BILL NUMBER: AB 1719	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Fuentes

                        FEBRUARY 16, 2012

   An act to add and repeal Section 60605.87 of the Education Code,
relating to instructional materials.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1719, as introduced, Fuentes. Supplemental instructional
materials: English language development.
   Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt basic
instructional materials for use in kindergarten and grades 1 to 8,
inclusive, and authorizes the state board to establish criteria for
that purpose. Existing law requires the state board in reviewing and
adopting instructional materials to use specified criteria and ensure
that, in its judgment, the submitted instructional materials meet
all of the specified criteria.
   Existing law requires the State Department of Education to
recommend, and the state board to approve, evaluation criteria to
guide the development and review of supplemental instructional
materials for English language arts and mathematics to provide a
bridge between the California common core academic content standards
and the standards-aligned instructional materials currently being
used by local educational agencies. Existing law requires the state
board to perform specified reviews and to approve or reject all, or a
portion, of the list of supplemental instructional materials
proposed by the department and authorizes the state board to add an
item to that list, as specified. Existing law also permits the
governing board of a school district to approve supplemental
instructional materials other than those approved by the state board
if the governing board performs specified reviews and determines that
other supplemental instructional materials are aligned with the
California common core academic content standards and meet the needs
of the pupils of the district. Existing law requires supplemental
instructional materials approved by the state board and the governing
board of a school district to be reviewed by content review experts,
as specified.
   This bill would require the department to recommend, and the state
board to approve, evaluation criteria to guide the development and
review of supplemental instructional materials for English learners.
The bill would require the department to develop a list by January 1,
2014, of supplemental instructional materials that are aligned with
the California common core academic content standards for language
arts and the English language development standards. The bill would
require content review experts, who are recommended by the department
and approved by the state board, to review the supplemental
instructional materials. The bill would require the state board to
approve or reject supplemental instructional materials, as specified.
The bill would authorize the governing boards of school districts to
approve supplemental instructional materials other than those
approved by the state board if the governing board performs specified
reviews and determines that other supplemental instructional
materials are aligned with the California common core academic
content standards and meet the needs of the pupils of the district.
   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) California and 40 other states have adopted common core
academic standards for language arts and mathematics to provide
consistent and clear expectations of what pupils need to learn to
compete in a global economy.
   (b) Eighty-five percent of the standards are common across the
nation, with 1.5 percent unique to California.
   (c) In 1999, California adopted the English language development
standards for the purpose of stating what pupils must know and be
able to do as they move toward full fluency in the English language.
The standards are to work in tandem with the language arts academic
standards; however, they have not been revised or aligned to the
approved common core language arts standards.
   (d) Chapter 605 of the Statutes of 2011 (A.B. 124) requires the
revision and alignment of the English language development standards
as specified.
   (e) There are currently 1.4 million pupils who are English
learners and enrolled in California public schools.
   (f) It is critical that "bridge" supplemental instructional
materials be available to English learners that reflect both the
common core language arts and English language development standards
in order for pupils to be held accountable to the common core
language arts standards via assessments.
   (g) School districts, county offices of education, and charter
schools, at a minimum, need supplemental English language development
instructional materials to ensure teachers and pupils have the
proper tools to begin to bridge the curriculum between the state's
current content standards in language arts to the English language
development standards.
  SEC. 2.  Section 60605.87 is added to the Education Code, to read:
   60605.87.  (a) The department shall recommend, and the state board
shall approve, evaluation criteria to guide the development and
review of supplemental instructional materials for English learners.
   (b) Notwithstanding any other law, and on a one-time basis, the
department, on or before January 1, 2014, shall develop a list of
supplemental instructional materials for use in kindergarten and
grades 1 to 8, inclusive, that are aligned with the California common
core academic content standards for language arts and the English
language development standards. The supplemental instructional
materials shall provide a bridge between the revised and aligned
English language development standards to the California common core
academic language arts content standards and the standards-aligned
instructional materials currently being used by local educational
agencies.
