At its April 29 meeting, CSBA’s Legislative Committee reviewed and adopted positions on 32 bills that have been introduced in 2016, including Assembly Bill 2429 (Thurmond, D-Richmond), a CSBA co-sponsored bill that would allow school districts to generate greater local revenue to meet facilities needs by amending current restrictions on bond values.
Existing law places a limit on bonds issued by school districts from exceeding a certain percentage of the value of local taxable property. The current limits are 1.25 percent of taxable property value on bonds issued by school or community college districts and 2.5 percent for unified school districts. AB 2429 would raise those limits to 2 percent and 4 percent, respectively.
The Committee has adopted positions on nearly 100 individual bills introduced in 2016, and will continue to meet throughout the year to review additional legislation. The newly adopted positions are listed below.
Additional Legislative Updates:
Smoking age and tobacco-related legislation – Last week, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a package of legislation that makes sweeping changes to the use of cigarettes and tobacco products, including SBX2-7 (Hernandez, D-Azusa), which raises the minimum age for purchase of tobacco products (including electronic cigarettes) from 18 to 21, with an exemption for active military.
Part of this package is ABX2-9 (Thurmond, D-Richmond and Nazarian, D-Los Angeles), which broadens existing tobacco-free campus laws to cover all school properties, directs the CDE to require that all school districts, COEs and charters receive funding to adopt and enforce tobacco-free policies, and includes electronic cigarettes in the definition of tobacco products. Part of the program includes posting of signage declaring all school grounds as smoke-free areas.
As this package of bills was approved in a special session of the Legislature, these new provisions will take effect in 90 days. CSBA Policy Services is reviewing the legislation package and will issue related policy updates if necessary.
Some of the positions on the bills listed below may change as amendments are made. View a full, current list of bills from the 2015-16 legislative session with an impact on education.
There are several positions CSBA may take on a bill. They are:
SUPPORT: Actively pursue and lobby for passage of the bill
SUPPORT AND SEEK AMENDMENTS: Support and seek appropriate amendments as directed by the Legislative Committee, Board of Directors or Executive Committee
SUPPORT IF AMENDED: Support only if appropriate amendments are placed in the bill, as directed by the Legislative Committee, Board of Directors or Executive Committee
APPROVE: Approve in concept but not actively lobbied
OPPOSE: Actively pursue and lobby for defeat of the bill
OPPOSE UNLESS AMENDED: Actively pursue and lobby for defeat of the bill if it is not amended appropriately as directed by the Legislative Committee, Board of Directors or Executive Committee
DISAPPROVE: Disapprove in concept but not actively lobbied
NEUTRAL: Existence of the bill is noted, but no action is taken
AB 1643 (Gonzalez) - Workers’ compensation: permanent disability apportionment
AB 1643 would provide, notwithstanding any other law, for injuries occurring on or after Jan. 1, 2017, that the impairment ratings for breast cancer and the aftereffects of the disease, known as sequelae, shall in no event be less than comparable ratings for prostate cancer and its sequelae. The bill would also prohibit apportionment of permanent disability, in the case of a physical injury occurring on or after Jan. 1, 2017, from being based on pregnancy, menopause, osteoporosis, or carpal tunnel syndrome. The bill would also prohibit apportionment of permanent disability, in the case of a psychiatric injury occurring on or after Jan. 1, 2017, from being based on psychiatric disability or impairment caused by any of those conditions.
Issue Area(s): Strengthen local governance, Secure fair funding
CSBA Position: Oppose
AB 1935 (Kim) - Local Control and Accountability Plans: posting in different languages
AB 1935 requires school districts and county superintendents of schools to post Local Control and Accountability Plans and updates and revisions to the LCAPs to their website in English and each primary language other than English spoken by at least 15 percent of the pupils enrolled. It also requires the California Department of Education to post links to each version of the approved LCAP. This amended version also requires a charter school to similarly post the annual update of goals and actions to achieve those goals in English and languages for students representing 15 percent or more with a single other primary language.
