Legislation
Last updated: October 13, 2009
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
STEM Education Task Force
CSTA has been working with the American Chemical Society,
NSTA, and the Hands-On Science Partnership (HOSP) on ways
to engage the California legislature in science, technology,
engineering, and math (STEM) education issues. With ACS taking
the lead, we met with Assemblymember Tom Torlakson’s office
to ascertain his interest in heading up an effort to form
a legislative task force that would increase legislative awareness
about current trends and best practices in STEM subjects and
address the shortage of Californians prepared to enter into
STEM careers. Assemblyman Torlakson introduced a joint resolution,
ACR
88, that would establish the California Task Force on
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education.
The task force would include legislators, K-12 teachers with
STEM-related experience, two- or four-year college educators
with STEM-related expertise, and business or association representatives.
ACR 88 made it out of the Assembly in record time and will
next be heard in the Senate Education Committee sometime in
January. Check back to find out the latest developments for
ACR 88.
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Race to the Top
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan released the outline
of what will likely be the requirements for receiving part
of the $4 billion federal Race to the Top (RTTT) grants to
states. It is estimated that California’s share could be between
$500 million and $1 billion. more
. . .
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The governor vetoed most of the education-related bills
we were following this legislative session. Following is a
recap of some of the most relevant legislation; click on the
link at the bottom of the page for more education-related
legislation.
Content Standards and Frameworks
AB
97 would have required the review and revision of all
subject area content standards but was amended to pertain
only to math and reading/language arts. A later amendment
added a clause requiring a schedule to be developed for the
review of science and history/social science standards. This
bill was virtually identical to one introduced by then-Senator
Torlakson (SB 1097) in the last legislative session, which
was eventually vetoed by the governor. One of the governor's
objections to that bill was that it did not give the governor
the majority of appointments to the commission charged with
reviewing the standards. Although this bill gave the governor
more appointments to the commission, it still did not give
him a majority. The bill was supported by a large number of
education organizations, including CSTA, the earliest and
most visible proponent.
STATUS: The bill passed the Assembly and
both the Senate Education and Appropriations Committees, but
was moved to the inactive file. It may be brought back next year.
Instructional Materials
AB
314 (Brownley) would have made changes to the instructional
materials adoption process. Specifically, the bill would have:
• required the State Board of Education to hold an informational
meeting prior to the meeting where they adopt the materials
• required the reports of findings of the teacher and subject
matter expert panels which review and recommend the materials
to be made public
• required the adopted materials to be accessible for at least
three years after the next adoption
• given districts three years to adopt new materials, instead
of the current two years
• allowed districts to submit names of potential reviewers
to the superintendent, and
• required the superintendent to choose the members of the
review panels via a random lottery
The original bill would have eliminated the role of the Curriculum
Commission from the materials evaluation and recommendation
process, but that element was amended out. The bill was similar
to a bill introduced last year by former Assemblymember Gene
Mullin (AB 2315), which was eventually vetoed by the governor.
CSTA supported some elements of this bill, most particularly
that the recommendations of the teacher review panels be submitted
directly to the State Board of Education without the additional
filter of the Curriculum Commission, but were not supportive
of extending the amount of time that materials are available
to be adopted by districts.
STATUS: The bill passed the Assembly and
the Senate Education Committee but did not make it out of
the Senate Appropriations Committee. It’s not clear whether
it can be revived next year.
Course of Study
SB
471 (Romero) would encourage, but not mandate, that all
education policymakers, including the CDE, the State Board
of Education, the state superintendent, and all institutions
of public education, including postsecondary schools, to advance
the California Stem Cell Education Initiative, developed by
the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM),
which includes broadly educating California’s pupils about
stem cell science and creating pathways for careers in the
stem cell industry. The original bill required the SBE to
include stem cell science in the next science framework and
the UC Regents to include stem cell and biotechnology science
in their professional development programs (such as the California
Science Project), but those provisions were amended out. There
was a tremendous amount of pressure and publicity being applied
to promoting CIRM in general and this bill in particular,
but the bill was significantly watered down from its original
version, now only requiring CDE to include links to CIRM resources
on its website.
STATUS: Signed by the governor.
Testing
AB
476 (Torlakson) would require an independent evaluation
of the STAR program to be conducted. The original bill would
have eliminated the second grade testing requirement but that
provision was amended out. The bill is supported by a large
number of education organizations but is opposed by EdVoice.
CSTA was asked to appear at several committee hearings in
support of this bill. There appeared to be a recognition by
legislators that, with the STAR legislation due to sunset
in 2011, the state needed to evaluate its effectiveness prior
to any reauthorization.
STATUS: Vetoed by the governor.
For
current status of these and other science education-related
bills, see recent legislation.
Full texts of these and other bills can be found at Leg.
Info.
For Senate and Assembly education committees, and to find
your legislator, see Legislators. |
