BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 1290
AUTHOR: Kehoe
AMENDED: April 14, 2010
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 21, 2010
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : Self-defense and safety instruction.
KEY POLICY ISSUES
Should the State Board of Education be required to include
self-defense and safety instruction in the physical education
content standards for grades 7-12?
Should the State Board of Education include self-defense and
safety instruction in the Physical Education curriculum
framework?
Are existing references to self-defense and safety in the
Physical Education standards and framework insufficient?
Is this bill premature considering the process of updating
frameworks has been suspended until the 2013-14 school year?
SUMMARY
This bill requires the State Board of Education (SBE) to
include self-defense and safety instruction in the physical
education standards for pupils in grades 7-12.
BACKGROUND
Standards define the knowledge, concepts, and skills that
pupils should acquire at each grade level. Frameworks are
the blueprints for implementing the academic content
standards.
The Physical Education standards, adopted by the SBE in
January 2005, include combatives, and defines "combative
activities" to include wrestling, fencing, boxing,
kickboxing, martial arts, and self-defense. Standard 1 for
high school Course 2 (grade 10) detailed in the Physical
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Education framework, adopted by the SBE in September 2008,
includes demonstrated proficiency in combatives,
gymnastics/tumbling, and team activities. This framework
specifically allows a personal defense class in which pupils
learn how to avoid dangerous situations as well as how to
defend themselves to meet the combatives requirement.
The processes for reviewing frameworks and adopting
instructional materials has been suspended since July 2009,
pursuant to AB 2 of the Fourth Extraordinary Session (Chapter
2, July 2009), which among other things, prohibited the SBE
from reviewing frameworks and adopting instructional
materials until the 2013-14 school year. (Education Code
60200.7)
ANALYSIS
This bill requires the inclusion of self-defense and safety
instruction in the physical education standards.
Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires the State Board of Education (SBE), beginning
with the 2011-12 school year, to include self-defense
instruction and safety instruction in the physical
education standards for pupils in grades 7-12.
2) Requires self-defense training to be incorporated into
grade 9 or high school physical education Course 1
standards.
3) Defines:
a) "Safety instruction" to include, but not be
limited to, awareness and avoidance of potentially
dangerous situations.
b) "Self-defense instruction" to include, but not
be limited to, martial arts, boxing, and other
defensive techniques.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill : According to the author, "although
certain components of self-defense may be provided to
students in grades 7-12, the physical education
frameworks do not clearly demonstrate that training
students to recognize potential threats of physical
attack by another person."
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2) Standard vs. framework . This bill requires the State
Board of Education (SBE) to include specific instruction
in the physical education standards. The physical
education standards were adopted in January 2005.
Standards are not updated. Therefore, staff recommends
an amendment to instead require the SBE to include
self-defense and safety instruction, as specified, in
the physical education framework.
3) Timeline . This bill includes a confusing timeline
related to the 2011-12 school year. Staff recommends an
amendment to instead require the SBE to include
self-defense and safety instruction during the next
revision of the physical education framework.
4) Already developed for grade 10 . The existing physical
education framework contains a course for grade 10 in
self-defense and how to avoid dangerous situations.
This bill should more specifically require this section
to be expanded to grades 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12. Staff
recommends an amendment to make this clarification.
5) Schedule for revising frameworks . The processes to
revise the frameworks has been suspended. Pursuant to
AB 2 of the Fourth Extraordinary Session (Chapter 2,
July 2009), the SBE is prohibited from reviewing
frameworks until the 2013-14 school year. Considering
this suspension, is this bill premature?
6) Related legislation .
SB 1278 (Wyland, 2010), an urgency measure,
resumes the currently-suspended instructional
materials adoption process, and creates a new
schedule for the adoption of instructional
materials beginning with the adoption of
History-Social Science in 2011. SB 1278 is
scheduled to be heard by this Committee on April
21, 2010.
AB 2069 (Carter, 2010) is nearly identical
to SB 1278, and is scheduled to be heard by the
Assembly Education Committee on April 21, 2010.
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SB 1300 (Correa, 2010) requires the
inclusion of teen dating violence prevention in the
next revision of the health framework. SB 1300 is
scheduled to be heard by this Committee on April
21, 2010.
SUPPORT
Numerous individuals
OPPOSITION
None received.