Issue Area(s): Achievement for All
CSBA Position: Oppose Unless Amended
AB 2063 (Gallagher) Work-based learning opportunities: work experience education and job shadowing
Existing law authorizes a school district to offer work experience education, and requires a pupil to be at least 16 years of age to receive credit for completing a work experience education program, except under specified circumstances. Existing law specifies that a pupil may participate in a job shadowing experience for a maximum of 25 hours in a specified period. AB 2063 would authorize work experience education credit to be granted to a pupil who is at least 14 years of age if the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled certifies that it is necessary for the pupil's participation in a career technical education program, and would also authorize a pupil to participate in a job shadowing experience for up to 40 hours in a specified period if the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled certifies that it is necessary for the pupil's participation in a career technical education program.
Issue Area(s): Achievement for All
CSBA Position: Support
AB 2091 (Lopez) - Special education: individualized education programs: translation services
Existing law requires local educational agencies to identify, locate, and assess individuals with exceptional needs and to provide those pupils with a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment, with special education and related services as reflected in an individualized education program. Existing law requires a local education agency to initiate and conduct meetings for the purposes of developing, reviewing, and revising the individualized education program of each individual with exceptional needs in accordance federal law. Existing law requires the local education agency to take any action necessary to ensure that the parent or guardian understands the proceedings at a meeting, including arranging for an interpreter for parents or guardians with deafness or whose native language is a language other than English.
AB 2091 would require a local education agency to also provide translation services for a pupil's parent, guardian, or educational rights holder, as specified. The bill would require the local education agency to provide a pupil's parent, guardian, or educational rights holder with a translated copy of the individualized education program, any revisions to the individualized education program, and any document discussed at an individualized education program team meeting in the parent's, guardian's or educational rights holder's primary language within 30 days of that meeting. Furthermore, the bill would require the documents to be translated by a qualified translator, as defined, who is proficient in both the English language and the non-English language to be used. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program
Issue Area(s): Improve Conditions of Children
CSBA Position: Oppose Unless Amended
AB 2197 (Garcia) - Unemployment insurance: classified employees
AB 2197 would delete the prohibition on the payment of unemployment benefits to education employees of a public school, other than teachers, researchers and administrators, as specified, between two academic years. The bill would phase in up to eight weeks of benefits available to those specified employees over a four-year timeframe and would make conforming changes, including eliminating the provisions for payment of unemployment benefits to these employees at specified schools. Because this bill would expand the categories of people who could receive benefits from the Unemployment Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, it would make an appropriation.
Issue Area(s): Strengthen local governance, Secure fair funding
CSBA Position: Oppose
AB 2237 (Olsen) - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Partnership Academies
Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary education, with instruction provided by school districts at schoolsites throughout the state. The California Department of Education, under the administration of the superintendent of public instruction, has numerous duties with respect to the funding and conduct of the instructional activities undertaken by school districts. AB 2237 would establish a program for purposes of providing grants to school districts for the establishment of up to 100 partnership academies dedicated to training young people in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics occupations.
Issue Area(s): Achievement for All
CSBA Position: Support
AB 2329 (Bonilla) - Computer science strategic implementation plan
AB 2329 would require the California Department of Education to establish, on or before July 1, 2017, a computer science strategic implementation advisory board, composed of 20 members, as specified, to report necessary legislative changes related to computer science education to the department and the state board on or before Jan. 1, 2018, and to submit recommendations for a computer science strategic implementation plan to the department and the state board on or before March 1, 2018. The bill would require CDE and the SBE to consider the advisory board's recommendations and the recommendations of the commission specified above, to develop and adopt a computer science strategic implementation plan, and to submit the plan to the Legislature on or before Jan. 1, 2019. The bill's provisions would be repealed on Jan. 1, 2021.
