BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1057
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Date of Hearing: August 6, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
SB 1057 (Corbett) - As Amended: July 1, 2014
Policy Committee: Education Vote:7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) to convene a group of history-social science experts and,
by March 30, 2018, recommend history-social science content
standards for adoption by the State Board of Education (SBE).
Further, this bill requires the SBE, on or before July 30, 2018,
to adopt, reject, or modify history-social science content
standards in accordance with specified procedures.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Specifies the history-social science experts must include
individuals who are elementary and secondary history-social
science teachers, schoolsite principals, school district or
county office of education administrators, and university
professors. Requires a majority of the group to be
individuals employed as history-social science teachers.
2)Requires the group of experts to make a good faith effort to
solicit and take into consideration input from scholars of all
major religious, ethnic, racial, and cultural groups and
individuals who represent the perspectives of all major
religious, ethnic, racial, and cultural groups, genders,
sexual orientations, and disability statuses.
3)Requires, on or before October 1, 2018, the SPI and the SBE to
present to the Governor and the appropriate policy and fiscal
committees of the Legislature a schedule and implementation
plan for integrating the history-social science content
standards adopted pursuant to this bill.
FISCAL EFFECT
SB 1057
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One-time General Fund administrative costs of approximately
$800,000 to the California Department of Education to develop
new content standards. The development of the standards creates
a ripple effect in terms of costs and future activities
associated with the new standards. For example, the CDE
estimates additional out-year costs in the range of $1.9 million
to develop a revised curriculum framework and $1.3 million to
adopt instructional materials aligned to these new standards.
School districts will also face future cost pressures in the
millions to purchase new standards aligned instructional
materials; however, in light of CDE's current effort to revise
the history-social science framework, these costs would likely
be incurred regardless of the passage of this bill.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . California adopted academic content standards for
Social Studies in October, 1998 and has not modified these
standards since. Existing law does not provide for another
revision of these standards and legislative action is needed
to authorize the SBE to review or revise these content
standards. Supporters of this measure, including the
California Teachers Association and the Association of
California School Administrators, support updating these
standards in light of the planning for the development and
implementation of a new history-social science assessment.
California has adopted new standards in English language arts,
mathematics and science; revision of California's History and
Social Science Standards is the next logical step in
California's efforts to improve its curriculum and
instructional practices.
2)Status of history-social science frameworks and standards.
Although current law does not authorize the revision of the
history-social science standards, existing law does authorize
the SBE to adopt revised frameworks. The history-social
science framework was last adopted in 2005. A review of the
history-social science framework was underway in 2009 until
the process was suspended due to budget constraints.
Additionally, the Instructional Quality Commission was
prohibited from resuming work on the history-social science
framework until work on the English language arts and
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mathematics frameworks were complete.
The 2014-15 Budget Act includes $270,000 for the IQC to
complete the review and revision of the history-social science
framework and the IQC resumed this process in July. According
to the CDE, if this bill is enacted, the IQC would stop this
current effort since these frameworks would need to be revised
under new standards.
3)Related history-social science legislation :
a) SB 897 (Steinberg), pending in this committee, among
other things, requires the State Board of Education to
consider incorporating the College, Career, and Civic Life
(C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards into the
next history-social science content standards.
b) SB 1380 (Wyland), pending in this committee, requires
the IQC to include the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and
Rwandan genocides in the next revision of the
history-social science framework and encourages instruction
in American military conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq,
including Operation Desert Storm.
c) AB 1915 (Nazarian), pending in the Senate, requires the
IQC to include the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan
genocides in the next revision of the history-social
science framework.
d) AB 1912 (Holden), pending in the Senate, requires the
SBE to consider including instruction on the election of
President Barack Obama and the significance of the United
States electing its first African American President, in
the History-Social Science Framework, as appropriate, in
the next adoption cycle.
Analysis Prepared by : Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081