This past week saw a number of sudden political maneuvers to try and address several significant policy issues related to the school district budget reserve cap, teacher tenure, charter school authorization, and fiscal transparency. It appears a confluence of political dynamics are driving these developments (including the State Superintendent race in 2018, the political future of Senate leader Kevin de Leon, labor/management fights over tenure, and typical horse trading/leveraging).

Teacher Tenure and School District Budget Reserve Cap Deal?

Early in the week, Assembly Member Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond), with the support from the California Teachers Association (CTA), amended AB 1164 to force a compromise on expanding teacher tenure and changing the school district budget reserve cap. However, the compromise did not have input from education management organizations and they responded with strong and immediate opposition.

The bill attempts to force a compromise by merging two seemingly unrelated policy issues, both of which were already being addressed in legislation. AB 1164 included provisions of Assembly Member O’Donnell’s (D – Long Beach) AB 235 (changes to the budget reserve cap) as well as provisions to expand teacher tenure protections as an alternative to Assembly Member Weber’s (D – San Diego) AB 1220. Weber’s bill would expand the two-year probationary period to three years for certain teachers. Thurmond’s bill would also expand teacher probation to three years, but with conditions more amenable to CTA. Assembly Member Thurmond is a candidate for State Superintendent in 2018 and backed by CTA.

Despite the sudden flurry of activity on the issue early in the week, both AB 1164 and AB 1220 were held in the Senate Education Committee as two-year bills with the authors committing to continue working with stakeholders on the teacher tenure provisions. However, we wouldn’t discount a scenario where CTA attempts a last-minute play in the final weeks of legislative year (late-August/early September).

Two Competing Amendments to the Budget Reserve Cap

Even though the initial attempt to fuse teacher tenure and budget reserve cap changes fizzled, two other bills (SB 751 and AB 235), which propose competing amendments to the current budget reserve cap, were passed by the Senate and Assembly Education Committees unanimously, and with little discussion. The issue is far from settled, as was acknowledged by the authors of both bills. The politics of the issue remain the same: CTA will not be okay with changes to the reserve cap without getting something in return. Stay tuned…

Legislature-Authorized Charter School

Another bill that received last-minute amendments was AB 1217 (Bocanegra), a bill sponsored by Eli Broad and backed by Senate leader Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles). The bill would create a state school for STEM (grades 6-12) with governance provisions identical to what is required for charter schools. The bill is opposed by labor and education groups, which express concern over the precedent the bill would create, whereby charter school operators could circumvent the local districts, the county office of education, and State Board of Education and have the Legislature authorize a school to locate anywhere in the state. Senator Pan (D-Sacramento) voiced serious concerns, but ultimately voted with his caucus to support the bill, as it was clear the Senate Leader was ensuring the bill’s passage. The only member to vote against the bill was Senator Connie Leyva (D-Chino), who is not aligned with Senate leader Kevin de Leon.

While AB 1217 appears destined to pass the Senate, its fate is less clear on the Assembly side (where it must return for at least a concurrence vote), as the Assembly Speaker is rumored to have issues with the bill, as does Assembly Education Committee Chair Patrick O’Donnell. We also anticipate Assembly Member Thurmond will be opposed to the bill, as Eli Broad is expected to be a financial backer of Thurmond’s opponent for State Superintendent, Marshall Tuck.

School Start Time

Senator Portantino’s bill to require middle and high schools start no earlier than 8:30 AM passed the Assembly Education Committee after heated debate and over the objections from the chair (with a vote of 5-2). SB 328 now heads to the Appropriations Committee where its costs will be considered. It remains unclear whether the Appropriations Committee will pass the bill, and if it does, what the Governor’s disposition towards the bill might be if it reaches his desk.

Fiscal Transparency

Assembly Member Shirley Weber’s AB 1321 to enhance transparency around school funding was passed by the Senate Education Committee after the author agreed to amendments that removed the most controversial provisions of the bill, specifically requiring the disaggregated reporting of LEA-level and schoolsite expenditures by the three components of the Local Control Funding Formula: base, supplemental, and concentration grants. The bill is co-sponsored by Children Now and Education Trust West.

Other Bills of Interest

Following is a summary of the actions on other bills of interest.

Charter Schools

• AB 1528 (Acosta) – Virtual or online charter schools: average daily attendance: report.
  This bill extends by three years the authority of a virtual or online charter school to continue claiming independent study attendance for a pupil who moves outside of the geographic boundaries of the school for the remainder of the pupil’s course or school year, whichever is less.
  Action: Passed 5-1

Curriculum and Instruction

• AB 491 (Muratsuchi) – California Civil Liberties Public Education Act.
  This bill establishes the framework for the use of funds provided in the 2017 Budget Act for the administration of the California Civil Liberties Public Education grant program by the State Librarian to educate the public regarding the history and the lessons of the World War II exclusion, removal, and detention of persons of Japanese ancestry, and of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that have been carried out against other communities.
  Action: Passed 6-1
• SB 135 (Dodd) – Pupil instruction: media literacy: model curriculum.
  Requires the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) to develop, and the State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt, reject, or modify, a model curriculum in media literacy.
  Action: Passed 6-0

