BILL NUMBER: AB 947 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 21, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Olsen
FEBRUARY 22, 2013
An act to amend Section 60604 of Sections
44955 and 44956 of, and to add Section 44955.2 to, the
Education Code, relating to pupil assessment.
school employees.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 947, as amended, Olsen. Pupil assessment: statewide
program. School employees: teachers: termination:
reappointment: seniority deviation.
Existing law provides that, when the services of employees are
terminated pursuant to a reduction in workforce, a school district is
required to terminate the employees in order of seniority. Existing
law further provides those employees with a preferred right to
reappointment and an opportunity for substitute service in order of
seniority. Existing law authorizes a school district to deviate from
the order of seniority for those purposes for specified reasons,
including compliance with constitutional requirements related to
equal protection of the laws.
This bill would provide additional reasons for which a school
district may deviate from terminating employees in order of
seniority, including authorizing school districts to terminate an
employee on the basis of performance evaluations and on the basis
that the employee is assigned to a schoolsite that has been selected
by the governing board for exemption from certificated reductions in
workforce, based upon the needs of the educational program. The bill
would provide an exception to this authorization for an employee who
has 18 months or less from his or her date of retirement, or is on
medical leave.
The bill would prohibit a school district that deviates from the
order of seniority for purposes of terminating a certificated
employee from taking into consideration whether an employee has
exercised any of the rights guaranteed in the Educational Employment
Relations Act.
The bill would also authorize a school district, during the period
of an employee's preferred right to reappointment, to deviate from
the order of seniority in offering the opportunity for substitute
service for either of specified reasons.
The bill would specify that the equal protection exception to the
general requirement that terminations and reappointments occur in
order of seniority applies to equal protection as that protection
relates to pupils.
The bill would make various nonsubstantive and clarifying changes.
Existing law, the Leroy Greene California Assessment of Academic
Achievement Act, which will become inoperative on July 1, 2014, and
as of January 1, 2015, is repealed, requires the Superintendent of
Public Instruction to design and implement a statewide pupil
assessment program, and requires school districts, charter schools,
and county offices of education to administer to each of its pupils
in grades 2 to 11, inclusive, certain achievement tests, including a
standards-based achievement test pursuant to the Standardized Testing
and Reporting (STAR) Program.
This bill would make nonsubstansive changes to those provisions
relating to the design and implementation of a statewide pupil
assessment program by the Superintendent.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 44955 of the
Education Code is amended to read:
44955. (a) No A permanent employee
shall not be deprived of his or her position for causes
other than those specified in Sections 44907 and 44923, and Sections
44932 to 44947, inclusive, and no a
probationary employee shall not be deprived of his or her
position for cause other than as specified in Sections 44948 to
44949, inclusive.
(b) (1) Whenever If
in any school year the average daily attendance in all of the
schools of a district for the first six months in which school is in
session shall have has declined below
the corresponding period of either of the previous two school years,
whenever if the governing board
determines that attendance in a district will decline in the
following year as a result of the termination of an interdistrict
tuition agreement as defined described
in Section 46304, whenever if a
particular kind of service is to be reduced or discontinued not later
than the beginning of the following school year, or
whenever if the amendment of state law requires
the modification of curriculum, and when if
in the opinion of the governing board of the district it
shall have has become necessary by
reason of any of these conditions to decrease the number of permanent
employees in the district, the governing board may terminate the
services of not more than a corresponding percentage of the
certificated employees of the district, permanent as well as
probationary, at the close of the school year. Except as otherwise
provided by statute, the services of no a
permanent employee may shall not
be terminated under the provisions of this section while any
probationary employee, or any other employee with less seniority, is
retained to render a service which said that
the permanent employee is certificated and competent to render.
In
(2) In computing a decline in
average daily attendance for purposes of this section for a newly
formed or reorganized school district, each school of the district
shall be deemed to have been a school of the newly formed or
reorganized district for both of the two previous school years.
As
(3) As between employees who
first rendered paid service to the district on the same date, the
governing board shall determine the order of termination solely on
the basis of needs of the district and the students thereof
pupils, including distinctions based upon performance
evaluations . Upon the request of any employee whose order of
termination is so determined, the governing board shall furnish in
writing no later than five days prior to
before the commencement of the hearing held in accordance with
Section 44949, a statement of the specific criteria used in
determining the order of termination and the application of the
criteria in ranking each employee relative to the other employees in
the group. This requirement that the governing board provide, on
request, a written statement of reasons for determining the order of
termination shall not be interpreted to give affected employees any
legal right or interest that would not exist without such a
requirement.
(c) Notice of such termination of services
shall be given before the 15th of May 15
in the manner prescribed in Section 44949, and services of
such employees shall be terminated in the inverse
of the order in which they were employed, as determined by the board
in accordance with the provisions of Sections
44844 and 44845. In the event that a permanent or probationary
employee is not given the notices and a right to a hearing as
provided for in Section 44949, he or she shall be deemed reemployed
for the ensuing school year.