Issue Area(s): Achievement for All
CSBA Position: Support
AB 2336 (Olsen) - Special education: substitute teachers
AB 2336 would, until Jan. 1, 2022, authorize a person holding a valid emergency 30-day substitute teacher permit to serve as a substitute in a special education classroom for up to 40 consecutive schooldays when specified conditions are met. The bill would require an employing authority to report annually to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, specifying whether the employing authority employed any permit holders pursuant to these provisions and, if so, the number of permit holders employed pursuant to these provisions and the length of time they were employed. By imposing additional duties on local education agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would make conforming changes and nonsubstantive changes. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.
Issue Area(s): Strengthen local governance, Achievement for all
CSBA Position: Support
AB 2429 (Thurmond) - School district and community college district bonds
Existing law authorizes the governing board of any school district or community college district to order an election and submit to the electors of the district the question of whether the bonds of the district shall be issued and sold to raise money for specified purposes. Existing law generally requires, to pass a school bond measure, that either at least 2/3 of the votes cast on the proposition of issuing bonds be in favor of issuing the bonds to pass the measure, or, if certain conditions are met, at least 55 percent of the votes cast on the proposition of issuing bonds be in favor of issuing the bonds.
Existing law prohibits the total amount of bonds issued by a school district or community college district from exceeding 1.25 percent of the taxable property of the district, only if the tax rate levied to meet specified requirements of the California Constitution in the case of indebtedness incurred by a school district, at a single election, would not exceed $30 per year per $100,000 of taxable property, as specified. This bill would raise that limit to 2 percent.
Existing law also authorizes a unified school district to issue bonds receiving at least 55 percent of the votes cast on the proposition of issuing the bonds that, in aggregation with bonds issued with a 2/3 favorable vote, do not exceed 2.5 percent of the taxable property of the district, but only if the tax rate levied to meet specified requirements of the California Constitution in the case of indebtedness incurred by a school district, at a single election, would not exceed $60 per year per $100,000 of taxable property, as specified. This bill would raise that limit to 4 percent. The bill would make a similar percentage increase for community college districts.
Issue Area(s): Secure Fair Funding
CSBA Position: Co-sponsor
AB 2489 (McCarty) - Pupil rights: restorative justice practices
Existing law requires suspension to be imposed on a pupil only when other means of correction fail to bring about proper conduct, and specifies that other means of correction may include, among other things, participation in a restorative justice program. AB 2489 would require the California Department of Education to consult with school-based restorative justice practitioners and others to identify best practices, to evaluate the implementation of restorative justice practices in school districts, to develop standard models or recommendations for effective implementation, and to post the standard model or models or recommendations on the department's website.
Issue Area(s): Improve Conditions of Children
CSBA Position: Support and seek amendments
AB 2519 (Calderon) - School safety plans
Existing law expresses the intent of the Legislature for all public schools teaching kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, operated by a school district, to develop, in cooperation with specified community partners, a comprehensive school safety plan, as defined. AB 2519 would express the intent of the Legislature to also include coaches among the community partners. The bill would also express the intent of the Legislature to expand the scope of the safety plan.
Issue Area(s): Improve Conditions of Children
CSBA Position: Support
AB 2536 (Chau) - Pupil discipline and instruction: sexting
Existing law prohibits the suspension of a pupil from school or the recommendation of a pupil for expulsion from school unless the school district superintendent or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed any of several specified acts, including, but not limited to, engaging in acts of bullying by means of an electronic act. AB 2536 would include engaging in an act of sexting, as defined, as an act of bullying by means of an electronic act for which a pupil may be suspended or expelled from school. Current law also requires school districts to ensure that all pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, receive comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education, as specified. Under the act, this instruction includes, among other things, information about sexual harassment, sexual assault, adolescent relationship abuse, intimate partner violence, and sex trafficking.