Facilities

• AB 1082 (Burke) – Transportation electrification: electric vehicle charging infrastructure: schools.
  This bill requires an electrical corporation to propose a program for the installation of electric charging stations at public or private school facilities, to be approved or modified by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).
  Action: Passed as Amended 7-0
• SB 541 (Allen) – School facilities: school facility water capture practices.
  Requires the California Department of Education (CDE), the State Water Resources Control Board, the regional water quality control boards, and the Division of State Architect within the Department of General Services to consult and recommend best design and use practices that include school facility storm water and dry weather runoff capture practices that can generally be applied to all new, reconstructed, or altered public schools, including school grounds.
  Action: Passed 7-0

Governance / Operations

• AB 1217 (Bocanegra) – Pupil instruction: state school: STEM instruction.
  This bill establishes a state school for instruction in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in Los Angeles County, governed by a nonprofit public benefit corporation and overseen by the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI).
  Action: Passed as Amended 6-1
• SB 596 (Stern) – Civics education: Student Empowerment Commission.
  Establishes the Student Empowerment Commission to provide opportunities for high school pupils to engage in local and state policy-making.
  Action: Passed 7-0

Human Resources

• AB 45 (Thurmond) – California School Employee Housing Assistance Grant Program.
  This bill requires the California Department of Housing and Community Development to administer the California School Employee Housing Assistance Program, a predevelopment grant and loan program, to fund the creation of affordable housing for school district employees and teachers.
  Action: Passed 5-2
• AB 1220 (Weber) – Certificated school employees: permanent status.
  This bill extends the probationary period up to three years for certificated employees in school districts and teachers in county offices of education with an ADA greater than 250 pupils.
  Action: Not Heard – Held in Committee
• AB 1399 (Nazarian) – Teacher credentialing: recognition of study in genocide, atrocities, and human rights.
  Would authorize the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to convene a workgroup to advise the commission on the establishment of program standards for the issuance of a recognition of study in genocide, atrocities, and human rights for holders of a single subject teaching credential and would authorize the commission to add this recognition of study to the single subject teaching credential of a teacher who meets the program standards established by the workgroup.
  Action: Passed 7-0
• SB 494 (Hueso) – Language arts: reading: grant program.
  Establishes the Golden State Reading grant program for the purpose of assisting local educational agencies (LEAs) in ensuring that all students meet reading standards and language progressive skills by the end of grade 3.
  Action: Passed 5-1
• SB 731 (Newman) – Public school employees: military veterans: leave of absence for illness or injury.
  Grants certificated employees who are a member or veteran of the California National Guard or reserve component of the federal military with a disability rating of 30% or more, 10 days of paid leaves of absence to undergo medical treatment; and, grants classified employees who are a member or veteran of the California National Guard or reserve component of the federal military with a disability rating of 30% or more, 12 days of paid leaves of absence to undergo medical treatment.
  Action: Passed 7-0

School Finance

• AB 235 (O’Donnell) – School finance: school district annual budgets: reserve balances.
  This bill adds a minimum fund balance in the Public School System Stabilization Account to the conditions that must be met for the cap on school district reserves to be triggered and exempts small (ADA less than 1,501) and basic aid school districts from the reserve cap requirement.
  Action: Passed 7-0
• AB 448 (Daly) – Local governments: parcel taxes: notice.
  Modifies the process for notifying non-residents about the passage of local parcel taxes by doing the following: (1) clarifies that the notice must be sent to a property’s owner of record; (2) requires that the notice be sent within 30 days of the date of certification of the election in which voters approve the parcel tax; (3) directs that for school and special district parcel tax elections, the notice must be sent by the county, city, or city and county in which the school or special district is located. The school or special district must reimburse the city, county, or city and county for any costs incurred in preparing or mailing the notice, and; (4) states that the local agency, not the legislative body of the local agency, is responsible for mailing the notice.
  Action: Not Heard – Bill Pulled from Hearing by Author
• AB 1164 (Thurmond) – School district annual budgets and certificated school employees.
  This bill: (1) extends the probationary period up to three years for certificated employees in school districts and teachers in county offices of education (COEs) with an ADA greater than 250 pupils, and; (2) increases the cap on school district reserves, changes the conditions that must be met for the cap to be triggered, and exempts school districts with fewer than 2,501 ADA and basic aid school districts from the cap.
  Action: Not Heard – Held in Committee
• AB 1321 (Weber) – Education finance: fiscal transparency.
  This bill requires the SPI, the State Controller, and the Director of Finance to: (1) ensure that per-pupil expenditures by fund source and type are included in the federal state report card for each LEA and each school in the state, and; (2) establish the methodology for requiring each LEA and each school to calculate their expenditures of Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) base, supplemental, and concentration grants for state and local reporting purposes.
  Action: Passed as Amended 7-0
• SB 328 (Portantino) – Pupil attendance: school start time.
  Provides that the schoolday for middle schools and high schools shall begin no earlier than 8:30 a.m.
  Action: Passed 5-2
• SB 527 (Galgiani) – Education finance: local control funding formula: home-to-school transportation: cost-of-living adjustment.
  Establishes a statutory annual cost-of-living adjustment for K-12 transportation funding.
  Action: Passed 7-0; Consent
• SB 751 (Hill) – School finance: school districts: annual budgets: reserve balance.
  Modifies provisions related to the local school district budget reserve cap by doing the following: (1) raises the cap from two times the minimum reserve requirement (6% for most districts) to 17% for all districts; (2) narrows the application of the cap from the combined assigned and unassigned balances to only the unassigned balances, and; 3) exempts basic aid districts and districts with fewer than 2,501 average daily attendance from the cap.
  Action: Passed 7-0

