This past Wednesday (March 25) was the first Assembly Education Committee hearing for the new chair, Assembly Member Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach). The committee continues to be smaller than in the past with only seven members (five Democrats, two Republicans). In prior years there have been up to 13 members. While the hearing was substantive, the policy hearings at this early stage are interesting because many of the education stakeholder groups have yet to take formal positions on the bills before the committee.

Interesting Politics Make for Liberal Committee – One of the most remarkable things for us was the realization of just how liberal this committee is likely to be this year. The only two Republicans on the committee were voting with Democrats more often than not. Assembly Members Rocky Chavez (R-San Diego) and Young Kim (R-Fullerton) each have their respective next elections in mind. For Chavez, he is likely to run for retiring U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer’s open seat in 2016. Already viewed as a moderate Republican, it looks like Chavez is distancing himself from his traditional Republican base by moving more to the middle. For Assembly Member Kim, she is expected to have a hard re-election battle against the woman she unseated in November 2014, former Democratic Assembly Member Sharon Quirk-Silva. Quirk-Silva has pledged to run again in 2016 – a presidential election cycle that tends to favor Democrats. She is raising money and actively campaigning in the community. Kim’s legislative district has a Democratic voter registration advantage (37% – Democrat and 35% – Republican).

Summary of Major Debate – Some of the more interesting debate and testimony centered around bills related to the recognition of our state’s diversity. There was a lot of emotional debate around bills like AB 101 (Alejo) mandating that all schools with grades 7-12 offer Ethnic Studies as an elective, AB 30 (Alejo) which would prohibit all public schools from using the term “Redskin” as an athletic team name or mascot, and AB 146 (Garcia, C.) which requires the State Board to consider including instruction on the deportation of citizens and lawful permanent residents of the U.S. to Mexico during the Great Depression in the next revision to the state’s history-social science framework. AB 207 (Grove), a bill that would have given online charter schools greater freedom to enroll students in nearby counties was defeated after heated debate. It was the only bill to fail passage.

Finally, for those of us who knew John Mockler, AB 158 (O’Donnell) was an appropriate and touching tribute to the legendary school finance genius. The bill effectively re-names Chapter 2 of the Education Code the “John B. Mockler School Finance Act.” Those provisions implement Proposition 98, the voter-approved school funding formula that was essentially written by Mockler in the late 1980s. The bill hearing enjoyed some colorful reflection from those that testified on the impact John Mockler had on school finance and policy over the past few decades. Mockler served in several high-ranking positions in both the State Senate and Assembly. He also served as the Executive Director of the State Board of Education, as well as a short stint as Governor Gray Davis’ Secretary of Education, which Mockler jokingly referred to as the “Reign of John the Brief.” He will be missed.

What’s Next? Most of the bills that passed out of committee will head to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. With Legislators on Spring Break this week, committees will resume next Wednesday (April 8).

Following is a full review of the committee’s actions (titles are linked to the bill):

AB 7 (Bonta) Public schools: Larry Itliong Day
Designates October 25 of each year as Larry Itliong Day, and encourages public schools to recognize it as a day of special significance. Larry Itliong was a California labor organizer in the 1930’s through 1970’s, helped organize the Delano table grape boycott in the 1960’s, and was the Assistant Director of the United Farm Workers under Cesar Chavez.
Action: Passed as Amended 7-0

AB 30 (Alejo) School athletic team names: California Racial Mascots Act
Establishes the California Racial Mascots Act and prohibits, beginning January 1, 2017, all public schools from using the term “Redskins” for school or athletic team names, mascots, or nicknames. Amended in committee to strike the provision authorizing the use of the term “Redskins” if authorized by a tribe with jurisdiction over the school boundaries.
Action: Passed as Amended 7-0

AB 63 (Bonilla) School safety programs: funding
Requires the CDE to apply to the DMV for the purpose of creating a specialized license plate program to generate funds for school violence prevention programs. Amendments were technical.
Action: Passed as Amended 6-0

AB 101 (Alejo) Pupil instruction: ethnic studies
Requires the development of a model curriculum in ethnic studies, establishes an advisory committee on ethnic studies, and requires that all school districts serving students in grades 7-12 students offer ethnic studies as an elective course.
Action: Passed 6-1

AB 141 (Bonilla) Teacher credentialing: beginning teacher induction programs
Requires a school district or county office of education (COE) to provide a beginning teacher induction program and prohibits a school district or COE from charging a beginning teacher a fee to participate in the induction program. Amended in committee to clarify that charter schools are included in the provisions of the bill.
Action: Passed as Amended 6-0

