Legislative Update: Start time bill remains in Assembly; CSBA cosponsored bills in Assembly for concurrence
Published: August 29, 2018
Senate Bill 328 (Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge), the CSBA-opposed bill prohibiting middle and high schools in non-rural school districts from beginning regular classes before 8:30 a.m., remains on the Assembly Floor and is expected to be heard before the end of the legislative session on Fri., Aug. 31.
Calls to Assemblymembers’ Capitol offices remain critical to ensure that the bill does not advance out of the Assembly.
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Read more at www.csba.org/starttime.
Pathways to College Act sent to Governor
Assembly Bill 1951 (O’Donnell, D-Long Beach), known as the Pathways to College Act, passed the Senate on Tuesday with 38 “Yes” votes and zero “No” votes and two members not recording a vote. Today, the Assembly concurred in the Senate amendments and sent the bill to the Governor’s desk. The bill now awaits a concurrence vote in the Assembly and, once concurred, would head to the Governor’s desk. This CSBA cosponsored bill would allow LEAs the flexibility to administer an alternate assessment (such as the SAT or ACT) for 11th grade students in place of the Smarter Balanced Summative Test, if the alternate test is has been approved by the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
AB 3192 (O’Donnell, D-Long Beach) also passed the Senate Tuesday on a 38-0 vote and awaits a concurrence vote in the Assembly. AB 3192 would require the California Department of Health Care Services to, by Jan. 1, 2020, prepare and distribute a fiscal and compliance audit guide for the LEA Medi-Cal Billing Option. The bill is also cosponsored by CSBA
The CSBA cosponsored AB 2808 (Muratusuchi, D-Torrance) has also passed the Senate on a 39-0 vote and is going back to the Assembly for concurrence. As significantly amended earlier in August, AB 2808’s language now states that, “it is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation providing that, beginning in the 2019–20 fiscal year, the state shall begin to provide increases to the LCFF to address the existing inequities in per-pupil funding and fund California K–12 public schools at a level that is equal to, or above, the average of the top 10 states nationally by 2025.” The amended version of the bill does not add to or amend the Education Code, and does not raise the LCFF base grant targets, as was the original intent of the bill.
Charter school transparency bill unlikely to advance to Governor’s desk
AB 276 (Medina, D-Riverside), which would require charter school adherence to the Brown Act, Public Records Act, Political Reform Act of 1974 and Government Code 1090, has been moved to the Senate Inactive File and is unlikely to be heard and sent to the Governor before the session ends on Friday. As the legislative session progressed, there emerged a lack of consensus over certain components of the bill – specifically, over how the bill would define “entity managing a charter school.” Without agreement on this definition, the bill lacked the support necessary to secure a signature from Gov. Brown, who like his predecessor, has previously vetoed similar charter school transparency measures. AB 276 is cosponsored by CSBA.
Bills headed to the Governor: For-profit charters, medical cannabis, school safety plans, media literacy
Bills passed by the Legislature this week and sent to Gov. Brown include:
AB 406 (McCarty, D-Sacramento) specifically prohibits any charter school from being operated by a for-profit entity or operating as a for-profit enterprise. CSBA Position: Support
SB 1127 (Hill, D-San Mateo) would allow a parent or guardian to administer medical cannabis in a non-
smoking and non-vaping form (i.e. oil, capsules, tinctures or similar) to their child on school grounds, if the child is a qualified cannabis patient with a doctor’s recommendation. Parents would be required to bring the cannabis medicine with them to administer to their child on campus (in a non-disruptive manner), and to take it with them after administering the dose; the medicine would not be permitted to be left on school grounds. The bill would allow governing boards to choose whether to opt-in to allowing medical cannabis on their campuses (boards would also have the ability to opt-out for any reason), and would not require any LEA staff to handle or administer medical cannabis. CSBA Position: Support
AB 1747 (Rodriguez, D-Pomona) would address many of the recommendations from a 2017 California State Auditor report, which found a number of challenges schools are facing in preparing for and responding to incidents of school violence, including active shootings. AB 1747 increases the California Department of Education's responsibilities relating to school safety plans, and requires better consultation between school districts, school sites and first responders. The bill also includes a requirement that charter schools develop school safety plans, as specified. This bill will ensure that all schools are better able to address safety issues and better respond to emergencies and threats in in and around school sites. CSBA Position: Support
SB 947 (Jackson, D-Santa Barbara) and SB 830 (Dodd, D-Napa) both address media literacy. SB 830 requires the development and adoption of a model curricula in media literacy and directs CDE to make resources and materials on media literacy available on its website. SB 947 creates a process by which pupils, parents, guardians, teachers, librarians, school administrators, and community representatives can engage in an ongoing discussion on safe media and technology use, with the goal of establishing digital citizenship, internet safety, and media literacy as part of the state’s basic educational goals and essential academic learning requirements. CSBA Position: Support (both bills)
Additional bills passed by the Legislature and on the Governor’s desk:
AB 1861 Rodriguez - Pupil instruction: human trafficking: use of social media and mobile device applications – CSBA Position: Support
AB 2128 Kiley - School employees: dismissal or suspension: hearings: evidence – CSBA Position: Support
AB 2949 Gloria - Pupil residency: pupils of military families – CSBA Position: Support
AB 3022 Gonzalez Fletcher - Retroactive grant of high school diplomas: departed and deported pupils – CSBA Position: Support
AB 1766 Maienschein - Swimming pools: public safety – CSBS Position: Approve
AB 1871 Bonta - Charter schools: free and reduced-price meals – CSBA Position: Support
AB 2022 Chu - Pupil mental health services: school notification – CSBA Position: Neutral
AB 2121 Caballero - Pupil instruction: coursework and graduation requirements: migratory children and newly arrived immigrant pupils – CSBA Position: Support
AB 2291 Chiu - School safety: bullying – CSBA Position: Support
AB 2601 Weber - Pupil instruction: sexual health education: charter schools – CSBA Position: Support
AB 2639 Berman - Pupil suicide prevention policies: reviews: updates – CSBA Position: Support
AB 2691 Jones-Sawyer - Pupil health: pupil and school staff trauma: Trauma-Informed Schools Initiative – CSBA Position: Support
AB 2735 O'Donnell - English learners: participation in standard instructional program – CSBA Position: Support
SB 972 Portantino - Pupil and student health: identification cards: suicide prevention hotline telephone numbers – CSBA Position: Support
SB 1019 Beall - Youth mental health and substance use disorder services – CSBA Position: Support
SB 1244 Wieckowski - Public records: disclosure – CSBA Position: Neutral
SB 1428 McGuire - Minors: employment: work permits - CSBA Position: Support
Education and labor budget trailer bills on the move this week
AB 1833 and SB 846, nearly identical budget trailer bills on employment, were amended late last week to prevent current and future claims and actions by public employees for fair share fees permitted and paid prior to June 27,. 2018 - the date of the Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME. After receiving approval by the budget committees, the bills – which also contain additional unrelated provisions – await action on the floor in each house, with one likely going to the governor before the end of the week. If signed by the governor, the bill would take effect immediately.
Identical education budget trailer bills AB 1840 and SB 874 are also moving along the same track, amended quickly and moved to votes on the floors of both houses. Each bill contains more than 100 pages of budget cleanup, fine tuning the allocations and language to a number of K-12 and community college programs, extending the deadline for districts to comply with child safety alert systems on school buses, allowing four school districts with remaining balances on their emergency loans to sell or lease surplus property to reduce or eliminate those loans and making changes to the statutes governing emergency loans.