AB 2536 would require this instruction to additionally include information about sexting, as defined, as specified. By imposing additional duties on school districts, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Issue Area(s): Achievement for All
CSBA Position: Support if Amended
AB 2546 (Calderon) - Pupil Instruction: history-social science curriculum framework: financial literacy
Existing law requires the adopted course of study for grades 1 to 6, inclusive, and for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to offer courses in specified areas of study, including social sciences. Existing law establishes the Instructional Quality Commission and requires it to, among other things, recommend curriculum frameworks to the State Board of Education. Existing law requires the SBE, concurrently with, but not prior to, the next revision of textbooks or curriculum frameworks in the social sciences, health, and mathematics curricula, to ensure that these academic areas integrate components of, among other things, financial literacy. AB 2546 requires that, when the history-social science curriculum framework is revised after Jan. 1, 2017, the IQC include specified content on financial literacy. This bill contains other existing laws.
Issue Area(s): Achievement for All
CSBA Position: Approve
AB 2548 (Weber) - Statewide school accountability system
AB 2548 requires the State Board of Education to adopt a statewide accountability system that both satisfies the accountability system requirements of the recently-enacted federal Every Student Succeeds Act and aligns California's local control framework with the need to identify, support, and improve California's highest need schools.
Issue Area(s): Strengthen Local Governance
CSBA Position: Disapprove
AB 2680 (Bonilla) - Parent engagement support and services plans
Existing law states various legislative findings and declarations, including that it is essential to our democratic form of government that parents and guardians of schoolage children attending public schools and other citizens participate in improving public education institutions, that specifically involving parents and guardians of pupils in the education process is fundamental to a healthy system of public education, and that family and school collaborative efforts are most effective when they involve parents and guardians in a variety of roles at all grade levels, from preschool through high school. This bill would, subject to one-time funding being provided for purposes of this act in the annual Budget Act, require local education agencies, including county offices of education, charter schools, alternative education programs and schools, and state special schools, that elect to participate in family, parent, guardian, and pupil engagement support and services to develop, implement, and, once adopted, post to its website, a strategic plan, as provided.
Issue Area(s): Achievement for All
CSBA Position: Support
AB 2681 (O’Donnell) - Public education: California College Promise Grant Program
Existing law authorizes the governing board of a community college district to enter into a College and Career Access Pathways partnership with the governing board of a school district with the goal of developing seamless pathways from high school to community college for career technical education or preparation for transfer, improving high school graduation rates, or helping high school pupils achieve college and career readiness. Existing law requires the partnership agreement to outline the terms of the partnership, as specified, and to establish protocols for information sharing, joint facilities use, and parental consent for high school pupils to enroll in community college courses. These provisions are repealed on Jan. 1, 2022. AB 2681 would establish the California College Promise Grant Program, until Jan. 1, 2022, to be administered by the superintendent of public instruction and the chancellor of the California Community Colleges, subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act for this purpose, to provide planning grants to eligible school districts and community college districts to establish CCAP partnerships. The bill would authorize the SPI and the chancellor to establish the grant application process and the criteria for determining the amount of each grant. The bill would set the maximum grant amount under this program at $25,000.
Issue Area(s): Achievement for All
CSBA Position: Support
AB 2698 (Weber) - School accountability: school climate and restorative justice: assessments
Existing law establishes the Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999 to, among other things, ensure that each child in California receives a high-quality education consistent with all statewide content and performance standards, as specified. AB 2698 would require high-need schools, as defined, to complete a school climate assessment, by July 1, 2018, as specified. Every assessed school would be required to take steps to ensure that responses to school climate assessments remain anonymous and that no individual is identified. The bill would require these schools to publish the results of the assessment on their websites, provided that personally identifiable information or information that can reasonably lead a reader to identify an individual is not shared.
