BILL NUMBER: AB 2329INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Bonilla FEBRUARY 18, 2016 An act relating to school curriculum. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2329, as introduced, Bonilla. Computer science curriculum: study. The California Council on Science and Technology is a nonprofit corporation organized pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the federal Internal Revenue Code. Existing law provides that the council was established at the request of the Legislature for the specific purpose of offering expert advice to state government on public policy issues significantly related to science and technology. Existing law authorizes school districts that require more than 2 years of mathematics courses for graduation to award mathematics credit for completion of a California State University and University of California approved "category C" computer science course. Existing law requires the California State University and requests the University of California to develop guidelines for high school computer science courses to be approved for purposes of recognition for admission to the California State University and the University of California, respectively, and would encourage the University of California to ensure that computer science courses that satisfy the mathematics subject area requirements for admission build upon fundamental mathematics content provided in courses that align with the academic content standards developed by the Academic Content Standards Commission. This bill would request that the council undertake and complete a study, and submit the study to the Legislature, by January 1, 2018, analyzing the status and impact of recently enacted laws, as specified. The bill would state that the goal of the study is to help the Legislature, through a data-driven review, understand the needs to advance computer science in California's high school curriculum and to move forward with policy that increases computer science education opportunities in high school, leading to an increase in the number of computer science degree holders produced by public postsecondary educational institutions in California. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares both of the following: (1) The California Council on Science and Technology was established by California academic research institutions, including the University of California, the University of Southern California, the California Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and the California State University, and was organized as a nonprofit corporation pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, in response to Assembly Concurrent Resolution 162 (Resolution Chapter 148 of the Statutes of 1988). (2) The council was uniquely established at the request of the Legislature for the specific purpose of offering expert advice to state government on public policy issues significantly related to science and technology. (b) The California Council on Science and Technology is hereby requested to undertake and complete a study, and to submit the study to the Legislature, by January 1, 2018, analyzing the status and impact of recently enacted laws that do both of the following: (1) Authorizes school districts that require more than two years of mathematics courses for graduation to award mathematics credit for completion of a California State University and University of California approved "category C" computer science course. (2) Requires the California State University and requests the University of California to develop guidelines for high school computer science courses to be approved for purposes of recognition for admission to the California State University and the University of California, respectively, and would encourage the University of California to ensure that computer science courses that satisfy the mathematics subject area requirements for admission build upon fundamental mathematics content provided in courses that align with the academic content standards developed by the Academic Content Standards Commission. (c) The goal of the study is to help the Legislature, through a data-driven review, understand the needs to advance computer science in California's high school curriculum and to move forward with policy that increases computer science education opportunities in high school, leading to an increase in the number of computer science degree holders produced by public postsecondary educational institutions in California. (d) The study is requested to focus on, but not be limited to, the implementation of Assembly Bill 1764 (Chapter 888 of the Statutes of 2014) and Senate Bill 1200 (Chapter 518 of the Statutes of 2014), and is requested to include all of the following: (1) The number of schools that require three years of mathematics for graduation requirements. (2) The associated number of schools that have a qualifying computer science course that can satisfy the third year of the mathematics requirement. (3) The number of pupils taking a computer science course identified in paragraph (2). (4) The diversity by gender and ethnicity of those pupils identified in paragraph (3). (5) The number of pupils who took a computer science course identified in paragraph (2), graduated, and went to a postsecondary educational institution. (6) The number of pupils studying or continuing computer science course study at the postsecondary level.