Published: 2015-07-08
Key Benefits:
(a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program is a comprehensive and rigorous two-year curriculum, leading to examinations for high school pupils. Its objectives are to provide pupils with a balanced education, to facilitate geographic and cultural mobility, and to promote international understanding through a shared academic experience. Successful International Baccalaureate Diploma candidates pursue a specific, intensive, balanced liberal arts course of study and must pass rigorous examinations in seven curricula areas. Successful International Baccalaureate Diploma candidates are typically granted substantial advanced placement credit at the finest colleges and universities in the nation. The academic content and rigor of the instruction and examinations in International Baccalaureate Diploma Programs is governed and continuously monitored by the International Baccalaureate Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to establish a system of appropriate incentives to encourage high schools to offer the intensive, rigorous course of instruction leading to International Baccalaureate Diplomas and to encourage pupils in these schools to enroll in, attempt, and pass the rigorous International Baccalaureate Diploma course of study and the rigorous examinations leading to the International Baccalaureate Diploma.
(c) The Superintendent shall annually update information on the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program available on the department’s Internet Web site. The Superintendent also shall provide support to high schools that offer International Baccalaureate (IB) courses to facilitate communication with the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges, the Academic Senate of the California State University, and the Academic Senate of the University of California about the rigor of those courses and to ensure that college credit is given to pupils who participate so that they benefit from successful efforts in IB programs.
(Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 238, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2012.)
School districts that operate an International Baccalaureate Diploma Program shall submit by October 1 of each school year the following information to the State Department of Education:
(a) The number of pupils enrolled in courses leading to an International Baccalaureate Diploma in each school district.
(b) The number of teachers in each school district attending training programs offered by the International Baccalaureate North America, Inc.
(c) The number of teachers in each school district participating in pre-International Baccalaureate support programs for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program.
(d) The amount of money spent by the school district to provide or participate in the programs specified in subdivisions (a) to (c), inclusive.
(Added by Stats. 1998, Ch. 794, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 1999.)
(a) From funds appropriated for the purpose of this chapter, the Superintendent shall annually allocate to each school district, on behalf of each high school or middle school within the district that offers an International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, the amount of up to twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) for each participating high school and middle school to cover the ongoing costs of professional development required by the program and to help pay the test fees for low- and middle-income pupils in need of financial assistance, in accordance with criteria adopted by the Superintendent.
(b) The amount provided in subdivision (a) shall be increased annually by a cost-of-living adjustment, based on the same percentage increase that is provided to the revenue limits of unified school districts with 2,501 or more units of average daily attendance.
(c) The total amount allocated pursuant to subdivision (a) shall not exceed the total amount of the funds appropriated for those purposes in the annual Budget Act or another statute. If funds are insufficient to fully fund all grants authorized, annual grants shall first be allocated pursuant to subdivision (a) to those schools that were funded in the prior fiscal year and in the amount of the prior fiscal year grant with second priority given to high schools and middle schools that have the highest percentage of pupils from low-income families.
(Amended by Stats. 2008, Ch. 179, Sec. 54. Effective January 1, 2009.)