BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 247|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 247
Author: Alquist (D), et al
Amended: 7/15/09
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 9-0, 4/29/09
AYES: Romero, Huff, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Maldonado,
Padilla, Simitian, Wyland
SENATE FLOOR : 36-0, 5/11/09
AYES: Aanestad, Alquist, Ashburn, Benoit, Cogdill,
Corbett, Correa, Cox, Denham, DeSaulnier, Ducheny,
Dutton, Florez, Hancock, Harman, Hollingsworth, Huff,
Kehoe, Leno, Liu, Lowenthal, Maldonado, Negrete McLeod,
Oropeza, Padilla, Pavley, Romero, Runner, Steinberg,
Strickland, Walters, Wiggins, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Calderon, Cedillo, Simitian, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 8/17/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Instructional materials
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill authorizes a local governing board to
use funding from the Instructional Materials Funding
Realignment program to purchase state-adopted instructional
materials 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
CONTINUED
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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.
Assembly Amendments added K-8 to the bill and added
Assembly co-authors.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires the State Board of
Education (SBE) to adopt basic instructional materials
(IMs) for use in K-8 and requires the Curriculum
Development and Supplemental Materials Commission to
perform several duties including studying and evaluating
IMs and making recommendations to the SBE relative to IMs
approved for adoption. Requires pupils be provided with
standards-aligned textbooks or basic IMs 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.
Establishes the Instructional Materials Funding Realignment
(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 IMs, as adopted by the
SBE or the local governing board. 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. IMs may be printed or nonprinted, and
may include textbooks, technology-based materials, other
educational materials and tests.
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 case that required
the state to ensure, among other items, that pupils have
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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 website notes that web-based or electronic
textbooks count as IMs, "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 IMs to use at home and at school.
A recent survey by the Public Policy Institute of
California finds that the share of Californians with
Internet access at home is up four points as compared to
2008 (67 percent today, 63 percent in 2008) and that
overall Internet use rose six points in the last year (76
percent today, 70 percent in 2008). Additionally, the
survey shows that computer ownership is up three points (75
percent today, 72 percent in 2008). Despite these
improvements noted above, the Institute 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."
Comments
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."
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Related Legislation
AB 314 (Brownley) makes various changes to the state IMs
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 IMs 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/8/09) (per Assembly Education
Committee analysis)
California Manufacturers and Technology Association
Los Angeles Unified School District
San Diego County Office of Education
Santa Clara County Office of Education
TechAmerica
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fong,
Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick,
Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,
Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu,
Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning,
Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel
Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Silva, Skinner,
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Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres,
Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cook, Fletcher, Saldana, Smyth, Vacancy
DLW:mw 8/18/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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