BILL ANALYSIS
AB 406
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 22, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 406 (Yamada) - As Amended: April 14, 2009
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:8-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the Classified School Employee Training
(CSET) program, administered by the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI), to provide classified school employees with
instruction and training in specified areas. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Defines "classified school employee" as a person employed on a
full-time or a part-time basis as a classified school employee
at a community college, or a public school (including a state
special school) in which grades K-12 are taught.
2)Specifies over 13 instruction and training areas that
classified school employees may be trained in, including the
following: curriculum frameworks and instructional materials;
academic standards; management of state and local pupil data
and assessment systems; educational technology; school
facilities and maintenance, chemical safety; school
transportation; health and nursing; and food service.
3)Requires all local educational agencies (LEAs) to be eligible
to apply for the CSET program funds and requires LEAs,
individually or in partnership with an institution of higher
education, to submit a program proposal to the SPI. This
measure further requires the proposal to include an
expenditure plan and how LEAs plan to continue ongoing
training to classified school employees.
4)Requires the SPI or the Chancellor of the California Community
Colleges (CCCs) to approve or disapprove the LEA's plan for
training its classified employees, as specified.
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5)Requires the State Department of Education (SDE), three years
after the CSET program is operative, to submit a report to the
Legislature regarding this program, as specified.
6)Specifies the CSET program is not operative until the SPI
certifies that funding for this program exceeds the amount
appropriated in the 2009-10 Budget Act for the Administrator
Training program.
FISCAL EFFECT
GF/98 costs, likely between $17.6 million and $58.8 million.
This assumes between 3% and 5% of classified school employees
receive training under the CSET program. The bill states that
the program is not operative unless the amount of funding
allocated for the Administrator Training Program is above the
2009 Budget Act level, which is approximately $2.9 million
GF/98. This language suggests that any new funding allocated
for the Administrator Training program will be redirected toward
the CSET program.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . Classified School Employees include
paraprofessionals, healthcare professionals, office and
clerical staff, bus drivers, groundskeepers, custodians,
information technology assistants, instructional assistants,
food service workers, and school safety personnel. In these
capacities, classified employees frequently interact with
pupils and parents and provide important services that are
necessary to a pupil's overall educational experience.
Classified employees are employed in a full-time or part-time
capacity at K-12 schools and CCCs. According to SDE, there
were 294,202 full and part time classified school employees
employed in K-12 public schools in 2007-08.
The author argues that there is no program in statute that
exclusively provides training to classified school employees
to learn new approaches in doing their jobs. The author
further contends that there are new skills and best practices
in a number of areas, such as school safety, education
technology, and facility maintenance that classified school
employees are not benefiting from because there is not a
statewide training system for these purposes. This bill
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establishes the CSET program to provide training in a number
of areas to classified school employees.
2)Current statute provides training programs to teachers,
administrators, and school business officials. Under the
Mathematics Reading Professional Development (MRPD) program
paraprofessionals can access this program, but the programs
primarily benefits teachers.
The following table illustrates total funding for each of
these programs:
----------------------------------------------------------
| | 2009 Budget Acta |
| | (in millions) |
|---------------------------+------------------------------|
|MRPD Programb | $45.4 |
|---------------------------+------------------------------|
|Administrator Training | $2.9 |
|Program | |
|---------------------------+------------------------------|
|School Business Official | $1.0 |
|Program | |
----------------------------------------------------------
aAmounts represent a total reduction of 19.8% (15.4% in the
current year - 2008-09 and an additional 4.4% in the budget
year - 2009-10).
bIncludes funding to train paraprofessionals on a first come
first-serve basis.
3)Categorical Program Flexibility . As part of the February 2009
budget process, LEAs were provided with unprecedented fiscal
and policy flexibility related to over 40 categorical
programs. Specifically, any LEA that received funding for
specified categorical programs in the 2008-09 fiscal year (FY)
is authorized to use this funding for any other educational
purpose until the 2012-13 FY. The LEA may choose to continue
operating the categorical program that it received funding for
or redirect it for any other educational purpose it deems
appropriate.
In its current form, this measure does not include the CSET
program in the categorical flexibility provided to the LEAs
through the budget. The committee may wish to consider
whether or not it is appropriate to establish a new
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categorical program that is not treated in the same manner
with regard to flexibility as the majority of categorical
programs. Likewise, the committee may wish to consider
whether or not it is appropriate to establish a new program
with the deteriorating fiscal condition of the state.
4)Sunset date . The initial statutes that authorized training
programs for teachers, administrators, and school business
officials all had five year sunset dates. These sunset dates
allowed the Legislature and the school community to evaluate
program effectiveness and make adjustments to statute as
necessary. In its current form, the proposed CSET program
does not establish a sunset date if the committee opts to move
this bill, it should be amended to establish a sunset date.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081