The governing board shall make assignments and reassignments in
such a manner that employees shall be retained to render any service
which their seniority and qualifications entitle them to render.
However, prior to assigning or reassigning any certificated employee
to teach a subject which he or she has not previously taught, and for
which he or she does not have a teaching credential or which is not
within the employee's major area of postsecondary study or the
equivalent thereof, the governing board shall require the employee to
pass a subject matter competency test in the appropriate subject.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), a nd except
as specified in subdivision (e), a school district may deviate
from terminating a certificated employee in order of seniority for
either any of the following reasons:
(1) The district demonstrates a specific need for personnel to
teach a specific course or course of study, or to provide services
authorized by a services credential with a specialization in either
pupil personnel services or health for a school nurse, and that the
certificated employee has special training and experience necessary
to teach that course or course of study or to provide those services,
which others with more seniority do not possess.
(2) For purposes of maintaining or achieving compliance with
constitutional requirements related to equal protection of the laws
as it applies to pupils .
(3) On the basis of performance evaluations, if pursuant to a
process whereby employees with superior evaluations are retained over
those with inferior evaluations. The governing board may exercise
its discretion in developing the process, which shall be applied
uniformly to the entire class that is subject to the reduction in
workforce.
(4) On the basis that the employee is assigned to a schoolsite
that has been selected by the governing board for exemption from
certificated reductions in workforce, based upon the needs of the
educational program.
(e) A school district shall not deviate from terminating a
certificated employee in order of seniority if the employee has 18
months or less from his or her date of retirement, or is on medical
leave.
SEC. 2. Section 44955.2 is added to the
Education Code , to read:
44955.2. A school district that deviates from the order of
seniority for purposes of terminating a certificated employee under
any provision of this chapter shall do so on the basis of one or more
of the items specified in subdivision (d) of Section 44955, and
shall not take into consideration whether an employee has exercised
any of the rights guaranteed under Chapter 10.7 (commencing with
Section 3540) of Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code.
SEC. 3. Section 44956 of the
Education Code is amended to read:
44956. (a) Any
A permanent employee whose services have been
terminated as provided in Section 44955 shall have the following
rights:
(1)
(a) For the period of 39 months from the date of
such the termination, any employee who
in the meantime has not attained the age of 65 years shall have the
preferred right to reappointment, in the order of original employment
as determined by the board in accordance with the
provisions of Sections 44831 to 44855, inclusive, if the
number of employees is increased or the discontinued service is
reestablished, with no requirements that were not imposed upon other
employees who continued in service; provided, that no probationary or
other employee with less seniority shall be employed to render a
service which said that the employee is
certificated and competent to render. However, prior to reappointing
any employee to teach a subject which he or she has not previously
taught, and for which he or she does not have a teaching credential
or which is not within the employee's major area of postsecondary
study or the equivalent thereof, the governing board shall require
the employee to pass a subject matter competency test in the
appropriate subject.
(2)
(b) The aforesaid right to
reappointment set out in subdivision (a) may be waived by
the employee, without prejudice, for not more than one school year,
unless the board extends this right, but such
the waiver shall not deprive the employee of his or her
right to subsequent offers of reappointment.
(3)
(c) Notwithstanding paragraph (1)
subdivision (a) , a school district may deviate from
reappointing a certificated employee in order of seniority for either
of the following reasons:
(A)
(1) The district demonstrates a specific need for
personnel to teach a specific course or course of study, or to
provide services authorized by a services credential with a
specialization in either pupil personnel services or health for a
school nurse, and that the employee has special training and
experience necessary to teach that course or course of study, or to
provide those services, which others with more seniority do not
possess.
(B)
(2) For purposes of maintaining or achieving compliance
with constitutional requirements related to equal protection of the
laws. laws as that protection applies to
pupils.
(4) As to any such
(d) For an employee who is
reappointed, the period of his or her absence shall be
treated as a leave of absence and shall not be considered as a break
in the continuity of his or her service, he or she
shall retain the classification and order of employment he
or she had when his or her services were
terminated, and credit for prior service under any state or district
retirement system shall not be affected by such
the termination, but the period of his or her
absence shall not count as a part of the service required for
retirement.
(5)
(e) During the period of his an
employee's preferred right to reappointment, any such
the employee shall , in the
order of original employment, shall be offered prior
opportunity for substitute service during the absence of any other
employee who has been granted a leave of absence or who is
temporarily absent from duty; provided, that his or her
services may be terminated upon the return to duty of said
the other employee and that said
the substitute service shall not affect the
retention of his or her previous classification and
rights. If, in any school year the employee serves as a substitute in
any position requiring certification for any 21
days or more within a period of 60 schooldays, the compensation the
employee receives for substitute service in that 60-day period,
including his or her first 20 days of substitute service, shall
not be not less than the amount the employee
would receive if he or she were being reappointed.
