BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 1080 (Lieu) - Personal finances instruction
Amended: March 22, 2012 Policy Vote: Education 9-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: April 30, 2012
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 1080 requires the California Department of
Education (CDE) to develop a personal finances curriculum in the
next adoption cycle in which mathematics and history-social
science curricula frameworks are adopted. This bill would
authorize schools to include instruction related to personal
finances in economics instruction.
Fiscal Impact: $100,000 - $1 million General Fund for the CDE to
develop a new personal finances curriculum.
Background: Existing law requires a school district to offer, as
part of its adopted course of study for grades 7-12, courses in
specified areas including economics. Financial literacy and
personal finances may be a part of local economics courses, but
are not required to be.
The history-social science framework was last adopted in 2005.
The processes for reviewing frameworks and adopting
instructional materials have been suspended since July 2009, due
to budget constraints. At the time of the suspension, a review
of the history-social science framework was nearly complete.
Since the suspension, the CDE has ceased work on the review and
update. The SBE is prohibited from reviewing frameworks and
adopting instructional materials until the 2015-16 school year.
(Education Code � 60200.7)
Proposed Law: This bill would require the CDE to develop a
personal finances curriculum in the next adoption cycle in which
mathematics and history-social science curricula frameworks are
adopted, that would be made available to schools; schools would
choose whether or not to teach the material.
SB 1080 (Lieu)
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Related Legislation: SB 799 (Lieu) 2011, which encouraged
personal finance instruction and required the CDE to consider
developing a personal finances curriculum, was held on the
Assembly Appropriations Committee's Suspense File.
Staff Comments: Current law does not prevent schools from
including coverage of personal finances as part of their
economics curriculum. In stating that schools may teach about
personal finances, this bill codifies existing authority. Any
costs would be determined and borne by school districts that
choose to exercise that authority.
The costs for this bill stem from the requirement for the CDE to
develop a personal finances curriculum. According to the CDE,
the current draft of the updated history-social science
framework contains material on financial literacy, including a
proposed elective course on financial preparedness that
incorporates the topics suggested in the bill. It is unclear
whether the existing material would meet the requirements of the
bill, since it is only included as a distinct elective course.
Additionally, this bill seems to require that personal content
be added to the revision of the mathematics framework. The CDE
would have to determine how to best fit that new content into
its mathematics framework, and develop the actual curriculum.
Adding new content to any framework involves additional costs to
augment contracts with experts in the content area, writers, and
staff time. Costs would depend upon how extensive the changes
would be.
The exact costs of this bill are unknown, because its
requirements are vague. The CDE could try to alter existing
curricula to attempt to meet the basic requirements of this
bill. Coupled with the extensive legislative findings and
declarations regarding the need for new and greater financial
literacy instruction, however, this bill seems to seek the
development of an entirely new curriculum. Developing a new
financial literacy curriculum to be included in the
history-social science and mathematics frameworks could cost
anywhere between a $100,000 and $1 milliom to develop, edit and
publish, depending on the how extensive the CDE makes the
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project.