AB 146 (Garcia, C.) Pupil instruction: social sciences: deportations to Mexico
Requires the State Board of Education to consider including content on the deportation of citizens and lawful permanent residents of the U.S. to Mexico during the Great Depression in the next revision of the history-social science framework and related materials.
Action: Passed 6-0

AB 158 (O’Donnell) School finance: The John B. Mockler School Finance Act
Provides that Chapter 2 of the Education Code shall be known as, and may be cited as, the John B. Mockler School Finance Act.
Action: Passed 7-0

AB 163 (Williams) Teaching credential: American Indian language-culture credential
Renames the existing “American Indian languages credential” as the “American Indian language-culture credential.” Requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to issue an American Indian language-culture credential upon recommendation by the tribal government of a federally recognized Indian tribe in California.
Action: Passed 6-0

AB 207 (Grove) Virtual or online charter schools: average daily attendance
Authorizes virtual or online charter schools to claim independent study average daily attendance for pupils who are residents of a county that is 125 miles or less from the county in which the apportionment claim is reported.
Action: Failed Passage 2-4

AB 220 (Holden) Pupil instruction: mathematics: algebra
Allows students to meet the graduation requirement that one of the two mathematics courses required for graduation be Algebra 1, or a course of equal rigor, that is aligned to the state content standards, by completing the course Mathematics 1. Amended in committee to (1) provide that a pupil who has completed a course that met the content standards for Algebra 1 as they read on June 30, 2011 has satisfied the graduation requirement and (2) retain the option to complete Algebra 1 or Mathematics 1 through “a combination of courses.”
Action: Passed as Amended 6-0

AB 224 (Jones-Sawyer) Pupils: educational liaison for foster children
Requires the CDE, in collaboration with the Foster Youth Education Task Force, to develop a standardized notice of existing educational rights of foster children. Amended in committee to (1) require that complaint process information be included in the notice, (2) require consultation with the State Foster Care Ombudsperson in the development of the notice and (3) require the notice include both education and other rights specific to youth in foster care in a single document.
Action: Passed as Amended 6-0

AB 292 (Santiago) Pupil nutrition: free or reduced-price meals: adequate time to eat
Declares that the CDE specifies adequate time to eat school lunch as 20 minutes after being served, and specifies that upon annual review of the bell schedule, if a school determines that it is currently not providing pupils with adequate time to eat, the school, in consultation with the district, shall identify ways to increase pupils’ time to eat. Amended in committee to (1) clarify that the requirement applies only to lunch, (2) specify that schools ‘shall make available’ to their pupils adequate time to eat, and (3) to specify that if a school determines it is currently not providing adequate time, a school, in consultation with the district, shall identify and develop a plan to increase pupil’s time to eat.
Action: Passed as Amended 5-1

AB 331 (Levine) School district governing boards: reduction of membership
Authorizes elementary school districts to have three-member governing boards, as specified, and authorizes county committees on school district organization to establish three- member school district governing boards pursuant to a process specified in existing law. Amended in committee to (1) remove provision that requires elementary school districts that have three board members and more than 300 ADA in the preceding year to either increase its board membership to five by its own action or submit the question to the voters and (2) make the provision apply only to school districts with fewer than 300 ADA.
Action: Passed as Amended 6-0

AB 377 (Linder) Examination fees: AP and IB Examination Fee Grant Program
Re-establishes, subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act for this purpose, a grant program to award grants to cover the costs of AP examination fees or International Baccalaureate examination fees, or both, for eligible economically disadvantaged high school pupils or foster youth; and requires the CDE to administer the program.
Action: Passed 6-0

AB 379 (Gordon) Foster youth: complaint of noncompliance
Makes complaints alleging violations of certain educational rights afforded to students in foster care and students who are homeless subject to the Uniform Complaint Procedures (UCP), and establishes an expedited process for complaints regarding certain rights and on behalf of certain students. This bill also places limits on the time students can be educated in emergency shelters. Amended in committee to (1) define the purpose and scope of “compensatory educational services” and (2) change the title of the article amended by the bill to “Education of Pupils in Foster Care and Pupils who are Homeless.”
Action: Passed as Amended 6-0

AJR 5 (Dahle) Federal Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000: extension
Urges Congress to reauthorize the federal Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000.
Action: Adopted 6-0