Issue Area(s): Conditions of Children; Achievement for all
CSBA Position: Support if Amended
AB 2738 (Olsen) - School bonds: local school bonds: investment
The California Constitution limits the maximum amount of any ad valorem tax on real property to 1 percent of the full cash value of the property. The California Constitution states that the 1 percent limitation for ad valorem taxes does not apply to ad valorem taxes or special assessments to pay the interest and redemption charges on bonded indebtedness incurred by a school district, community college district, or county office of education for the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of school facilities approved by 55 percent of the voters if the proposition includes specified accountability requirements. Existing law requires the proceeds of the sale of the bonds, exclusive of any premium received, to be deposited in the county treasury to the credit of the building fund of the school district, or community college district as designated by the California Community Colleges Budget and Accounting Manual. This bill would prohibit the proceeds from the sale of bonds from being withdrawn by the school district or community college district for investment outside the county treasury.
Issue Area(s): Strengthen Local Governance; Secure Fair Funding
CSBA Position: Oppose
AB 2785 (O’Donnell) - Special Education: English learners: manual
Existing law requires local educational agencies to actively and systematically seek out all individuals with exceptional needs, from birth to 21 years of age, inclusive, including children not enrolled in public school programs, who reside in a school district or are under the jurisdiction of a special education local plan area or a county office of education. AB 2785 would require the California Department of Education, on or before July 1, 2018, to develop a manual providing guidance to local education agencies on identifying and supporting English learners who qualify for special education services, as specified, with the goal of providing state guidance to educators on the identification and support of English learners with disabilities and to promote a collaborative approach among teachers, school administrators, other personnel, and parents in determining the most appropriate academic placements and supports for these pupils.
Issue Area(s): Conditions of Children; Achievement for All
CSBA Position: Support
AB 2845 (Williams) - School safety: Safe Place to Learn Act
Existing law states the policy of the state of California to afford all persons in public schools, regardless of their disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other specified characteristic, equal rights and opportunities in the educational institutions of the state. Existing law, the Safe Place to Learn Act, requires the California Department of Education, as part of its regular monitoring and review of a local education agency, to assess whether the LEA has, among other things, adopted a policy that prohibits discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying, as specified, and has publicized that policy to pupils, parents, employees, agents of the governing board, and the general public. AB 2845 would express legislative findings and declarations relating to pupils who are subject to verbal, physical, and online harassment. The bill would add the support of Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, Sikh, and South Asian pupils or the support of other pupils who may face bias or bullying to the matters the CDE is required to assess with respect to local educational agencies, as referenced above. This bill contains other existing laws.
Issue Area(s): Improve Conditions of Children; Achievement for All
CSBA Position: Support
AB 2862 (O’Donnell) - Pupil instruction: visual and performing arts: revision of content standards
Existing law requires the State Board of Education, on or before June 1, 2001, to adopt content standards in the curriculum area of visual and performing arts pursuant to recommendations developed by the superintendent of public instruction. AB 2862 would authorize the SPI to recommend revisions to the VAPA content standards to the SBE and would require the board to adopt, reject, or modify the recommendations on or before Jan. 1, 2019. The bill would require the state board to explain, in writing, to the Governor and the Legislature the reasons for modifying the recommended of experts in visual and performing arts for purposes of assisting the SPI in developing the recommendations. The bill would require the SPI to hold a minimum of 2 public hearings in order for the public to provide input on the recommendations. The bill would require that revisions to the visual and performing arts content standards be incorporated into the curriculum framework and the evaluation criteria for visual and performing arts for purposes of adopting instructional materials.
Issue Area(s): Achievement for All
CSBA Position: Support
AB 2864 (Chau) - Pupil instruction: Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882; Geary Act of 1892
Existing law requires the California Department of Education to incorporate materials relating to civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources for teacher use, consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science and other requirements. Under existing law, the Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness oral testimony into the teaching of human rights, genocide, and the Holocaust. Existing law establishes the Instructional Quality Commission and requires the commission to, among other things, recommend curriculum frameworks to the State Board of Education. This bill would encourage all state and local professional development activities to provide teachers with content background and resources to assist them in teaching about the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Geary Act of 1892 and other specified laws relating to the discrimination against, and mistreatment of, Chinese and other minority groups. The bill would require those laws be considered in the next cycle in which the history-social science curriculum framework and its accompanying instructional materials are adopted.
