BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1790
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1790 (Hagman)
As Amended April 10, 2012
Majority vote
EDUCATION 10-0
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|Ayes:|Brownley, Norby, Ammiano, | | |
| |Buchanan, Butler, Carter, | | |
| |Eng, Grove, Halderman, | | |
| |Williams | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires a publisher or manufacturer submitting
instructional materials for adoption by the State Board of
Education (SBE) or the governing board of a school district to
ensure that the instructional materials are available in both
print and digital formats, during the entire term of the
adoption. Specifically, this bill :
1)Specifies that this bill does not authorize the use of
instructional materials that would constitute an infringement
of copyright under the federal Copyright Revision Act of 1976.
2)Provides that these requirements shall apply only to
instructional material adoptions that occur after the existing
suspension is repealed.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the SBE to adopt basic instructional materials for
use in K-8 and to ensure that the instructional materials it
adopts meet specified criteria.
2)Prohibits the SBE from adopting instructional materials or
from following the procedures for the adoption of
instructional materials until the 2015-16 school year.
3)Requires the governing board of each school district
maintaining one or more high schools to adopt instructional
materials for use in the high schools under its control, and
specifies that only instructional materials of those
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publishers who comply with the specified requirements may be
adopted by the district board.
4)Defines "Technology-based materials" as basic or supplemental
instructional materials that are designed for use by pupils
and teachers as learning resources and that require the
availability of electronic equipment in order to be used as a
learning resource. Technology-based materials include, but
are not limited to, software programs, video disks, compact
disks, optical disks, video and audiotapes, lesson plans, and
databases.
5)Requires all schools to provide each pupil, including English
learners, with a standards-aligned textbook or instructional
materials, or both, to use in class and to take home and
allows the materials to be in a digital format as long as
pupils in the same class or course have access to the same
materials at school and at home.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative
Counsel.
COMMENTS : The most recent statewide adoptions have seen a
number of publishers submit programs that have an integrated
electronic component, or in some cases, are entirely
technology-based, even though current law does not require
publishers to submit materials for adoption in electronic
formats. A 2007 study of previous SBE adoptions showed that
publishers were beginning to make electronic editions of their
materials available as an alternate format to their print
textbooks. For example, the 2007 math adoption includes 22
basic programs, 10 of which are available in an optical disk,
two are available as online texts, and one program has an
integrated electronic component. The 2008 reading language arts
(RLA) adoption included various electronic components whereas,
the 2002 RLA adoption did not include any electronic versions of
instructional materials.
The recently revised Title 5 of the California Code of
Regulations currently stipulates that publishers must: "provide
the CDE with a URL �uniform resource locator] to those
instructional materials intended for student use that are being
submitted for adoption, and the CDE shall post on its website
direct hyperlinks to the URLs provided by the publishers. The
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instructional materials posted on each publisher's website shall
be identical to the hard copy version of the instructional
materials submitted for adoption, except that copyrighted items
that do not allow for posting online may be omitted and replaced
by a description of the omitted item, and any online features
that are absent from the hard copy version shall be identified."
This requirement for posting is within the context of public
inspection of materials being considered for adoption and not
necessarily in the context of purchasing these materials. This
means that even though publishers submit an electronic version
of a program, those materials may not necessarily be available
beyond the submission period or for purchase by districts. This
bill would require materials to be available for the entire term
of the adoption.
Many of the larger publishers are already moving in the
direction of including digital versions of instructional
materials, and thus the requirements of this bill may not create
a significant burden on those publishers. However, it is not
clear that the smaller publishers will be able to meet this
requirement. Many of the small publishers already have a
difficult time with the statewide adoption process and therefore
there is a possibility that this proposal may add an additional
burden on small publishers. Additionally, it is unclear whether
this bill may be requiring publishers to submit the materials in
various electronic formats so that they are compatible with the
various forms of hardware available in the market.
Suspension of adoption activities: As a result of the fiscal
climate in the state, adoptions of instructional materials have
been suspended until the 2015-16 fiscal year, thus there are no
adoptions taking place at the moment and districts are not
required to purchase instructional materials by a specified
timeline. The requirements of this bill would be applicable
only after the existing suspension is lifted.
The limited resources or lack thereof have often limited a
district's ability to provide technology-based or electronic
versions of instructional materials to its pupils. School
districts and the state have grappled with funding challenges
but also challenges of ensuring equal access to technology for
all students.
Previous legislation: AB 2211 (Fuentes), Chapter 254, Statutes
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of 2010, amends the definition of "sufficient textbooks or
instructional materials" to state that instructional materials
may be in a digital format as long as each pupil, at a minimum,
has and can access the same materials in the class and to take
home, as all other pupils in the same class or course in the
district and has the ability to use and access them at home.
AB 1010 (Pavley) of 2004, requires a publisher that makes basic
instructional materials available to a school district in a hard
copy format to also make instructional materials available in an
electronic multimedia format upon adoption of instructional
materials after January 1, 2005, by the SBE or by the governing
board of a school district that maintains a high school. Makes
these requirements operative January 1, 2007, and provides that
a school district that purchases instructional materials in an
electronic multimedia format pursuant to the bill shall comply
with specified law governing instructional materials. AB 1010
was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger with the following veto
message:
"While I support the idea of using an electronic multimedia
format, it is crucial that we remain focused on providing all
pupils with an actual textbook in core curricula areas. In
addition, I am concerned about the rising costs of textbooks and
this bill could create increased costs to the State in the form
of higher textbook costs for publishers to comply with the
electronic multimedia format requirement. Higher costs could
make it more difficult for schools to ensure that pupils have
adequate textbooks which was a cornerstone of the Williams v.
State of California settlement agreement."
Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Avi�a / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0003275