BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 994 (Vargas) - California Latino Curriculum.
Amended: May 2, 2012 Policy Vote: Education 7-1
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 24, 2012 Consultant: Jacqueline
Wong-Hernandez
SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
Bill Summary: SB 994 requires the California Department of
Education (CDE) to establish the California Latino Curriculum
Committee (CLCC) for the purpose of developing a California
Latino curriculum for inclusion in the history-social science
curriculum framework.
Fiscal Impact:
Latino Curriculum: Likely millions of dollars; costs will
depend on the scope of the curriculum developed by the IQC
in consultation with a new volunteer advisory committee.
Background: Curricular frameworks are the guide for implementing
academic content standards; they include criteria by which
instructional materials are evaluated, and may include model
curricula.
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 nearly complete when the state
suspended the process in July 2009.
Proposed Law: This bill requires the CDE to establish a CLCC to
develop a California Latino curriculum. This bill requires the
CLCC to be composed of, at a minimum, the following: 1) the
Director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and
Culture at UCLA; 2) the senior curator of LA Plaza de Cultura y
Artes; 3) a California Teachers Association representative; 4)
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an Association of California School Administrators
representative; 5) a California Association of Latino
Superintendents and Administrators representative; 6) the
President of the California Latino School Boards Association; 7)
a CDE representative; 8) an Association of Mexican American
Educators member; 9) a California Rural Network member; 10) a
northern California school district super-intendent; 11) a
southern California school district superintendent; 12) the San
Diego Superintendent of Schools; 13) a curriculum specialist;
and, 14) an instruction specialist.
Related Legislation: SB 1540 (Hancock) requires the SBE to
consider, by June 30, 2014, the adoption of an updated
history-social science framework. This bill passed out of this
Committee on May 7, 2012.
SB 1080 (Lieu) requires the CDE to develop a personal finances
curriculum in the next adoption cycle of the mathematics and
history-social science curriculum frameworks. This bill is
currently on the Suspense File of this Committee.
Staff Comments: The Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) is
the body responsible for the review and revision of curriculum
frameworks, and provides to the SBE recommendations for
modifications to the frameworks. This bill creates a separate
commission (the CLCC) to do similar work, specific to a
California Latino Curriculum.
If the CLCC operates similarly to the existing IQC, and with
similar staffing, the annual cost to operate it would be nearly
$700,000. The IQC has dedicated CDE staff to support it. Staff
time involves preparation of SBE items, preparing and answering
commission correspondence, drafting reports, and setting the
agendas. The IQC is staffed by an Executive Director, 2
Education Programs Consultants, 2 Analysts, and 1 Office
Technician; their salaries total $665,000.
Additional costs include travel for each member; the CLCC would
have a minimum of 14 members, but the bill specifies that it is
"not limited to" the specified members. There are also costs to
record meetings, for mailings, and general office expenses. The
IQC spends an additional $31,000 on these expenses.
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There will be additional costs to develop, edit, and publish the
curriculum that the CLCC will create. Previous curricula
developed by the CDE have varied in costs from $150,000 to
millions of dollars. For example, the recent C�sar Ch�vez online
model curriculum cost $2 million. What must be included in the
curriculum will be determined by the CLCC, and the costs will be
driven by those decisions.
Proposed Author Amendments: The proposed amendments would remove
the requirements to establish the CLCC. Instead, the bill would
require the existing IQC to consult with a volunteer academic
advisory committee for the purposes of developing a California
Mexican/Latino History Curriculum for K-12 students for
inclusion in the next revision of the history - social science
framework.