Issue Area(s): Achievement for All
CSBA Position: Approve
SB 66 (Leyva) - Career technical education
Existing law establishes various career technical education programs, including regional occupational centers and programs, specialized secondary programs, partnership academies, and agricultural career technical education programs. Existing law provides for numerous boards, bureaus, commissions, or programs within the Department of Consumer Affairs that administer the licensing and regulation of various businesses and professions. SB 66 would require DCA to make available, only to the extent specified, to the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, any licensure information that the department has in electronic format for its boards, bureaus, commissions, or programs for the sole purpose of enabling the office of the chancellor to measure employment outcomes of students who participate in career technical education programs offered by the California Community Colleges and recommend how these programs may be improved.
Issue Area(s): Achievement for All
CSBA Position: Support
SB 527 (Liu) - Education finance: Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Planning Grants
SB 527 would specify the administrative duties and responsibilities of CDE with respect to the administration, subject to an appropriation in the Budget Act of 2016 or another measure enacted during the 2015-16 Regular Session of the Legislature, of Safe Neighborhoods and Schools planning grants to local educational agencies, as defined. The bill would set forth criteria to guide the department in awarding planning grants under the program, and would specify the purposes for which the planning grant funds may be used.
Issue Area(s): Improve Conditions of Children
CSBA Position: Support
SB 1041 (Hueso) - Energy: electric and gas rates: public elementary and secondary schools
Existing law authorizes the California Public Utilities Commission to fix rates, establish rules, examine records, issue subpoenas, administer oaths, take testimony, punish for contempt, and prescribe a uniform system of accounts for all public utilities, including electrical and gas corporations, subject to its jurisdiction. (Article 12 of the California Constitution). Existing law also requires that all charges demanded or received by any public utility for any product, commodity or service be just and reasonable, and that every unjust or unreasonable charge is unlawful. (Public Utilities Code section 451)
This bill directs each investor-owned utility to develop and submit to the CPUC for its approval a rate for service applicable to public elementary and secondary schools that is just and reasonable and reflects the cost of providing service to those schools. This bill makes a number of findings and declarations, including that it is the intent of the Legislature that the CPUC, in reviewing and approving the IOU rates applicable to public elementary and secondary schools, act according to the cost-causation principle. This bill requires each publicly-owned utility to develop and submit to its governing board for its approval a rate for service applicable to public elementary and secondary schools that is just and reasonable and reflects the cost of providing service to those schools.
Issue Area(s): Strengthen Local Governance
CSBA Position: Support
SB 1050 (de Léon) - Postsecondary education: college readiness
Existing law establishes certain block grants to be apportioned to a school district or charter school for specified purposes. SB 1050 establishes the K-12 College Readiness Block Grant for the purposes of preparing California’s high school pupils, particularly pupils who are traditionally underrepresented in the University of California and the California State University, to be eligible for admission into a postsecondary institution, and increasing the 4-year-college-going rates of these pupils. This program would be contingent on the appropriation of funding for its purposes in the annual Budget Act or another statute.
Issue Area(s): Achievement for All
CSBA Position: Support
SB 1145 (Hueso) - Language arts: reading: diagnostic tools and plans
The Comprehensive Reading Leadership Program Act of 1996 authorizes county offices of education to apply to the State Board of Education to design a reading leadership program and develop materials that focus on reading skills, including phonics.
