Bill Text: CA SB302 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Instructional materials: social content reviews.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2011-08-17 - Hearing postponed by committee. [SB302 Detail]
Download: California-2011-SB302-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 302 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 13, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 31, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 3, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 25, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Senator Yee
FEBRUARY 14, 2011
An act to add Section 60054 to, and to add and repeal
Section Sections 60050 and 60053 of, the
Education Code, relating to instructional materials.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 302, as amended, Yee. Instructional materials: social content
reviews.
Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt basic
instructional materials for use in kindergarten and grades 1 to 8,
inclusive. Existing law requires the state board, in reviewing and
adopting instructional materials, to use specified criteria, and
ensure that, in its judgment, the submitted basic instructional
materials meet all of the specified criteria, including, but not
limited to, compliance with the specified requirements and guidelines
for social content.
This bill would require the state board to adopt regulations to
govern the social content reviews conducted at the request of a
publisher or manufacturer of instructional materials outside the
primary instructional material adoption processes
process . The bill would require the state board
to inform the Chairperson of the Assembly Committee on Education, the
Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Education, and the
Superintendent of Public Instruction of content that it interprets to
be the result of certain changes made to the Texas Administrative
Code. The bill would authorize the State Department of
Education to contract with agents to conduct the specified social
content reviews and require the department to assess a fee for the
review that meets specified requirements, including notice to
publishers and manufacturers. The bill would also require the
state board to inform the Chairperson of the Assembly Committee on
Education, the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Education, and
the Superintendent of Public Instruction of content that it
interprets to be the result of certain changes made to the Texas
Administrative Code. The bill would repeal these provisions on
January 1, 2017.
This bill would require the state board, upon the next adoption of
the history-social science curriculum framework, to ensure that the
framework is consistent with specified provisions governing
instructional materials.
This bill would also make specified findings and declarations.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The State Board of Education, among its other
responsibilities, is charged with adopting statewide academic content
standards in core and other curriculum areas.
(b) Despite other shortcomings in education funding, California
has some of the highest academic content standards in the United
States.
(c) Section 51204.5 of the Education Code requires instruction of
social sciences to include the early history of California and a
study of the role and contributions of both men and women, Black
Americans, American Indians, Mexicans, Asians, Pacific Island people,
and other ethnic groups to the economic, political, and social
development of California and the United States of America, with
particular emphasis on portraying the role of these groups in
contemporary society.
(d) Section 60040 of the Education Code requires the governing
boards, when adopting instructional materials for use in schools, to
include only instructional materials that accurately portray the
cultural and racial diversity of our society, including the
contributions of both men and women in all types of roles, including
professional, vocational, and executive roles, as well as the role
and contributions of Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican
Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans, and members of other
ethnic and cultural groups to the total development of California and
the United States, and finally, the role and contributions of the
entrepreneur and labor in the total development of California and the
United States.
(e) Section 60043 of the Education Code requires governing boards,
when adopting instructional materials for use in schools, to
require, when appropriate to the comprehension of pupils, that
textbooks for social science, history, or civics classes contain the
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United
States.
(f) Section 60044 of the Education Code prohibits a governing
board from adopting instructional materials for use in schools that
contain any matter reflecting adversely upon persons because of their
race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, handicap, or
occupation, as well as any sectarian or denominational doctrine or
propaganda contrary to law.
(g) On March 12, 2010, the Texas State Board of Education, which
consists of 15 elected members statewide, voted to adopt revisions to
their social studies curriculum for the 2010-11 school year
(formally referred to as revisions to Texas Administrative Code,
Title 19, Chapter 113, Subchapters A-C, and Texas Administrative
Code, Title 19, Chapter 118, Subchapter A).
(h) It is widely presumed that the proposed
changes to Texas' social studies curriculum will have a national
impact on textbook content because Texas is the second largest
purchaser of textbooks in the United States, second only to
California.
(i) As proposed, the The revisions
are a sharp departure from widely accepted historical teachings that
are driven by an inappropriate ideological desire to influence
academic content standards for children in public schools.
(j) The proposed changes in Texas, if
subsequently reflected in textbooks nationwide, pose a serious threat
to Sections 51204.5, 60040, 60041, 60043, and 60044 of the Education
Code, as well as a threat to the apolitical nature of public school
governance and academic content standards in California.
SEC. 2. Section 60053 6005 0
is added to the Education Code, to read:
60053. 60050. (a) The state board
shall adopt regulations to govern the social content reviews
conducted at the request of a publisher or manufacturer of
instructional materials outside the primary instructional material
adoption processes process . A social
content review is intended to determine compliance with Sections
51204.5, 60040, 60041, 60042, 60043, 60044, 60048,
60200.5, and 60200.6, and the guidelines for social content adopted
by the state board.
(b) The state board shall inform the Chairperson of the Assembly
Committee on Education, the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on
Education, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction of content
that it interprets is the result of changes to the Texas
Administrative Code, Title 19, Chapter 113, Subchapters A-C, and
Texas Administrative Code, Title 19, Chapter 118, Subchapter A, that
were approved on May 21, 2010, once per year during years in which
social content reviews are conducted pursuant to this section.
(c)
(b) (1) For purposes of this section, social content
reviews of instructional materials shall be conducted by the
department or its agents for all instructional materials, as defined
in subdivision (h) of Section 60010.
(2) The department may contract with agents to conduct social
content reviews pursuant to this section.
(d)
(c) The department shall assess a fee on a publisher or
manufacturer in an amount that does not exceed the reasonable costs
to the department to conduct social content reviews pursuant to this
section. The publishers and manufacturers shall be provided notice of
the establishment of the fee.
(e)
(d) Revenue derived from fees charged pursuant to
subdivision (d) (c) shall be budgeted
as reimbursements and subject to review through the annual budget
process, and may be used to pay costs associated with the social
content review of instructional materials.
(f)
(e) This section shall remain in effect only until
January 1, 2017, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later
enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2017, deletes or
extends that date.
SEC. 3. Section 60053 is added to the
Education Code , to read:
60053. (a) The state board shall inform the Chairperson of the
Assembly Committee on Education, the Chairperson of the Senate
Committee on Education, and the Superintendent of content that it
interprets is the result of changes to the Texas Administrative Code,
Title 19, Chapter 113, Subchapters A-C, and Texas Administrative
Code, Title 19, Chapter 118, Subchapter A, that were approved on May
21, 2010, once per year during years in which social content reviews
are conducted pursuant to Section 60050.
(b) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2017, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2017, deletes or extends
that date.
SEC. 3. SEC. 4. Section 60054 is
added to the Education Code, to read:
60054. Upon the next adoption of the history-social science
curriculum framework, the state board shall ensure the framework is
consistent with provisions governing instructional materials,
including, but not limited to, Sections 51204.5, 60040, 60041, 60042,
60043, 60044, 60048, 60200.5, and 60200.6.
