are digitally literate.
The secretary of education, the secretary of labor and
workforce development, the secretary of business,
transportation and housing, and the secretary of state and
consumer affairs are members of the Leadership Council. The
executive order also required the CIO to invite the SPI to
participate on the council.
The committee may wish to consider whether or not this bill is
necessary given the requirement that every school district is
required to have a plan, the governor's executive order, and
the state's current education technology plan for schools.
3)Previous legislation .
a) AB 836 (Torlakson), similar to this measure, was vetoed
by the governor in October 2009, with the following
message:
"I am returning Assembly Bill 836 without my signature.
Earlier this year, I issued an Executive Order directing
the State's Chief Information Officer (CIO) to establish
the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Digital
Literacy Council for the purposes of developing a
California Action Plan for ICT Digital Literacy. The CIO is
charged with working with stakeholders in both the
education and technology fields to develop a plan to
incorporate digital literacy in our schools and workforce.
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This bill would require the SPI to establish a task force
for education technology, funded by private donations. The
SPI does not need additional statutory authority to convene
an internal task force for this purpose. Therefore, this
bill is unnecessary. For these reasons, I am unable to sign
this bill."
b) SB 1330 (Torlakson), which required the SPI to convene a
task force to develop recommendations for a comprehensive
statewide education technology plan, was vetoed in
September 2008, with the following message:
"This bill is unnecessary since current law does not
prohibit the SPI from convening an internal advisory
committee to update the statewide education technology plan
with approval of the SBE. Increasing and enhancing
technology in our schools is important, but the provisions
in this can be accomplished without legislation."
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081