SB 1145 would require the SBE, on or before Dec. 31, 2017, to identify formative reading diagnostic tools that can be used by the public schools to assess pupils ' developmental levels of reading proficiency in grades 1 to 3, inclusive, in their ability to read proficiently by the end of grade 3 and to post a list of those diagnostic tools on the department's website. The bill would require, on or before the beginning of the 2018-19 school year, public schools that enroll pupils in grades 1 to 4, inclusive, and at which less than 50 percent of 4th grade pupils demonstrate proficiency on English language arts standards on the statewide assessment administered the previous school year, to ensure that each pupil's reading proficiency is measured using at least one of the formative reading diagnostic tools identified above.
Finally, SB 1145 would require any pupil who does not have an appropriate developmental reading level, as provided, to have a reading plan to be created in collaboration with the pupil's parent and teacher. The reading plan must contain certain elements and be reviewed at least annually by the school and updated or revised as appropriate. By expanding the duties of a public school, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.
Issue Area(s): Achievement for All
CSBA Position: Oppose
SB 1156 (Huff) - School accountability: Open Enrollment Act: low-achieving schools
Commencing with the 2017-18 school year, the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, requires the state to identify schools for comprehensive support and improvement pursuant to specified accountability system requirements. SB 1156 amends the Open Enrollment Act by replacing the Academic Performance Index with new eligibility criteria for identifying low-achieving schools. Specifically, the bill provides that a low-achieving school is either a school that is identified by the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) or the State Board of Education (SBE) for comprehensive support and improvement, as specified, or a school that is receiving mandatory assistance by the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.
Issue Area(s): Achievement for All
CSBA Position: Oppose
SB 1225 (Mendoza) - Teachers: Teacher Bill of Rights Act
Existing law specifies numerous rights and protections for teachers employed by school districts. SB 1225 would require the principal of each school in a school district to ensure that a conspicuous notice that describes certain teacher rights and protections and that is accessible to all teachers is posted in a common area of the administrative offices and in each classroom. By imposing additional duties on school district officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that its provisions are declaratory of existing law and that they shall not be construed as to establish any right not otherwise provided for under state or federal law. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.
Issue Area(s): Strengthen Local Governance
CSBA Position: Oppose
SB 1288 (Leno) - Elections: local voting methods
Existing law provides procedures for the election of candidates for elective offices in cities, counties, and local educational agencies. Existing law specifies the circumstances in which voters in these jurisdictions may elect officers at large or from or by district. Existing law prescribes the length of various terms of office for locally elected officials. This bill would authorize a city, county, or local education agency to conduct an election using ranked choice voting, in which voters rank the candidates for office in order of preference, as specified. This bill would specify the procedures for conducting an election using ranked choice voting as it applies to both a single-winner election and a multiple-winner election.
Issue Area(s): Strengthen Local Governance
CSBA Position: Approve
SB 1309 (Leyva) - Pupil discipline: suspension and expulsion hearings: county schools
Existing law requires the governing board of each school district to establish rules and regulations governing procedures for the expulsion of pupils including, but not limited to, an expulsion hearing and a right to appeal. SB 1309 would prohibit a school operated by a county office of education from expelling a pupil accused of certain offenses without a hearing before an impartial administrative panel. The bill would authorize a pupil expelled from a school operated by a county office of education to appeal the administrative panel's decision to the county board of education. By imposing new duties upon county boards of education, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.
Issue Area(s): Improve Conditions of Children
CSBA Position: Support
SB 1343 (Wolk) - Pupils: interdistrict transfer of pupil convicted of violent felony or misdemeanor
Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary education in this state. Existing law establishes school districts throughout the state and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at the elementary and secondary schools they operate and maintain. Existing law provides for the governance of these school districts through elected school district governing boards. SB 1343 would authorize school district governing boards to transfer to another school in that school district pupils enrolled in that school district who have been convicted to of violent felonies, as defined, or designated misdemeanors if the pupil to be transferred and the victim of the crime for which the pupil was convicted are enrolled at the same school.
Issue Area(s): Improve Conditions of Children
CSBA Position: Support