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Bills on the Move
In addition to Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg’s new bill addressing teacher layoff issues, there are several important bills up for consideration in committee hearings next week. These bills address class size reduction penalties, high school graduation requirements, and online education. Here are summaries of a few of these bills.
Finance SB 1161 (Lowenthal D) Education: school finance. Summary: Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998, provides the funding for the new construction and modernization of school facilities. A procedure is provided for school districts to apply for funding school construction or modernization pursuant to this act. This bill would require the Office of Public School Construction to notify the board if certified eligibility or funding application information is found to contain a material inaccuracy and would delete the exception from the prohibition for the district's repayment. The bill would require the board to set forth the reasons for its decision regarding both the prohibition on self-certification and the term of the prohibition, if applicable, in a regularly scheduled public meeting.
SB 1396 (Lowenthal D) Education funding: maximum categorical education flexibility pilot program. Summary: Existing law establishes various categorical education programs and appropriates the funding for those programs in the annual Budget Act. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, for the 2008-09 to 2012-13 fiscal years, inclusive, to apportion from the amount provided in the annual Budget Act for specified categorical education programs an amount based on the same relative proportion that the local educational agency received in the 2008-09 fiscal year for those programs and authorizes school districts, for those fiscal years, to use these funds, with specified exceptions, for any educational purpose, to the extent permitted by federal law. Existing law, for those fiscal years, deems local educational agencies that use these categorical education program funds for any educational purpose to be in compliance with the program and funding requirements of those categorical education programs. This bill would establish the three-year Maximum Categorical Education Flexibility Pilot Program in which three school districts would be selected to participate. To be eligible for selection, a school district would be required to meet certain preconditions, including developing a plan or initiative to accelerate pupils' progress to proficiency that includes specified goals. A school district selected to participate would be required to agree to demonstrate significant progress toward accelerating pupils' progress toward proficiency on California's academic standards over the three-year pilot project period, a narrowing of the achievement gap in its federally recognized subgroups, fiscal solvency, positive growth on the district API, improvement in its college entrance rate, and an increase in its graduation rate.
Curriculum & Instruction AB 2027 (Blumenfield D) Online education: school attendance. Summary: Existing law establishes the public elementary and secondary school system in this state, and further establishes a funding system pursuant to which the state apportions funds to local educational agencies based on the average daily attendance of pupils at the schools operated by those agencies. Numerous statutes and regulations govern the calculation and reporting of average daily attendance. This bill, commencing with the 2012-13 fiscal year, would provide that school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools that offer online education courses may claim attendance toward average daily attendance on the basis of a pupil's attendance in an online class or classes that satisfy prescribed criteria.
AB 2446 (Furutani D) Graduation requirements. Summary: Existing law prohibits a pupil from receiving a diploma of graduation from high school unless he or she completes specified requirements, including, but not limited to, completing one course in visual or performing arts or foreign language. This bill, commencing with the 2011-12 school year and until July 1, 2016, would add completion of a course in career technical education, as defined, as an alternative to the requirement that a pupil complete a course in visual or performing arts or foreign language. The bill would require the California Department of Education to report to the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2015, the number of pupils who took a career technical education course in order to fulfill this graduation requirement.
Human Resources AB 1651 (De La Torre D) Public Employees' Retirement Law: furloughs: retirement credit. Summary: The Public Employees' Retirement Law provides retirement benefits based upon a member's final compensation and years of credited service. That law provides that members in the personal leave program shall receive credit for service that would have been credited had the employee not been in the personal leave program. This bill would provide that the calculations for retirement allowances, under the Public Employees' Retirement Law, for specified local safety members and persons who are employees of specified educational entities and who are subject to mandatory furloughs shall include, as credit for service and compensation, the amount of service and compensation that would have been credited and paid had the employee not been subject to mandatory furloughs on or after July 1, 2008, as specified.
AB 1665 (Swanson D) School employees: scope of representation. Summary: Existing law gives public school employee organizations the right to represent their members in their employment relations with public school employers, and limits the scope of representation to matters relating to wages, hours of employment, and other terms and conditions of employment, as defined. Existing law provides that subjects other than those specified may not be included as part of collective bargaining. This bill would require public school employers to give reasonable written notice to the exclusive representative of classified personnel of a public school employer's intent to make any change to matters within the scope of representation, including, but not necessarily limited to, start time. The bill would also require public school employers to provide a recognized employee organization with the opportunity to meet and negotiate with the public school employer. The bill would require, in cases of emergency when the public school employer determines that a rule, policy, or procedure must be adopted immediately, that the public school employer give this notice and opportunity to meet and negotiate at the earliest practicable time following the adoption of the rule, policy, or procedure.
SB 1285 (Steinberg D) Education employment. Summary: Existing law requires the county superintendent of schools to visit and examine each school in his or her county at reasonable intervals to observe its operation and learn of its problems. Existing law requires that these visits be conducted for specified purposes relating to school safety, pupil instruction, and the accuracy of specified data. This bill would additionally require that these visits determine the extent to which the percentage of teachers in each school who are in their first or 2nd year of teaching exceeds or falls below the percentage of teachers in the district who are in their first or 2nd year of teaching, as specified
Miscellaneous AB 1982 (Ammiano D) Charter schools. Summary: The Charter Schools Act of 1992 authorizes any one or more persons to submit a petition to the governing board of a school district to establish a charter school that operates independently from the existing school district structure as a method of accomplishing specified goals. The act limits the maximum number of charter schools authorized to operate in the 1998-99 school year to 250, and authorizes an additional 100 charter schools to operate in each year thereafter. This bill would limit, until January 1, 2017, the maximum total number of charter schools authorized to operate in the state to 1,450. The bill would prohibit charter schools operated by a private entity from employing relatives of charter school personnel, as specified. Editor's Note: Andrew Keller is a Policy Consultant for Governmental Solutions Group, LLC, a policy consulting and legislative advocacy firm. |
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