BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 509|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 509
Author: Price (D)
Amended: 5/3/11
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 9-0, 5/11/11
AYES: Lowenthal, Runner, Alquist, Blakeslee, Hancock,
Huff, Liu, Price, Vargas
NO VOTE RECORDED: Simitian, Vacancy
SUBJECT : Instructional materials
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill modifies a provision of the Williams
settlement to authorize school districts to purchase new
instructional materials for their neediest schools, rather
than for every school in the district.
ANALYSIS :
Existing Law
1.Requires, beginning with 2010-11 fiscal year and every
third year thereafter, the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI) to identify a list of schools ranked in
deciles 1-3 of the Academic Performance Index (API) for
which the county superintendent must annually submit a
report to each district, the county board of education
and the board of supervisors, that describes the state of
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the schools.
2.States that the priority objective of the visits made by
the county
superintendent is to determine the status of all of the
following circumstances:
A. Sufficient textbooks.
B. The condition of a facility that poses an
emergency or urgent threat to the health or safety of
pupils or staff.
C. The accuracy of data reported on the school
accountability report card with respect to the
availability of sufficient textbooks and
instructional materials, and the safety, cleanliness,
and adequacy of school facilities.
D. The extent to which pupils who have not passed the
high school exit exam by the end of 12th grade are
informed that they are entitled to receive intensive
instruction and services for up to two consecutive
academic years after completion of the 12th grade or
until the pupil has passed both parts of the high
school exit exam, whichever comes first.
E. The extent to which pupils who have elected to
receive intensive instruction and services are being
served.
3.For the 2008-09 to 2014-15 fiscal years, provides that
sufficient textbooks or instructional materials include
standards-aligned textbooks or instructional materials,
or both, that were adopted prior to July 1, 2008.
Current law states legislative intent that each local
educational agency (LEA) provide each pupil with
standards-aligned textbooks or instructional materials
from the same adoption. Current law specifies that LEAs
are not required to purchase all of the instructional
materials included in an adoption if the materials that
are purchased are made available to all the pupils for
whom they are intended in all of the schools within the
LEA. These provisions sunset on July 1, 2013.
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4.For the 2008-09 to 2014-15 fiscal years, provides that
school districts are not required to provide pupils with
instructional materials by a specified period of time
following adoption of those materials by the State Board
of Education (SBE). However, school districts are not
relieved of their obligations to provide every pupil with
textbooks or instructional materials.
5.Defines "sufficient textbooks or instructional materials"
to mean that each pupil, including English learners, has
a standards-aligned textbook or instructional materials,
or both, to use in class and to take home. Two sets of
textbooks or instructional materials for each pupil is
not required.
This bill modifies a provision of the Williams settlement
to authorize school districts to purchase new instructional
materials for their neediest schools, rather than for every
school in the district. Specifically, this bill:
1.Authorizes a school district to purchase the newest
adopted instructional materials for the neediest schools
in the district prior to purchasing these materials for
the remaining schools in the district.
2.Defines "neediest schools" as those ranked in deciles 1-3
of the base API in any one of the past three school
years.
3.Authorizes a school district to establish criteria to
define the neediest schools for schools that do not have
at least one year of valid rankings in the base API.
Comments
Williams and Instructional Materials . Pursuant to the
settlement of the Williams lawsuit, schools ranked in
deciles 1-3 on the API are monitored for, among other
things, the provision to pupils of sufficient textbooks or
instruction materials that are aligned to the content
standards. Sufficiency is met when each pupil, including
English learners, has a standards-aligned textbook or
instructional materials, or both, to use in class and to
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take home. Two sets of textbooks or instructional
materials for each pupil are not required.
Prior to the enactment of educational budget trailer bills
in 2009, districts were required to purchase instructional
materials within 24 months of adoption by the SBE. This
requirement has been suspended until the 2014-15 fiscal
year. Districts are specifically authorized to purchase
standards-aligned instructional materials that were adopted
prior to July 1, 2008.
Current law states legislative intent that each school
district provide each pupil with standards-aligned
textbooks or instructional materials from the same
adoption. School districts are not required to purchase
all of the instructional materials included in an adoption
if the materials that are purchased are made available to
all the pupils for whom they are intended in all of the
schools within the district.
Nothing in current law prohibits districts from purchasing
instructional materials from the most recent adoption;
however, current law requires instructional materials to be
provided to each pupil at every school within the district.
This bill specifically authorizes the purchase of
instructional materials from the most recent adoption for
only some of the schools within the district.
Some have raised the concern that this bill could confuse
school districts about how to meet the sufficiency
requirements of Williams , possibly leading districts to
believe that they must purchase instructional materials
from the most recent adoption for their decile 1-3 schools.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/12/11)
California Association of African American School
Superintendents and
Administrators (source)
Association of American Publishers
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OPPOSITION : (Verified 5/12/11)
Association of California School Administrators (unless
amended)
San Bernardino County District Advocates for Better Schools
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
"Under the Williams Settlement statutes, sufficiency for
instructional materials is defined to be standards aligned
instructional materials from the same adoption. If a
district wants to purchase new materials, it must provide
students in the same grade level or course with materials
from the same adoption. In these difficult fiscal times,
it makes it difficult for a district to make any purchases
at all because it becomes an 'all or nothing' decision.
This bill provides an option to school districts and it
gives greater flexibility in helping their most
disadvantaged students have the tools necessary to close
the achievement gap."
CPM:cm 5/12/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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