California Assembly Bill AB252 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 252AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2015 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Holden FEBRUARY 9, 2015 An act to add and repeal Section 52245 of the Education Code, relating to pupil instruction. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 252, as amended, Holden. Advanced placement program: grant program: STEM curriculum. Existing law contains legislative findings and declarations stating that advanced placement courses, among other things, help to improve the overall curriculum at schools where they are provided and provide a cost-effective means for high school pupils to obtain college-level coursework experience. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to annually update the information on advanced placement available on the Internet Web site of the State Department of Education to include current information on the various means available to school districts to offer or access advanced placement courses, and to annually communicate with high schools that offer advanced placement courses in fewer than 5 subjects and inform them of the various options for making advanced placement courses and other rigorous courses available to pupils who may benefit from them. This bill, until July 1, 2021, would establish a grant program overseen by the department for purposes of awarding grants to cover the costs associated with a high school establishing or expanding its advanced placement STEM  curriculum ,   curriculum,  as defined. The bill would require the Superintendent to submit no later than July 1, 2021, a specified report to the Legislature describing the effectiveness of the grant program. 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.   (a)     The Legislature finds and   declares all of the following:   (1) According to a 2009 report "Technical Difficulties: Meeting California's Workforce Needs in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Fields," there is a large disparity between the continued workforce demands for degrees in the STEM fields and a continued shortfall of STEM degrees conferred to California's minority population.   (2) Fifty-nine percent of California's African American pupils who have potential to thrive in an advanced placement STEM course do not take the advanced placement STEM course for which they have potential.   (3) Fifty-eight percent of California's American Indian and Alaska Native pupils do not take the advanced placement STEM course for which they have potential.   (4) Fifty-five percent of California's Hispanic or Latino pupils do not take the advanced placement STEM course for which they have potential.   (5) Forty-one percent of California's female pupils do not take the advanced placement STEM course for which they have potential.   (6) More than ninety percent of colleges and universities across the country offer college credit, advanced placement, or both, for qualifying advanced placement examination scores. These credits can potentially save pupils and their families thousands of dollars in college tuition, fees, and textbook costs.   (7) Research shows that pupils who take advanced placement courses are much more likely than their peers to complete a college degree on time. Pupils have the opportunity to dig deeper into subjects that interest them, develop advanced research and communication skills, and learn to tap their creative, problem-solving, and analytical potential.   (8) Advanced placement courses give pupils access to rigorous college-level work. Advanced placement pupils build confidence and learn the essential time management and study skills needed for college and career success.   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to establish an advanced placement STEM Access Grant Program to expand diversity in the STEM field in regards to socioeconomic standing, gender, and race.   SECTION 1.   SEC. 2.  Section 52245 is added to the Education Code, to read: 52245. (a) For purposes of this section, "STEM curriculum" means courses in any of the following subject areas: (1) Biology. (2) Calculus. (3) Chemistry. (4) Computer science. (5) Environmental science. (6) Physics. (7) Statistics. (b) There is hereby established a grant program for the purpose of awarding moneys to cover the costs associated with a high school establishing or expanding its advanced placement STEM curriculum.  Grants shall be administered in accordance with both of the following:   (1) Grant funds may be used for professional development to enable instructors to teach an advanced placement course in the STEM curriculum proposed to be established by the high school.   (2) The grant amount shall be determined based on the cost of the type of advanced placement course in the STEM curriculum, not to exceed eight thousand dollars ($8,000) per grant application, excluding professional development costs.  (c) A high school may apply to the department for grant funding pursuant to this section if all of the following conditions are met: (1) The high school meets either of the following criteria: (A) Does not offer advanced placement courses in the STEM curriculum. (B) Offers advanced placement courses in the STEM curriculum, but those courses are  sufficiently  oversubscribed.  "Oversubscribed" means demand for the course exceeds space by at least one-half of the number of pupils required for a full class.  (2) The high school has identified pupils who have demonstrated they have high potential to be successful in one or more advanced placement courses in the STEM curriculum. The high school may identify pupils using any means it deems appropriate, including, but not limited to, a pupil's score on the preliminary SAT.  (d) In awarding grants, the department shall give first priority to applicants with no advanced placement courses in the STEM curriculum.   (d)   (e)  (1) No later than July 1, 2021, the Superintendent shall submit a report to the Legislature describing the effectiveness of the grant program established pursuant to this section. The Superintendent is encouraged to consult with the College Board in preparing the report pursuant to this subdivision. The report shall include both of the following: (A)  Number   The increase in the   number  of pupils who have access to advanced placement courses in the STEM curriculum. (B)  Success rates   The increase in the number of pupils  in the advanced placement courses in the STEM curriculum that include core demographics, including, but not limited to, gender and race. (2) A report submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.  (e)   (f)  The department shall implement this section only to the extent that moneys are available to the department and the Superintendent for the purposes of this section. The moneys may be derived from any source, including, but not limited to, state funding, federal funding, and nonstate funding sources.  (f)   (g)  This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2021, and, as of January 1, 2022, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2022, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.