BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 994
AUTHOR: Vargas
AMENDED: March 29, 2012
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 25, 2012
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : California Latino curriculum.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the California Department of Education
to establish the California Latino Curriculum Committee
for the purpose of developing California Latino
curriculum.
BACKGROUND
Academic content standards define the knowledge, concepts,
and skills that pupils should acquire at each grade level.
Curricular frameworks are the blueprint for implementing
the standards, and include criteria by which instructional
materials are evaluated.
The processes for reviewing frameworks and adopting
instructional materials have been suspended since July 28,
2009. The State Board of Education (SBE) is specifically
prohibited from reviewing frameworks and adopting
instructional materials until the 2015-16 school year.
(Education Code � 60200.7)
The history-social science framework was last adopted in
2005. A review of this framework was underway and nearly
complete when the state suspended the process in July
2009, due to budget constraints.
The history-social science standard was adopted in 1998.
ANALYSIS
This bill requires the California Department of Education
to establish the California Latino Curriculum Committee
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for the purpose of developing California Latino
curriculum. Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires the CDE, before January 1, 2014, to
establish the California Latino Curriculum Committee
for the purpose of developing California Latino
curriculum pursuant to Education Code � 51204.5.
2) Requires the California Latino curriculum to be
consistent with the history-social science curriculum
framework and academic content standards.
3) Provides that the California Latino curriculum is for
use in K-12 public schools.
4) Requires the California Latino Curriculum Committee
to be composed of the following individuals:
a) The Director of the Center for
the Study of Latino Health and Culture at the
University of California, Los Angeles.
b) The senior curator of LA Plaza de
Cultura y Artes.
c) A representative of the
California Teachers Association.
d) A representative of the
Association of California School Administrators.
e) A representative of the
California Association of Latino Superintendents
and Administrators.
f) The President of the California
Latino School Boards Association.
g) A representative of the CDE.
h) A member of the Association of
Mexican American Educators.
i) A member of the California Rural
Network.
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j) A superintendent of a northern
California school district.
aa) A superintendent of a southern
California school district.
bb) The San Diego Superintendent of
Schools.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, "Diverse
cultures have helped shape our state over the past
243 years and have contributed enormously to its
history and culture. Yet the historical record of
Latinos in California currently taught in our state
schools is very limited. As a result, many important
aspects of Latino history and life are absent
altogether from California's historical record. The
workgroup created by this bill would create a
curriculum guide that identifies Latino influence and
contributions to California history for inclusion in
K-12 curriculum, state and local governing board
adopted instructional materials, and next revision of
the California Content Standards for History-Social
Science."
2) Outside of existing process . This bill requires the
California Department of Education (CDE) to establish
the California Latino Curriculum Committee to develop
California Latino curriculum. The Instructional
Quality Commission (formerly known as the Curriculum
Commission) is responsible for the review and
revision of curriculum frameworks, and provides to
the State Board of Education (SBE) recommendations
for modifications to the frameworks. The
deficiencies with the current process have not been
clearly articulated.
3) Outside of existing curriculum framework ? This bill
does not specify how the California Latino curriculum
will be included in instructional materials or
provided to pupils. Is the California Latino
curriculum to be stand-alone and separate from the
history-social science framework? The author's
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statement indicates that the California Latino
curriculum is to be included in the next revision of
the history-social science framework. However, this
bill does not make any provision for the inclusion of
California Latino curriculum in the history-social
science framework.
4) Update of History-Social Science framework was
underway . The Curriculum Commission approved the
draft update of this framework for field review on
July 17, 2009. However, suspension of the framework
and instructional material processes was implemented
beginning July 28, 2009, meaning that no actual field
review or online survey has occurred for this
framework. Many stakeholders and ethnic groups
support the resumption of this process because the
updated frameworks are a culmination of months of
research and negotiations. The updated framework
includes information relative to the role of Sikhs
and Korean Americans, among others.
5) Revision of standards . The author's statement
references the inclusion of the California Latino
curriculum in the next revision of the history-social
science standard. The standards have never been
revised (other than the recent adoption of common
core standards in English language arts and math),
nor does the SBE have the authority to do so. In
January of 2005, the Legislative Counsel issued an
opinion that the State Board does not have the
authority to revise the standards under current law.
Counsel noted that current law permits the Board to
"modify any proposed ? standards prior to adoption"
but that the authority to revise the standards
appears to end with their adoption.
6) Why just one ethnic group ? This bill requires the
establishment of a committee to develop California
Latino curriculum pursuant to current law, which
requires instruction in social sciences to include
the early history of California and a study of the
role and contributions of:
a) Both men and women.
b) Native Americans.
c) African Americans.
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d) Mexican Americans.
e) Asian Americans.
f) Pacific Islanders.
g) European Americans.
h) Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
Americans.
i) Persons with disabilities.
j) Members or other ethnic and cultural
groups.
Staff recommends an amendment to strike the
provisions of this bill and instead require the SPI
to convene a workgroup to examine curricula related
to the early history of California and the role and
contributions of groups of people described in
current law, including but not limited to California
Latinos. This workgroup could report any
recommendations to the Instructional Quality
Commission for consideration in the next revision of
the history-social science framework.
7) Related legislation . SB 1540 (Hancock) requires the
SBE to consider, by June 30, 2014, the adoption of
the currently stalled history-social science
framework. SB 1540 is pending in the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
SB 993 (De Leon) authorizes social science instruction to
include instruction on the Bracero program. SB 993
is pending on the Assembly Floor.
SB 1080 (Lieu) provides that instruction in economics may
include instruction related to personal finances and
would require the CDE to develop a personal finances
curriculum in the next adoption cycle of the
mathematics and history-social science curriculum
frameworks. SB 1080 is pending in the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
SB 1325 (Wyland) requires the SPI and SBE to consider
methods to enhance the knowledge of our history and
form of government, and increase levels of civic
participation. SB 1325 is pending in this Committee.
AB 580 (Davis) requires instruction on the role and
contributions of people of all races, colors,
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genders, sexual orientations, national origins,
religions and marital status to include updated
references. AB 580 is pending in the Senate Rules
Committee.
AB 1756 (Knight) authorizes schools to elect not to
provide social science instruction on the role and
contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender Americans. AB 1756 failed passage in the
Assembly Education Committee.
AB 2546 (Donnelly) recasts existing provisions relative to
instruction on the role and contributions of people
with specified characteristics to exclude mention of
sexual orientation, and instead require, among other
things, the study of a person in social science
instruction to be accurate and based solely on
historical significance rather than membership in a
protected class. AB 2546 is pending in the Assembly
Education Committee.
8) Prior legislation . SB 48 (Leno, Chapter 81, 2011)
requires instruction in social science to include the
role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender Americans.
SB 300 (Hancock, Chapter 624, 2011), at one time included
provisions relative to the completion of the
history-social science framework. The final version
of SB 300 requires the SBE to adopt revised standards
in science.
SB 1278 (Wyland, 2010) would have required the SBE to
adopt a revised framework and evaluation criteria for
history-social science in 2011. SB 1278 was held in
the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 2069 (Carter, 2010) would have required the SBE to
adopt a revised framework and evaluation criteria for
history-social science by July 1, 2011. AB 2069 was
held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SUPPORT
California Communities United Institute
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OPPOSITION
California Council for the Social Studies