(f) Notwithstanding subdivision (e), a school district may deviate
from the order of seniority in offering the opportunity for
substitute service for either of the following reasons:
(1) The district demonstrates a specific need for personnel to
teach a specific course or course of study, or to provide services
authorized by a services credential with a specialization in either
pupil personnel services or health for a school nurse, and the
employee has special training and experience, and has demonstrated
the competency necessary to teach in a specified grade level or
course of study, or to provide those services, that others with more
seniority do not possess or are not able to provide.
(2) For purposes of maintaining or achieving compliance with
constitutional requirements related to equal protection of the laws
as that protection applies to pupils.
(6)
(g) (1) During the period of the
employee's preferred right to reappointment, the governing board of
the district, if it is also the governing board of one or more other
districts, may assign him the employee
to service, which services that he
or she is certificated and competent to render, in
said one of the other district or
districts; provided, that the districts. The
compensation he the employee receives
therefor may , in the discretion of the
governing board , may be the same as he
the employee would have received had he or
she been serving in the district from which his
the employee's services were
terminated, that his terminated. The employee's
service in the said other district or districts
shall be counted toward the period required for both state and local
retirement , as defined by Section 22102, as
though rendered in the district from which his
the employee's services were terminated, and that
no permanent terminated. The employee
in said shall not displace any other permanent
employee in the other district or districts shall be
displaced by him .
It
(2) It is the intent of this
subsection subdivision that the
employees of a school district, the governing board of which is also
the governing board of one or more other school districts, shall not
be at a disadvantage as compared with employees of a unified school
district.
(7)
(h) At any time prior to the completion of one year
after his the employee's return to
service, he the employee may continue
or make up, with interest, his or her own contributions to
any state or district retirement system , for the
period of his or her absence, but it shall not be
obligatory on the state or district to match such
the contributions.
(8) Should be become
(i) If the employee becomes
disabled or reach reaches retirement
age at any time before his or her return to service,
he the employee shall receive, in any
state or district retirement system of which he
the employee was a member, all benefits to which he
or she would have been entitled had such event
if the disability or retirement occurred at the
time of his or her termination of service, plus any
benefits he the employee may have
qualified for thereafter, as though still employed.
SECTION 1. Section 60604 of the Education Code
is amended to read:
60604. (a) The Superintendent shall design and implement,
consistent with the timetable and plan required pursuant to
subdivision (b), a statewide pupil assessment program consistent with
the testing requirements of this article and in accordance with the
objectives set forth in Section 60602. That statewide pupil
assessment program shall include all of the following:
(1) A plan for producing valid, reliable, and comparable
individual pupil scores in grades 2 to 11, inclusive, and a
comprehensive analysis of these scores based on the results of the
achievement test designated by the state board that assesses a broad
range of basic academic skills pursuant to the Standardized Testing
and Reporting (STAR) Program established by Article 4 (commencing
with Section 60640).
(2) A method of working with publishers to ensure valid, reliable,
and comparable individual, grade-level, school-level,
district-level, county-level, and statewide scores in grades 2 to 11,
inclusive.
(3) Statewide academically rigorous content and performance
standards that reflect the knowledge and skills that pupils will need
to succeed in the information-based, global economy of the 21st
century. These skills shall not include personal behavioral standards
or skills, including, but not limited to, honesty, sociability,
ethics, or self-esteem.
(4) A statewide system that provides the results of testing in a
manner that reflects the degree to which pupils are achieving the
academically rigorous content and performance standards adopted by
the state board.
(5) The alignment of assessment with the statewide academically
rigorous content and performance standards adopted by the state
board.
(6) The active, ongoing involvement of parents, classroom
teachers, administrators, other educators, governing board members of
school districts, and the public in all phases of the design and
implementation of the statewide pupil assessment program.
(7) The development of a contract or contracts with a publisher or
publishers, after the approval of statewide academically rigorous
content standards by the state board, for the development of
performance standards and assessments of applied academic skills
designed to test pupils' knowledge of academic skills and abilities
to apply that knowledge and those skills to solve problems and
communicate.
(b) The Superintendent shall develop and annually update for the
Legislature a five-year cost projection, implementation plan, and
timetable for implementing the program described in subdivision (a).
The annual update shall be submitted on or before March 1 of each
year to the chairperson of the fiscal subcommittee considering budget
appropriations in each house. The update shall explain any
significant variations from the five-year cost projection for the
current year budget and the proposed budget.
(c) The Superintendent shall provide each school district with
guidelines for professional development that are designed to assist
classroom teachers to use the results of the assessments administered
pursuant to this chapter to modify instruction for the purpose of
improving pupil learning. These guidelines shall be developed in
consultation with classroom teachers and approved by the state board
before dissemination.
(d) The Superintendent and the state board shall consider comments
and recommendations from school districts and the public in the
development, adoption, and approval of assessment instruments.
(e) The results of the achievement test administered pursuant to
Article 4 (commencing with Section 60640) shall be returned to the
school district within the period of time specified by the state
board.