   (c) (1) The department shall recommend, and the state board shall
approve, content review experts to review, in an open and transparent
process, supplemental instructional materials submitted for approval
in the subject area of English language development.
   (2) The majority of content review experts approved pursuant to
paragraph (1) shall be teachers who are credentialed in English
language arts, possess the appropriate state English learner
authorization, and have five years of classroom experience
instructing English learners. The content review experts also shall
include appropriate persons possessing English learner expertise from
postsecondary institutions and school and school district curriculum
administrators possessing English learner expertise, and other
persons who are knowledgeable in English language arts and English
language development.
   (3) The content review experts shall serve without compensation.
   (d) (1) On or before June 30, 2014, the state board shall do the
following:
   (A) Approve all, or a portion, of the list of supplemental
instructional materials proposed by the department, taking into
consideration the review of the content review experts and any other
relevant information, as appropriate.
   (B) Reject all, or a portion, of the list of supplemental
instructional materials proposed by the department, taking into
consideration the review of the content review experts and any other
relevant information, as appropriate.
   (2) If the state board rejects all, or a portion, of the list of
supplemental instructional materials proposed by the department, or
adds an item to the list, the state board, in a public meeting held
pursuant to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Article 9 (commencing
with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2
of the Government Code), shall provide written reasons for the
removal or addition of an item on the list. The state board shall not
approve a supplemental instructional material it adds to the list at
the same time it provides its written reason for adding the
material; instead, the state board shall approve the added material
at a subsequent public meeting.
   (e) (1) The governing board of a school district may approve
supplemental instructional materials other than those approved by the
state board pursuant to subdivision (d) if the governing board
determines that other supplemental instructional materials are
aligned with the California common core academic content and English
language development standards and meet the needs of pupils who are
English learners of the district. The governing board of a school
district may only approve supplemental instructional materials that
comply with all of the following:
   (A) The evaluation criteria approved pursuant to subdivision (a).
   (B) Section 60226.
   (C) Subdivision (h).
   (D) Article 4 (commencing with Section 60060) of Chapter 1.
   (2) (A) A supplemental instructional material approved by a
governing board of a school district pursuant to this subdivision
that is in the subject area of English language development shall be
reviewed by content review experts chosen by the governing board.
   (B) The majority of the content review experts chosen pursuant to
subparagraph (A) shall be teachers who are credentialed in English
language arts, possess the appropriate state English learner
authorization, and have five years of classroom experience
instructing English learners.
   (C) The content review experts also shall include appropriate
persons possessing English learner expertise from postsecondary
institutions and school and school district curriculum administrators
possessing English learner expertise, and other persons who are
knowledgeable in English language arts and English language
development.
   (D) The content review experts shall serve without compensation.
   (f) Publishers choosing to submit supplemental instructional
materials for approval by the state board shall submit standards
maps.
   (g) (1) Before approving supplemental instructional materials
pursuant to this section, the state board shall review those
instructional materials for academic content, social content, and
instructional support to teachers and pupils. Supplemental
instructional materials approved by the state board pursuant to this
section shall meet required program criteria for grade-level programs
and shall include materials for use by teachers.
   (2) Before approving supplemental instructional materials pursuant
to this section, the governing board of a school district shall
review those instructional materials for academic content and
instructional support to teachers and pupils who are English
learners. Supplemental instructional materials approved by the
governing board of a school district pursuant to this section shall
meet required program criteria for grade-level programs and shall
include materials for use by teachers.
   (h) Supplemental instructional materials approved pursuant to this
section shall comply with the social content review requirements
pursuant to Section 60050.
   (i) The department shall maintain on its Internet Web site the
list of supplemental instructional materials approved by the state
board pursuant to subdivision (d).
   (j) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2014, and, as
of July 1, 2015, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that
becomes operative on or before July 1, 2015, deletes or extends the
dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.