BILL NUMBER: AB 252 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 30, 2015
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, as defined. The bill would
require the Superintendent to submit no later than
on or before 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.
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.
one-time costs of establishing or expanding advanced
placement STEM courses, including, but not limited to, teacher
recruitment, professional development, instructional materials,
laboratory materials and supplies, and facilities remodeling.
(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.
application.
(c) A high school district may apply
to the department for grant funding a
maximum of one grant per high school and ten grants per school
district 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 oversubscribed. "Oversubscribed" means demand for
the course exceeds space enrollment by
at least one-half of the number of pupils required for a full class.
(2) The high school has identified pupils from populations
that are underrepresented in STEM courses 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) Grant applications shall be submitted on a form developed by
the Superintendent and shall include, but not necessarily be limited
to, an itemized budget for the establishment or expansion of the
advanced placement STEM course and an agreement to provide the
Superintendent with the data needed for the report required pursuant
to subdivision (f).
(d)
(e) In awarding grants, the department shall give first
priority to applicants with no advanced placement courses in the
STEM curriculum.
(e)
(f) (1) No later than On or
before 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) The
the increase in the number of pupils who have
access to in total, and the number of pupils by gender
and pupil subgroup, as defined in Section 52052, enrolled in
advanced placement courses in the STEM curriculum.
(B) 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.
(f)
(g) 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.
(g)
(h) 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.