BILL NUMBER: SB 1451 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 28, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 25, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Senator Yee
( Coauthor: Assembly Member
Davis )
FEBRUARY 19, 2010
An act to amend Section 60050 of, and to add Section 60020.8 to,
the Education Code, relating to instructional materials.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1451, as amended, Yee. Education: instructional materials.
Existing law provides that the State Board of Education must adopt
regulations to govern the social content reviews, as specified,
conducted at the request of a publisher or manufacturer of
instructional materials outside the primary and followup
instructional material adoption processes.
This provision remains in effect only until January 1, 2011, and
as of that date is repealed.
This bill would require the state board, upon completion of the
social content review, to inform the Chair of the Assembly Committee
on Education, the Chair of the Senate Committee on Education, and the
Secretary of Education of content that it interprets to be as a
result of a specified action by the Texas Board of Education. The
bill would also require the state board, upon the next adoption of
the History-Social Science Curriculum Framework, to ensure that the
framework is constituent with specified standards governing
instructional materials.
This bill would repeal this provision on January 1, 2016.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The State Board of Education, among its other
responsibilities, is charged with adopting statewide academic content
standards in core and other curriculum areas.
(b) Despite other shortcomings in education funding, California
has some of the highest academic content standards in the United
States.
(c) Section 51204.5 of the Education Code requires instruction of
social sciences to include the early history of California and a
study of the role and contributions of both men and women,
black Black Americans, American Indians,
Mexicans, Asians, Pacific Island people, and other ethnic groups to
the economic, political, and social development of California and the
United States of America, with particular emphasis on portraying the
role of these groups in contemporary society.
(d) Section 60040 of the Education Code requires instructional
materials used in schools to accurately portray the cultural and
racial diversity of our society, including the contributions of both
men and women in all types of roles, including professional,
vocational, and executive roles, as well as the role and
contributions of Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican
Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans, and members of other
ethnic and cultural groups to the total development of California and
the United States, and finally, the role and contributions of the
entrepreneur and labor in the total development of California and the
United States.
(e) Section 60043 of the Education Code requires instructional
materials used in schools to accurately portray, when appropriate to
the comprehension of pupils, that textbooks for social science,
history or civics classes contain the Declaration of Independence and
the Constitution of the United States.
(f) Section 60044 of the Education Code prohibits instructional
material to be used in schools that contains any matter reflecting
adversely upon persons because of their race, color, creed, national
origin, ancestry, sex, handicap, or occupation, as well as any
sectarian or denominational doctrine or propaganda contrary to law.
(g) On March 12, 2010, the Texas Board of Education, which
consists of 15 elected members statewide, voted to adopt revisions to
their social studies curriculum for the 2010-11 school year
(formally referred to as revisions to Texas Administrative Code,
Title 19, Chapter 113, Subchapters A-C, and Texas Administrative
Code, Title 19, Chapter 118, Subchapter A).
(h) Although not yet formally adopted, it is widely presumed that
the proposed changes to Texas' social studies curriculum will have a
national impact on textbook content since Texas is the second largest
purchaser of textbooks in the United States, second only to
California.
(i) As proposed, the revisions are a sharp departure from widely
accepted historical teachings that are driven by an inappropriate
ideological desire to influence academic content standards for
children in public schools.
(j) The proposed changes in Texas, if adopted and subsequently
reflected in textbooks nationwide, pose a serious threat to Sections
51204.5, 60040, 60041, 60043, and 60044 of the Education Code as well
as a threat to the apolitical nature of public school governance and
academic content standards in California.
SEC. 2. Section 60020.8 is added to the Education Code, to read:
60020.8. Upon the next adoption of the History-Social Science
Curriculum Framework, the state board shall ensure the framework is
consistent with provisions governing instructional materials,
including, but not limited to, Sections 51204.5, 60040, 60041,
60042, 60043, 60044, 60048, 60200.5, and 60200.6.
SEC. 3. Section 60050 of the Education Code is amended to read:
60050. (a) The state board shall adopt regulations to govern the
social content reviews conducted at the request of a publisher or
manufacturer of instructional materials outside the primary and
followup instructional material adoption processes. A social content
review is intended to determine compliance with Sections
51204.5, 60040, 60041, 60042, 60043, 60044, 60048, 60200.5, and
60200.6, and the guidelines for social content adopted by the state
board.
(b) Upon completion of the social content review, the state board
shall inform the Chair of the Assembly Committee on Education, the
Chair of the Senate Committee on Education, and the Secretary of
Education of content that it interprets are the result of changes to
the Texas Administrative Code, Title 19, Chapter 113, Subchapters
A-C, and Texas Administrative Code, Title 19, Chapter 118, Subchapter
A, that were preliminarily approved on March 12, 2010, and
formalized on____.
(c) (1) For purposes of this section, social content reviews of
instructional materials shall be conducted by the department or its
agents for all instructional materials, as defined in subdivision (h)
of Section 60010.
(2) The department may contract with agents to conduct social
content reviews pursuant to this section.
(d) The department shall assess a fee for social content reviews
conducted pursuant to this section. The fee shall be established and
assessed pursuant to the requirements specified in subdivisions (d)
to (f), inclusive, of Section 60227, and the publishers and
manufacturers shall be provided notice of the establishment of the
fee pursuant to subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 60227.
(e) Revenue derived from fees charged pursuant to subdivision (c)
shall be budgeted as reimbursements and subject to review through the
annual budget process and may be used to pay costs associated with
the social content review of instructional materials.
(f) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2011 2016 , and as of that date is
repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before
January 1, 2011 2016 , deletes or
extends that date.