BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1451
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1451 (Torlakson)
As Amended August 12, 2010
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE : 25-5
EDUCATION 6-2 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Brownley, Ammiano, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Bradford, |
| |Arambula, Carter, Eng, | |Charles Calderon, Coto, |
| |Torlakson | |Davis, |
| | | |De Leon, Gatto, Hall, |
| | | |Skinner, Solorio, |
| | | |Torlakson, Torrico |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Nestande, Miller |Nays:|Conway, Harkey, Miller, |
| | | |Nielsen, Norby |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY : Requires the State Board of Education (SBE) to
annually notify the chairs of the Assembly and Senate Education
Committees and the Governor's office if it determines any
instructional materials submitted for consideration for adoption
contain content that meets the revised standards for social
studies curriculum in Texas and also requires the SBE and school
districts to ensure that the next revision of the History-Social
Science (H/SS) framework and the content of instructional
materials adopted for use in high schools, respectively, are
consistent with existing requirements to ensure instructional
materials include, portray accurately, encourage and impress
certain content upon pupils.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, minor, absorbable General Fund administrative costs
to the California Department of Education (CDE) to complete the
requirements of this bill.
COMMENTS : Background: This bill is in response to revisions
made to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for social
studies curriculum passed by the Texas SBE in May 2010. These
standards seek to alter the emphasis placed on various
historical events and the impact of certain minority groups and
SB 1451
Page 2
social movements in American history. This bill seeks to ensure
that the revisions to Texas' Essential Knowledge and Skills for
Social Studies do not influence the content of California
textbooks by requiring the SBE to ensure that the next revision
of the H/SS framework is consistent with existing requirements
pertaining to social content and annually report to the
Legislature if it finds content that it interprets to be a
result of Texas' revised standards in social studies.
California's Instructional Material Adoption Process: California
is among 20 states that utilize a state-level process to select
instructional materials, including Texas. As such, California
formally adopts a list of approved instructional materials for
use in kindergarten and grades one to eight, inclusive, (K-8)
and districts must purchase materials from this list. The
Legislative Analyst's Office and textbook publishers have
suggested that California's framework and instructional material
adoption process has produced strict and complex pathways to
implementing curriculum changes in the state, and it should be
noted that the process includes a legal compliance review of
social content. Publishers are required to base their
instructional materials on frameworks and other evaluation
criteria that specify instructional approaches, among a number
of other factors.
California does, however, utilize a local-selection process at
the high school level, enabling districts to purchase materials
not on the state list, though materials must still abide by
various guidelines. Districts conduct local social content
reviews of instructional materials adopted at the local level
and are not required to utilize the state process. This bill
includes a requirement that school districts ensure that the
content of instructional materials adopted also comply with the
accurate social content requirements in current law.
Suspension of State-Level Framework and Adoption Process:
Following the state Legislature's Fourth Extraordinary Session
in July 2009, Assembly Bill 2 X4, Chapter 2, Statues of
2009-2010 prohibited the SBE from adopting instructional
materials. The Governor also further cut $705,000 from the
CDE's budget in order to end support for the Curriculum
Development and Supplemental Materials Commission and its
activities, including framework development. Pending
legislation, however, would allow for the continuation of the
development of the H/SS framework, which was in mid-development
SB 1451
Page 3
at the time of the Governor's suspension of adoptions of
instructional materials.
This bill also extends the sunset established by SB734
(Torlakson), Chapter 476, Statutes of 2007, that requires the
SBE to adopt regulations to govern the social content reviews
conducted at the request of a publisher or manufacturer of
instructional materials outside the primary instructional
material adoption processes until July 2016. Extending this
provision will add further safeguards against materials that may
appear in textbooks as a result of changes in Texas' standards.
Analysis Prepared by : Pilar Whitaker and Marisol Avina / ED.
/ (916) 319-2087
FN: 0005885