BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2446
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 21, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2446 (Furutani) - As Amended: April 13, 2010
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:8-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill, commencing with the 2011-12 school year, authorizes a
pupil to complete one course in career technical education (CTE)
in lieu of completing one course in visual performing arts (VPA)
or foreign language in order to receive a high school diploma.
This measure also sunsets this provision on July 1, 2016.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Defines, for the purposes of this measure, CTE as a course in
a district-operated CTE program that is aligned to the CTE
model curriculum standards and framework adopted by the State
Board of Education (SBE).
2)Specifies that completing one course in CTE does not require a
school or school district that currently does not offer CTE
courses to establish new CTE programs, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT
GF/98 cost pressure, likely between $880,000 and $1.5 million,
to school districts to provide increased CTE course offerings to
high school pupils. This cost assumes an increase between three
to five percent in CTE course enrollment. According to the
State Department of Education (SDE), 589,233 high school pupils,
29% of total high school enrollment, enrolled in CTE courses in
2007-08.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . Existing law requires pupils to meet the following
minimum course requirements in order to graduate from high
AB 2446
Page 2
school:
---------------------------------------
| Subject |# of Courses |
|-------------------------+-------------|
|English | 3 |
|-------------------------+-------------|
|Math | 2 |
|-------------------------+-------------|
|Science | 2 |
|-------------------------+-------------|
|Social Studies | 3 |
|-------------------------+-------------|
|VPA or Foreign Language | 1 |
|-------------------------+-------------|
|Physical Education | 2 |
|-------------------------+-------------|
|Total |13 |
---------------------------------------
Statute also authorizes a school district governing board to
specify additional requirements. For example, a governing
board may require pupils to complete community service hours
or additional coursework (i.e., CTE courses or courses to meet
the University of California or California State University
admission requirements).
According to the SDE, 589,233 high school students enrolled in
CTE in 2007-08. This represents a decrease of 21,623 students
from 2006-07. SDE reports 25,752 CTE courses were offered to
pupils during 2007-08, which is an increase of 1,269 courses
offered form the previous year.
According to the author, "A 2006 study commissioned by the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation entitled The Silent Epidemic:
Perspectives of High School Dropouts found that 47% of
dropouts indicated that they were not interested or engaged in
their coursework. An overwhelming majority (81%) said that
graduating from high school was important to success in life.
There is a critical need to make the high school curriculum
more engaging and relevant."
2)Reporting mechanism . This bill sunsets the authorization for
pupils to take one CTE course instead of a course in VPA or
AB 2446
Page 3
foreign language for the purposes of receiving a high school
diploma on July 1, 2016. Typically, legislation with a sunset
provision including a reporting requirement to help the
Legislature make informed decision regarding the sunset
extension. The committee may wish to consider adding language
to require SDE to collect CTE course information and the
number of pupils taking a CTE course to fulfill state
graduation requirements. School districts may report this
information through the state's longitudinal data system to
minimize cost.
3)UC and CSU requirements . The UC and CSU require high school
students to complete a specified pattern of coursework to be
eligible for admission. This course pattern of 15 courses is
commonly known as the A-G requirements. Courses that meet the
A-G requirements must be previously reviewed and approved by
UC. Students who do not have access to the A-G required
courses in high school are, essentially, unable to qualify for
admission to either UC or CSU upon high school graduation.
Of the 15 courses students are required to complete for
admission, two are required to be in foreign language (3 are
recommended) and one is required to in VPA.
This bill allows pupils to complete a CTE course instead of a
VPA course or foreign language course in order to receive a
high school diploma. For those pupils seeking admission to
the UC or CSU, they must exceed current law graduation
requirements and complete at least one additional course in
foreign language. Presumably, pupils seeking college
admission would continue to take foreign language and VPA
courses. According to SDE, there were 7,650 UC approved CTE
courses.
4)CTE . In January 2007, the SBE adopted the CTE Standards and
Framework to guide CTE curriculum discussions for grades 7-12
pupils with learning goals in 58 career pathways organized
around 15 industry sectors. The CTE Framework is "is the
blueprint for educators to implement the CTE model curriculum
standards adopted by the SBE. It provides context for the
content laid out in the standards, discusses best practices,
and explores important issues in implementation."
AB 2446
Page 4
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081