Under the Dome: Final days of session
Published: September 28, 2012
The 2011-12 legislative session wrapped up during press time, but many bills still await action by Gov. Jerry Brown. The October California School News will have a comprehensive review, but here’s an interim update.
Pension reform
Late in the legislative session, the Legislature’s conference committee on pension reform adopted its report as Assembly Bill 340. Key provisions include:
- A cap on the amount of salary that may be used by new employees to accrue pension benefits (approximately $132,000 for CalSTRS members)
- A requirement that new and some existing employees pay 50 percent of the cost of their pension
- An increase in the retirement age (from 60 to 62 for CalSTRS members) for new employees
The governor signed AB 340 (Furutani, D-Long Beach) on Sept. 12. CSBA took no position on the salary cap and supported most other provisions. Savings from the reforms are estimated at $42 billion to $55 billion for CalPERS and $22 billion for CalSTRS over the next 30 years.
Suspension and expulsion
CSBA shares concerns raised by researchers that certain ethnic student populations are overrepresented in suspension and expulsion data. In adopting positions on the bills, CSBA’s Legislative Committee has balanced the educational needs of these student populations with the economic realities of the times and the additional costs that many of these proposals would create.
AB 1729 Pupil rights: suspension or expulsion: alternatives and other means of correction
Ammiano, D-San Francisco
Authorizes a superintendent or principal to use alternatives to suspension or expulsion that are age appropriate and designed to address and correct the pupil's specific misbehavior.
CSBA position: Neutral
AB 2242 Pupils: grounds for suspension and expulsion
Dickinson, D-Sacramento
Prohibits a superintendent or principal from applying an extended suspension, recommendation for expulsion, or expulsion to a pupil who has only disrupted school activities or otherwise willfully defied school or classroom authorities.
CSBA position: Oppose
AB 2537 Pupil discipline: suspensions and expulsions
Pérez, V.M., D-Coachella
Removes the infraction for violation of the reporting requirement that a school principal notify appropriate law enforcement agencies of certain unlawful acts committed by a pupil that may result in suspension, expulsion or criminal liability of the pupil.
CSBA position: Neutral
SB 1088 Pupils: readmission
Price, D-Los Angeles
Prohibits schools from denying enrollment or readmission to a pupil solely on the basis that he or she has had contact with the juvenile justice system.
CSBA position: Support
SB 1235 Pupils: suspension
Steinberg, D-Sacramento
Authorizes school districts to implement at schools, where the number of pupils receiving off-campus suspensions in the prior year exceeded 25 percent of its enrollment or a numerically significant pupil subgroup of that enrollment, either (a) an evidence-based system of schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports, or (b) other schoolwide strategies that are evidence-based and designed to address school climate in order to create learning environments where teachers can teach and pupils can learn, and to reduce suspensions from classrooms.
CSBA position: Neutral
Teacher evaluation
AB 5 Teachers: best practices teacher evaluation
Fuentes, D-Los Angeles
Would have repealed existing law regarding teacher evaluations, and instead required districts to adopt a best-practices teacher evaluation system that would be implemented through bargaining. CSBA opposed the measure because it would have expanded the scope of bargaining and required union agreement on standards for student achievement and teacher evaluation criteria. AB 5 also would have imposed a costly unfunded mandate. Assembly Member Fuentes dropped AB 5 on Aug. 30 because there was not enough time to address all of the problems identified by CSBA and the large coalition of opponents.
CSBA position: Oppose