BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Jack Scott, Chair
2007-2008 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 1105
AUTHOR: Margett
AMENDED: March 10, 2008
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: March 26, 2008
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Beth Graybill
NOTE: This bill has been referred to the Committees on
Education and Rules. A "do pass" motion should include
referral to the Committee on Rules.
SUBJECT : Teacher Credentialing: Criminal Convictions
SUMMARY
This bill expands the definition of "conviction" when
applied to suspending or revoking teaching credentials to
include pleas of nolo contendere and allows the Commission
on Teacher Credentialing to make adverse action findings
available for more than one year.
BACKGROUND
Current law requires the Commission on Teacher
Credentialing (CTC) to revoke a credential when the holder
has been convicted of certain sex offenses or controlled
substance offense and prohibits reinstatement of the
credential for certain felony offenses.
Current law prohibits school districts from employing
persons in public school service who have been convicted of
certain sex or narcotics offenses and specifies that a
conviction following a plea of nolo contendere to those
specified crimes is deemed to be a conviction.
Current law requires the CTC, upon a plea of nolo
contendere to suspend all credentials held by the person
until final disposition regarding those credentials is made
by the CTC.
Current law establishes the Committee of Credentials (COC)
for the purpose of reviewing allegations that may be
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grounds for the denial, suspension, revocation of a
teaching or services credential issued by the CTC.
Current law prohibits the CTC from making adverse action
findings available to employing school districts beyond one
year from the date the COC makes its recommendations
regarding those findings to the Commission.
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Expands the definition of "conviction" for purposes of
suspending or revoking a credential to include pleas
of nolo contendere to specified offenses, including
certain sex or drug offenses and violent or serious
felonies.
2) Removes the one-year limitation for making adverse
action findings available to employing school
districts, thereby requiring the CTC to make the
findings available indefinitely.
3) Deletes provisions requiring a discretionary review
when a plea of nolo contendere does not constitute a
conviction.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill : A recent Associated Press (AP)
study found that roughly 25% of all disciplinary
actions against teachers involve sexual misconduct.
In a study of all 50 states and the District of
Columbia, the AP found 2,570 educators nationwide
whose teaching credentials were revoked, denied,
surrendered, or sanctioned following allegations of
sexual misconduct. The study revealed that between
2001 and 2005, 313 California educators had their
credential suspended or revoked as a result of sexual
misconduct.
The study noted that while California law requires
educators who plead guilty to or are convicted of
specified sex, controlled substance, and violent
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felony offenses to lose their credential, existing law
allows educators who plead "no contest" to those same
crimes to maintain a valid credential while the CTC
reviews the criminal record and acts on the
disposition of the credential.
According to CTC staff, credential holders who undergo such
reviews can still claim to be credentialed and
continue to be around children. In addition, the
provision which allows a discretionary review can be
problematic because of the passage of time and the
reluctance of child victims leading to difficulty in
providing sufficient admissible evidence to sustain a
revocation at the administrative hearing level. By
expanding the definition of conviction to include "no
contest" pleas and ensuring that educators charged
with serious offenses are not working with children.
SB 1105 closes the "no contest" loophole identified in
the AP study.
2) Disclosure of findings : Under current law, adverse
action findings of the CTC can only be made available
to an employing school district for one year. If more
than a year has passed, the employing school district
obtains a verified release from the credential holder.
This barrier allows many offenses to remain
confidential and can make it difficult for employing
districts to be aware of an educator's background.
While removing the one-year disclosure limitation
enables districts to have more complete information
about educators they are considering hiring, should
these findings be available to districts indefinitely?
3) State Mandate : This bill was originally keyed as
creating a state-mandated local program because it
included a reference to a section of Education Code
concerning certificates issued by county boards of
education. The current version of the bill deletes
this reference and is confined to actions required of
the CTC. Notwithstanding the Legislative Counsel's
Digest reference to the contrary, staff notes that the
current version of the bill does not contain a state
mandate.
4) Related legislation : SB 1110 (Scott), which is to be
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considered by this committee on March 26, requires the
CTC to suspend an educator's California credential
when it receives notice that the educator's
credentials have been revoked by another state and
requires the suspension to remain in effect until the
CTC takes final action on the California credential.
In addition, SB 1110 requires the CTC to revoke
credentials of educators convicted of crimes that
result in limited or prohibited contact with children
and prohibits reinstatement of the credential until
the terms of the criminal probation are satisfied.
5) Fiscal impact . SB 1105 will result in modest savings
by eliminating the need for criminal record reviews
that follow "no contest" pleas. According to the CTC,
removing the one-year disclosure limitation will
result in minor but absorbable costs.
SUPPORT
California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (Sponsor)
California District Attorneys Association
California School Boards Association
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
School Innovations and Advocacy
OPPOSITION
California Teachers Association