Governance First: Top 2013-14 bills to watch
Published: April 1, 2014
With the February deadline for bill introduction behind us, we have compiled a list of some of the more interesting new bills that CSBA is following. Not all of them have been reviewed by the CSBA Legislative Committee as of press time. There are more than 4,500 individual bills introduced in the 2013-14 Legislative Session. CSBA is following about 400 of them.
AB 1672 Pupil attendance: truancy
Holden, D-Pasadena
Requires school districts to gather and transmit information to county superintendents and the state superintendent of public instruction related to chronic absenteeism, school attendance review board referrals, and more.
AB 2235 Education facilities: Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2014
Buchanan, D-San Ramon
Enacts the Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2014 to authorize an unspecified amount of state general obligation bonds to provide aid to school districts, county superintendents of schools, county boards of education, charter schools, the California Community Colleges, the University of California, the Hastings College of the Law, and the California State University to construct and modernize education facilities and school district facilities funding. If passed and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, it will go before the voters on Nov. 4, 2014, for approval.
SB 837 Schools: transitional kindergarten
Steinberg, D-Sacramento
Enacts the Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2014, a state-mandated program, to require each school district or charter school that offers kindergarten to offer transitional kindergarten, and would require a child that meets specified minimum age requirements to be admitted to transitional kindergarten.
SB 843 School employees: discipline: dismissal and suspension
Correa, D-Santa Ana
Streamlines the teacher dismissal process for cases involving teacher conduct that could jeopardize student safety by including serious and egregious conduct, as defined, in the list of specified reasons for which a permanent employee may be dismissed, as well as authorizing the governing board of a school district to immediately suspend a permanent employee for specified charges. CSBA is sponsoring this bill.
SB 971 School finance: categorical programs
Canella, R-Ceres
Repeals numerous categorical statutory provisions that are no longer in effect because of the Local Control Funding Formula. CSBA is co-sponsoring this bill.
SB 1021 School districts: parcel taxes
Wolk, D-Vacaville
Provides that special taxes that apply uniformly include any special tax imposed on a per-parcel basis, according to the square footage of a parcel or the square footage of improvements on a parcel, according to the use of a parcel, and at a lower rate on unimproved property. This bill would authorize a school district to treat multiple parcels of real property as one parcel of real property for purposes of a qualified special tax where the parcels are contiguous, under common ownership, and constitute one economic unit.
SB 1137 School transportation: apportionments
Torres, D-Chino
Requires the state superintendent of public instruction, from the 2014-15 fiscal year to the 2019-20 fiscal year, inclusive, to apportion an amount equal to a specified annually increasing percentage of its approved transportation costs for the prior fiscal year or 100 percent of its school transportation apportionment for the prior fiscal year, whichever is greater, to each school district, county office of education, entity providing services under a school transportation joint powers agreement, or regional occupational center or program that provides pupil transportation.
SB 1174 English language education
Lara, D-Long Beach
Repeals Proposition 227, which requires California public schools to teach limited English proficient students in special classes that are taught nearly all in English and further provides that school board members, other elected officials and public school teachers or administrators who will fully and repeatedly refuse to implement its provisions may be held personally liable for fees and actual damages by a pupil’s parent or legal guardian.