School Safety

• AB 692 (Chu) – Schoolbuses: passenger restraint systems.
  This bill requires the governing board of a school district to complete an inventory of their school buses, including whether they have passenger restraint systems, and requires the CDE, the CHP, and any other appropriate or necessary entities, to formulate a plan to get all school buses equipped with restraint systems by January 1, 2023.
  Action: Passed 7-0; Consent

Student Services

• AB 254 (Thurmond) – Local Educational Agency Behavioral Health Integration Pilot Program.
  This bill requires the Department of Health Care Services, in cooperation with the CDE, to establish the LEA Behavioral Health Integration Pilot Program to provide grants to schools to improve the delivery of direct behavioral health services to students.
  Action: Passed 7-0
• AB 699 (O’Donnell) – Educational equity: immigration and citizenship status.
  This bill provides instructions to LEAs on how to respond to federal immigration enforcement activities on or around school grounds. This bill also emphasizes that discrimination based on immigration status is prohibited within California’s K-12 public schools.
  Action: Passed 7-0
• AB 705 (Irwin) – Seymour-Campbell Student Success Act of 2012: matriculation: assessment.
  This bill requires community college districts to maximize the probability that a student will enter and complete transfer-level coursework in math and English within a one-year timeframe through the use of multiple measures to achieve this goal.
  Action: Passed as Amended 7-0
• AB 766 (Friedman) – Foster youth.
  This bill prohibits the California Community Colleges and California State University from considering supervised independent living placement payments when determining a minor foster youth’s eligibility for a waiver of tuition or fees, or any other financial aid, extends eligibility for extended foster youth payments to minor dependents whose placement is a college dormitory in which the youth is living independently, and authorizes extended foster youth payments to be made directly to a minor dependent whose placement is a college dormitory in which the youth is living independently.
  Action: Passed as Amended 7-0; Consent
• ACR 102 (Garcia, Eduardo) – Opportunity Youth Reengagement Month.
  Recognizes the month of August 2017 as Opportunity Youth Reengagement Month, and states the intent of the Legislature to encourage the expansion of schools authorized to specifically reengage “opportunity youth” 16 to 24 years of age.
  Action: Adopted 7-0
• SB 138 (McGuire) – School meal programs: free and reduced-price meals: universal meal service.
  Requires the CDE, in consultation with the Department of Health Care Services, to develop and implement a process to use Medi-Cal data to directly certify children whose families meet the income criteria into the school meal program; requires school districts and COEs with high poverty schools to provide breakfast and lunch free of charge to all students at those schools; and, authorizes a school district or COE to opt-out due to fiscal hardship.
  Action: Passed 7-0
• SB 233 (Beall) – Foster children: records.
  Expands the list of caregivers who may access a currently enrolled or former students’ educational records, expands the types of school records which may be accessed, and clarifies the rights and duties of a foster caregiver relative to school records, including the responsibility to notify the educational rights holder of any educational needs requiring the consent or participation of that educational rights holder.
  Action: Passed 7-0; Consent
• SB 257 (Lara) – School admissions: pupil residency: pupils of deported parents.
  Requires a school district to admit a pupil seeking admission, regardless of their residency, if the pupil provides evidence that their parent or guardian has been deported or was permitted to depart voluntarily and that they previously lived in California.
  Action: Passed 6-0
• SB 544 (McGuire) – School districts contracting.
  Requires school districts to award contracts for the provision of child nutrition program supplies to the most responsive and responsible party and would require price to be the primary consideration, but not the only determining factor.
  Action: Passed 7-0; Consent
• SB 557 (Hernandez) – Food donations and pupil meals: schools.
  Authorizes a LEA to minimize food waste and reduce food insecurity by providing sharing tables where specified foods that are not consumed during school meal times can be placed to provide additional helpings to students, and also authorizes the LEA to donate such items to a food bank or other nonprofit charitable organization.
  Action: Passed 7-0; Consent
• SB 730 (Pan) – Pupil nutrition: National School Lunch Act: Buy American provision: compliance.
  Requires the CDE to take specified actions in order to monitor compliance with the federal Buy American provisions for the National School Lunch program.
  Action: Passed 7-0