BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 339
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 339 (Bonilla)
As Amended April 6, 2011
Majority vote
EDUCATION 7-2 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Brownley, Ammiano, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, |
| |Buchanan, Butler, Carter, | |Bradford, Charles |
| |Eng, Williams | |Calderon, Campos, Davis, |
| | | |Gatto, Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Solorio, |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Halderman, Wagner | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt
regulations for conducting social content reviews of
instructional materials submitted outside of the primary
adoptions and to assess a fee for the review. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Requires the SBE to adopt regulations for social content
reviews conducted at the request of a publisher outside the
primary adoption process.
2)Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to do
all of the following:
a) Conduct, or contract for, social content review of
instructional materials, as defined, outside the primary
adoption process, provided that the publisher pays a fee
assessed by the CDE;
b) Assess a fee on a publisher or manufacturer in an amount
that does not exceed the reasonable costs to the CDE for
conducting the review; and,
c) Give notice to publishers and manufacturers of the
establishment of the fee.
3)Provides that fee revenues for social content reviews shall be
continuously appropriated and available to the CDE from year
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to year until expended in order to pay costs associated with
the social content reviews.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires instructional materials used in schools to accurately
portray the contributions of both men and women in all types
of roles, including professional, vocational, and executive
role and 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 (U.S.), as well as the role and contributions of the
entrepreneur and labor in the total development of California
and the U.S.
2)Prohibits school districts from adopting instructional
materials that contain any matter reflecting adversely upon
persons because of their race, color, creed, national origin,
ancestry, sex, handicap, or occupation or any sectarian or
denominational doctrine or propaganda contrary to law.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)General Fund (GF) costs of approximately $100,000 to $200,000
to the CDE to conduct social content reviews. According to
CDE, they contracted out to county offices of education to
conduct approximately 100 reviews in fiscal year 2009.
2)Authorizes the CDE to assess a fee to cover all costs for
these reviews.
3)Requires the revenue generated from these fees to be budgeted
as a reimbursement and subject to review through the annual
budget process.
COMMENTS : Current law requires instructional materials, in
addition to meeting the requirements of the content standards,
curriculum frameworks, and evaluation criteria, to also be
approved for social content. For example, state law specifies
that instructional materials must portray the contributions of
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both men and women in professional, vocational, and executive
roles, and 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 U.S.
CDE currently conducts social content reviews for state-adopted
instructional materials, and up until last year, was also
conducting reviews for non-adopted instructional materials, such
as supplemental materials. This bill authorizes CDE to assess a
fee to a publisher or manufacturer that requests an out-of-cycle
social content review. The CDE contends that the social content
review of non-SBE-adopted instructional materials is a service
offered to school districts to ensure all instructional
materials comply with social content requirements.
The author states, "Without AB 339, the California Department of
Education will not be able to charge fees to support the follow
up process necessary to conduct review of instructional
materials. Therefore, local districts will have to conduct
their own review of instructional materials for out-of-cycle
social content. This result places a burden on those local
districts and allows the possibility of inconsistencies in
social content reviews from district to district."
Previous legislation: SB 734 (Torlakson) Chapter 476, Statutes
of 2007, reenacts the requirement to conduct follow-up
adoptions, added the social content review provisions for
out-of-cycle adoptions, and repealed both provisions on January
1, 2011.
Senate Bill 1058 (Torlakson) Chapter 806, Statutes of 2003,
establishes CDE's ability to charge fees to cover the costs of
follow up adoptions. These provisions were repealed on January
1, 2007.
Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Avina / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0000873
AB 339
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