BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 1540 (Hancock) - Revised History - Social Sciences Curriculum
Frameworks
Amended: March 29, 2012 Policy Vote: Education 8-2
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: April 30, 2012
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
This bill may meet the criteria for referral to the Suspense
File.
Bill Summary: SB 1540 requires the state board of education
(SBE) to consider adopting a revised curriculum framework and
evaluation criteria for instructional materials in
history-social science, by July 1, 2014.
Fiscal Impact:
Direct costs: This bill will result in direct state costs
of $30,000 to complete the work of updating the
history-social science framework, for it to be considered by
the SBE for adoption.
Cost pressure: The adoption of an updated curriculum
framework (should the SBE choose to adopt it) potentially
creates cost pressure to adopt new instructional materials
more quickly than would otherwise have occurred.
Background: 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 Department of Education
(CDE) has ceased work on the review and update. The SBE is
specifically prohibited from reviewing frameworks and adopting
instructional materials until the 2015-16 school year.
(Education Code � 60200.7)
Proposed Law: This bill requires the CDE to resume work on the
history-social science framework review, to have it completed to
be considered by the SBE by July 1, 2014.
SB 1540 (Hancock)
Page 1
Related Legislation:
SB 300 (Hancock) Chapter 624/2011, included provisions related
to the completion of the history-social science framework, which
were amended out in this committee.
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.
Staff Comments: Given the substantial time and work already
dedicated to this activity, the CDE indicates cost of completing
the revision (to present for the SBE's consideration by June 30,
2014) would be only $30,000.
As the bill's legislative findings and declarations indicate,
there is no requirement in the bill to purchase new
instructional materials that reflect the updated framework. This
activity has, however, traditionally followed the adoption of a
new framework and is tied to the implementation of a new
curriculum framework. Moreover, this bill specifically requires
the creation (for SBE consideration) of evaluation criteria for
determining appropriate instructional materials to implement the
framework.
At a minimum, this bill allows the process for eventually
adopting new instructional materials, and the expenses related
to that, to occur earlier. In the absence of the bill, work
could not resume toward finishing the update until the 2015-16
school year, which would push the costs of potentially adopting
new instructional materials out even further. The costs of the
materials adoption process are significant. The CDE indicates
that the costs for the previous instructional materials adoption
cycle in this subject area were approximately $1.3 million.