BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 552
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 12, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
SB 552 (Calderon) - As Introduced: February 22, 2013
SENATE VOTE : 29-7
SUBJECT : Pupil Instruction: Social Science: Violence Awareness
SUMMARY : Permits changes to the adopted courses of study in
social science for grades 7-12. Specifically, this bill :
1) Permits local governing boards to revise their locally
adopted courses of study in social science to include
instruction on violence awareness.
2) Specifies this instruction may include a component drawn
from personal testimony in the form of oral or video
histories of individuals who were involved in violence
awareness efforts that exemplify the economic and cultural
effects of violence prevention efforts within a city, the
state, and the country.
EXISTING LAW:
1) Defines "course of study" to mean the planned content of
a series of classes, courses, subjects, studies, or related
activities.
2) Requires the governing board of every school district to
prepare and keep on file for public inspection the courses
of study prescribed for the schools under its jurisdiction.
3) Requires the governing board of every school district to
enforce in its schools the courses of study and the use of
textbooks and other instructional materials prescribed and
adopted by the proper authority.
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4) Specifies that the adopted course of study for grades 7
to 12 shall offer courses in specified areas of study,
including social sciences.
5) Requires that a pupil complete courses in specified
subject areas including social science which shall include
the subjects of United States history and geography; world
history, culture, and geography; a one-semester course in
American government and civics; and a one-semester course
in economics in order to receive a high school diploma.
6) Requires the adopted course of study in social science
to include instruction on the wise use of natural
resources.
7) Permits, but does not require, the adopted course of
study in social science to include instruction in all of
the following:
a) The American role in WWII;
b) Personal testimony, in the form of oral or
video histories, of those involved in WWII, the Korean
War, and the War in Vietnam;
c) The role of Filipino-Americans in WWII;
d) The Bracero Program, including the use of oral
or video histories, of those involved with the
program; and
e) The "Secret Wars" in Laos as a part of the War
in Vietnam including the use of oral or video
histories of Southeast Asians involved in the war and
the men and women who contributed to the war effort on
the home front.
8) Permits the governing board of any school district to
initiate and carry on any program, activity, or may
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otherwise act in any manner which is not in conflict with
or inconsistent with, or preempted by, any law and which is
not in conflict with the purposes for which school district
are established.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed as non-fiscal by Legislative
Counsel.
COMMENTS : Because California's Education Code is permissive,
local governing boards are already free to develop their own
local course of study and nothing in existing law prevents a
local governing board from revising a course of study to include
this instruction today. This bill does not require state action,
curriculum development, guidance through frameworks, or any
other state direction for local boards to consider when or
whether to revise their adopted course of study. Therefore, the
committee may wish to consider whether this bi ll is necessary.
Should a local governing board acted prior to, or in response
to, this legislation and amend its course of study to include
instruction in violence awareness, it would be left on its own
to identify and/or develop appropriate instructional materials
for this instruction. Namely, it would be left to discern what
type of violence is contemplated in this bill. There are some
materials already available that speak to some areas of
violence. For example, according to the California Department
of Public Health:
Violence has emerged as one of the central
public health problems of our time. Violence
takes many forms: between intimate partners,
the physical and emotional abuse of children
and elders, and between strangers. Each type
of violence provides specific opportunities
and strategies for prevention.
The Department of Public Health is combatting this epidemic
through community and population-based prevention focusing on
preventing violence before it is initiated. This primary
prevention public health approach is a systematic process that
promotes healthy behaviors and environments, and reduces the
likelihood or frequency of intimate partner violence and sexual
violence. Primary prevention is distinguished from secondary
prevention because it explicitly focuses on action before there
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is a threat of violence. Also, the California Department of
Education has numerous resources, including funding
opportunities for violence prevention activities related to safe
schools. Information about funds, training, resources, and
technical assistance concerning preventing violence, helping
students to make safe choices, and collecting data about
violence in schools are all readily available through the
California Department of Education.
Finally, a number of bills have been introduced this year
proposing to require the instruction of a specific topic. The
committee may wish to consider the extent to which content
should be developed through statutory incorporation versus
through the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) and/or the
discretion of local school boards when adopting a local course
of study.
Related legislation . AB 123 (Bonta), passed out of this
committee on March 20, 2013, requires instruction on the
contributions of Filipino Americans to the farm labor movement
in California.
AB 137 (Buchanan), passed out of this committee on April 17,
2013, and now pending in the Senate Education Committee,
requires the IQC to receive input from specified experts on
civic learning the next time the history-social science
frameworks are developed and encourages civic learning content
to be integrated throughout the history-social science
framework.
AB 166 (Hern�ndez), passed out of this committee on March 20,
2013, and now pending in the Senate Education Committee,
requires instruction in economics provided in grades 7 through
12 to include instruction related to personal finances.
AB 391 (Wieckowski), passed out of this committee on April 17,
2013, and held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
specifies the next time the history-social science frameworks
are developed that they encourage financial literacy and
requires the SPI to update the exiting consumer economics course
to include instruction in personal financial literacy.
AB 424 (Donnelly) passed out of this committee on May 1, 2013,
and now pending in the Senate Education Committee, requires
revisions to the history/social science framework to encourage
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instruction in the social sciences to include the development of
democracy and the history of the development of the United
States Constitution.
Previous legislation : SB 993 (De Le�n), Chapter 211, Statutes of
2012, authorizes instruction in social science for grades 7-12
to include information about the Bracero program. This measure
was passed by the Assembly Education Committee by a vote of 7-2.
AB 199 (Ma & Cook), Chapter 607, Statutes of 2011, encourages
social studies instruction to include instruction on the role
and contributions of Filipino Americans in the United States
army in World War II. This measure was passed by the Assembly
Education Committee by a vote of 7-0.
SB 48 (Leno), Chapter 81, Statutes of 2011, requires instruction
in social science to include the role and contributions of
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans. This measure
was passed by the Assembly Education Committee by a vote of 7-4.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
National Association of Social Workers - California Chapter
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Jill Rice / ED. / (916) 319-2087