BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 133|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 133
Author: Hagman (R), et al.
Amended: 6/12/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 9-0, 6/5/13
AYES: Liu, Wyland, Block, Correa, Hancock, Hueso, Huff,
Monning, Torres
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 4/18/13 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Instructional Materials: digital format
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires a publisher or manufacturer that
submits a printed instructional material for adoption by the
State Board of Education (SBE) or the governing board of a
school district, on or after January 1, 2014, to ensure that the
printed instructional material is also available in an
equivalent digital format, during the entire term of the
adoption.
ANALYSIS : School districts are required to provide
instructional materials adopted by the SBE to pupils in grades
K-8, or standards aligned materials that have not been adopted
by the SBE (see next paragraph). School districts adopt
materials for use in high schools. The SBE is prohibited from
adopting instructional materials (other than specified materials
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related to the common core standards) until the 2015-16 school
year (due to budget constraints).
Existing law:
1.Authorizes school districts to use instructional materials
that are aligned with the academic content standards (original
standards or common core standards), including instructional
materials that have not been adopted by the SBE. A district
that chooses to use instructional materials that have not been
adopted by the SBE must ensure that a majority of participants
of a review process are classroom teachers who are assigned to
the subject area or grade level of the materials.
2.Requires publishers to adhere to several requirements when
submitting instructional materials to the SBE for
consideration, as well as in the provision of those materials
to school districts, including:
A. Furnish the materials at a price that does not exceed
the lowest price sold in the United States.
B. Provide any instructional materials free of charge in
this state to the same extent as received by any state or
school district in the United States.
C. Provide to the state, at no cost, computer files or
other electronic versions of each state-adopted literary
title and the right to transcribe, reproduce, modify and
distribute the material in Braille, large print,
recordings, American Sign Language videos or other
specialized media exclusively for use by pupils with visual
disabilities.
1.Requires the California Department of Education to establish a
pilot program of 12 schools to request publishers make
instructional materials in electronic multimedia format
available for purchase. Participating schools are required to
provide to pupils the hardware necessary to use the electronic
materials, or print materials to pupils who do not have access
to the hardware. No schools elected to participate in this
pilot program.
2.Authorizes school districts to include relevant
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technology-based materials when adopting instructional
materials if the materials are both available and comparable
to other, equivalent instructional materials.
3.Defines, for purposes of the Williams settlement, "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, but does not require two sets of textbooks or
instructional materials to be purchased for each pupil.
Instructional materials may be in a digital format as long as
each pupil, at a minimum, has and can access the same
materials in the class and to take home, as all other pupils
in the same class or course in the district and has the
ability to use and access them at home.
4.Requires, by January 1, 2020, publishers of any textbook
offered for sale at the University of California, California
State University, the California Community Colleges, or a
private university in the state, to the extent practicable,
make the textbooks available (in whole or part) for sale in an
electronic format. The electronic version must contain the
same content as the printed version and may be
copyright-protected.
This bill requires a publisher or manufacturer, that submits a
printed instructional material for adoption by the SBE or the
governing board of a school district, on or after January 1,
2014, to ensure that the printed instructional material is also
available in an equivalent digital format, during the entire
term of the adoption.
Comments
According to the author's office, "This bill will allow students
freedom and flexibility in how they learn educational material.
It sets the path to bringing modern technology to schools and
students to keep costs low and education on the cutting edge."
Previous Legislation
SB 1154 (Walters, 2012), would have required publishers to make
digital instructional materials adopted by the SBE available for
purchase at the same or lower cost as the print version.
Additionally, this bill would have required the publishers and
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manufacturers to permit school districts to use the digital
materials to create an on-line database for use in all of the
district's classrooms. SB 1154 was vetoed by Governor Brown
with the following veto message:
"Providing on-line instructional materials and coursework
to pupils in California is an educational goal that I very
much share. This bill, however, does not accomplish that
goal. Instead, it puts unrealistic requirements on
California's businesses that will lead to increased costs
of instructional materials."
AB 2211 (Fuentes, Chapter 354, Statutes of 2010), amended the
definition of "sufficient textbooks or instructional materials"
to state that instructional materials may be in a digital format
as long as each pupil, at a minimum, can access the same
materials in the class and to take home, as all other pupils in
the same class or course in the district and has the ability to
use and access them at home.
AB 1010 (Pavley, 2004), would have required a publisher that
makes basic instructional materials available to a school
district in a hard copy format to also make instructional
materials available in an electronic multimedia format. AB 1010
was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger with the following veto
message:
"While I support the idea of using an electronic multimedia
format, it is crucial that we remain focused on providing
all pupils with an actual textbook in core curricula areas.
In addition, I am concerned about the rising costs of
textbooks and this bill could create increased costs to the
State in the form of higher textbook costs for publishers
to comply with the electronic multimedia format
requirement. Higher costs could make it more difficult for
schools to ensure that pupils have adequate textbooks,
which was a cornerstone of the Williams v. State of
California settlement agreement."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/12/13)
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Association of American Publishers
Association of California School Administrators
California Communities United Institute
Disability Rights California
Los Angeles County Office of Education
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 4/18/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway,
Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell,
Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor,
Medina, Melendez, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian,
Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez,
Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting,
Torres, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams,
Yamada, John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Holden, Lowenthal, Mitchell, Vacancy
PQ:ej 6/12/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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