Under the Dome - October 2005 

As of Sept. 9, the final day of the legislative session for this year, 152 bills that CSBA was either tracking or had taken a position on made it to the governor’s desk. As we go to press, 29 have been chaptered (written into law), six vetoed and 117 are still awaiting action by the governor. So far only one bill that CSBA supported has been vetoed: SB 166 (Soto, D-Pomona), which would have allowed governing boards to approve charter school renewals for a period of from two to four years instead of the current five years. Included in the bills sent to the governor are four bills that were sponsored or co-sponsored by CSBA.

AB 682: Professional Development Block Grant
Escutia, D-Whittier
This bill would modify the funding distribution formula for the Professional Development Block Grant, established by AB 825 (Firebaugh) in 2004. The bill bases funding for the block grant on the amount of funding districts received in 2003-04 instead of on the number of teachers employed by the district. This remains consistent with the intent of AB 825, which was to increase local flexibility but not affect funding levels.

CSBA Position: Co-sponsor
Status: To the governor

SB 12: Nutritional Standards
Escutia, D-Whittier
Beginning in July 2007, this bill establishes fat, sugar and calorie standards for food items sold outside of the federal meal program. The standards will only apply to foods sold during the school day and on campus, such as a la carte items or items from vending machines and student stores, and would not apply to foods that students bring from home or at after-school events.

CSBA Position: Co-sponsor
Status: Signed by the governor

SB 657: Instructional materials
Escutia, D-Whittier
This bill is a reintroduction of SB 1380 (Escutia), which CSBA sponsored in 2004 and was then vetoed by the governor. The bill would require the state Board of Education to adopt instructional materials recommended by a school district or county office of education, unless the state board finds within 180 days that the materials do not meet specified criteria.

CSBA Position: Sponsor
Status: To the governor

SB 970: Charter schools: declining enrollment
Perata, D-Oakland
This bill would restore the protection districts lack under the current declining enrollment formula when students move back and forth between a district school and a charter school, by allowing districts to base the adjustment to the declining enrollment formula on the net loss in average daily attendance to charter schools. Additionally, if a pupil attends a district-sponsored charter school for as little as one day in the current year, state law requires that the district subtract that pupil’s full ADA from its prior-year ADA for declining enrollment purposes. SB 970 would limit that subtraction to the fraction of ADA claimed by the charter school in the current year.

CSBA Position: Co-sponsor
Status: To the governor

None of the bills opposed by CSBA advanced to the governor. Following are some of the bills CSBA opposed that were held in the Legislature:

AB 1253: High school graduation requirements
Coto, D-San Jose
Beginning with the 2008-09 school year, this bill would have required all students to complete the courses required for admittance to the California State University and the University of California in order to graduate from high school.

CSBA Position: Oppose
Status: Held in Assembly Appropriations Committee

AB 1685: Agriculture education
Klehs, D-San Leandro
This bill would have prohibited the slaughter of any agriculture animal on school grounds. The bill also would have deleted the exemption that agriculture programs currently have from the requirement to offer students alternatives to participating in educational programs that involve the harmful or destructive use of animals. The current exemption for agricultural education programs protects animal husbandry practices taught at the high school level from being labeled as harmful and destructive.

CSBA Position: Oppose
Status: Held on Assembly Floor

SB 535: Charter schools
Runner, R-Antelope Valley
This bill included several provisions that CSBA supported such as requiring charter schools to abide by appropriate open meeting and notice laws and requiring charter schools to forward cumulative and health files to a pupil’s new school if the child is expelled or leaves the charter school without completing the school year. However, CSBA was opposed to a provision in the bill that would have allowed charter schools to be renewed for between five and 15 years.

CSBA Position: Oppose unless amended
Status: Assembly Education Committee

SB 660: Pupil Interrogation
Kuehl, D-Santa Monica
This bill would have required a school principal to immediately seek the consent of a student’s parent, guardian or responsible relative prior to making the student available to a peace officer for questioning, and would prohibit making the student available for questioning if the parent, guardian or responsible relative requests that the student not be questioned until he or she can be present. The bill would have permitted a school official, selected by the student, to be present at the questioning if school officials are unable to contact a parent, guardian or responsible relative. Finally, the bill would have required a secondary school principal, prior to making a student available for formal questioning by a peace officer, to inform the student of his or her right to have a parent, guardian, responsible relative or a school staff member selected by the student present during the questioning.

CSBA Position: Oppose
Status: Held on Assembly Floor

SB 767: Proposed Mayoral Takeover of LAUSD
Romero, D-Los Angeles
This bill would have changed the governance of the Los Angeles Unified School District from a board elected by the community to one controlled by the mayor of Los Angeles. The bill would have provided a mechanism for the school district to be deemed an “educational failure” and the governing board and the superintendent to be appointed by the mayor of the city of Los Angeles.

CSBA Position: Oppose
Status: The bill was voted out of the Senate Education Committee on Aug. 24, however Sen. Romero committed to the members that she would not move the bill further this year and would hold interim hearings on the issue this fall.

SB 844: Charter schools: alternative authorizers
Poochigian, R-Fresno
This bill would have allowed institutions of higher education (University of California, California State University, community college districts and accredited private California universities) to receive the authority from the state Board of Education to authorize charter school petitions. The bill would also have allowed parents to bypass local school boards and apply directly to the SBE to convert an existing “underperforming” school to a charter school.

CSBA Position: Oppose
Status: Held in Senate Education Committee