BILL ANALYSIS
SB 247
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 247 (Alquist)
As Amended July 15, 2009
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :36-0
EDUCATION 11-0
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|Ayes:|Brownley, Nestande, | | |
| |Ammiano, Arambula, | | |
| |Buchanan, Carter, Eng, | | |
| |Garrick, Miller, Solorio, | | |
| |Torlakson | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Authorizes a local governing board to use funding from
the Instructional Materials Funding Realignment (IMFR) program
to purchase state-adopted instructional materials (IM) for
kindergarten and grades 1 to 8 (K-8), inclusive, and state
standards-aligned materials for grades 9 to 12, inclusive, in an
electronic or hardbound format if it can ensure that each pupil
will be provided with a copy of the instructional materials to
use at school and at home. Clarifies that providing access to
the materials at school and at home does not require a local
educational agency to purchase two sets of materials.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt basic IM
for use in K-8 and requires the Curriculum Development and
Supplemental Materials Commission to perform several duties
including studying and evaluating IM and making
recommendations to the SBE relative to IM approved for
adoption.
2)Requires pupils be provided with standards-aligned textbooks
or basic IM by the beginning of the first school term that
commences no later than 24 months after those materials were
adopted by the SBE and authorizes SBE to grant school
districts additional time to meet this requirement if
specified criteria are met.
SB 247
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3)Establishes the IMFR program administered by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction under which school
districts are apportioned funds to ensure that each pupil is
provided a standards-aligned textbook or basic IM, as adopted
by the SBE or the local governing board.
4)Defines "instructional materials" as all materials that are
designed for use by pupils and their teachers as a learning
resource and help pupils to acquire facts, skills, or opinions
or to develop cognitive processes. IM may be printed or
nonprinted, and may include textbooks, technology-based
materials, other educational materials and tests.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed non-fiscal.
COMMENTS : School districts are authorized to use funds from the
IMFR program to purchase technology-based materials,
nevertheless some arguments have been made that there is
confusion in the field as to whether a district can indeed use
IMFR funds for technology-based or electronic versions of
instructional materials.
In August 2004, the state entered into a settlement agreement in
the Williams v. California (Williams) case that required the
state to ensure, among other items, that pupils have access to
reasonably current textbooks and instructional materials, in
useable condition, in each core subject to use in class and to
take home. The California Department of Education's (CDE) Web
site notes that Web-based or electronic textbooks count as
instructional materials, "but in order to meet the definition of
sufficient instructional materials, students need to have access
to the materials both at school and at home. This presumes that
students with Web-based materials have access to computers and
the Internet in school and at home and students with electronic
textbooks have access to computers in school and at home." This
bill includes language providing that districts can purchase
electronic materials if the district can ensure all students
have access to instructional materials to use at home and at
school.
A recent survey by the Public Policy Institute of California
(PPIC) finds that the share of Californians with Internet access
at home is up 4 points as compared to 2008 (67% today, 63% in
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2008) and that overall Internet use rose 6 points in the last
year (76% today, 70% in 2008). Additionally, the survey shows
that computer ownership is up 3 points (75% today, 72% in 2008).
Despite these improvements noted above the PPIC reports that "a
digital divide still persists, and states that just over half of
Latinos (52%) say they have home computers, far lower than the
percentage of Asians (89%), whites (87%), and blacks (75%) who
do. Only 39 percent of Latinos have a home broadband
connection, compared to 75 percent of whites, 74 percent of
Asians, and 62 percent of blacks."
The author states, "Our students have changed. Today they are
no longer the children our educational system was designed to
teach. Today's students think, process information, and
interact with our world fundamentally different than previous
generations. The students sitting in today's classes are used
to instant connection to the internet, downloaded music, phone
in their pockets, a library on their laptops, and instant
messaging. They've been networked by technology most or all of
their lives. They are 21st century students. SB 247 helps
create the 21st century classroom."
Related legislation: AB 314 (Brownley) makes various changes to
the state IM adoption process, and provides flexibility to
districts in the purchase of those materials. States that
school districts may use IMFR funds to purchase state adopted
textbooks or basic instructional materials in an electronic
format, if they can ensure that each pupil will be provided with
a copy of the IM to use at school and at home, as specified.
AB 1398 (Blumenfield) changes the definition of
"technology-based materials," for purposes of the instructional
materials and testing part of the Education Code, to include the
electronic equipment required to make use of those materials
only if that equipment is to be used by pupils and teachers as a
learning resource.
Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Avi?a / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0001955