BILL NUMBER: AB 252	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


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 introduced, 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 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.  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.
   (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.
   (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) (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 of pupils who have access to advanced placement courses
in the STEM curriculum.
   (B) Success rates 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) 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) 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.