BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1619
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1619 (Gonzalez)
As Amended April 8, 2014
Majority vote
EDUCATION 4-1 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Buchanan, Gonzalez, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Nazarian, Williams | |Bradford, |
| | | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Holden, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Weber |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Olsen |Nays:|Bigelow, Donnelly, Jones, |
| | | |Linder, Wagner |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY : Makes changes, as of July 1, 2015, regarding which
credentialed employees can attain permanent employee status.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Extends permanent employee status to all nonsupervisory,
non-management employees who work in positions requiring
certification in school districts and county offices of
education (COEs) as follows:
a) For school districts and COEs with 250 or less average
daily attendance (ADA), permanent status is granted to an
employee that has been employed by the district or COE for
three consecutive years and is reelected for the next year.
b) For school districts and COEs with 250 or more ADA,
permanent status is granted to an employee that has been
employed by the district or COE for two consecutive years
and is reelected for the next year.
2)Clarifies that provisions related to probation, attainment of
permanent employment status and dismissal that are otherwise
applicable to employees of the school district or COE, are
applicable.
AB 1619
Page 2
3)Deletes the prohibition on including service as an instructor,
conducted at regional occupational centers or programs
(ROC/Ps), toward the service required to attain permanent
employee status, and, instead requires service as an
instructor at an ROC/P to be counted toward the service
requirement to attain permanent employee status at a school
district, according to the rules that currently apply to other
certificated employees.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, unknown, potentially significant General Fund and
Proposition 98 (1988) costs to school districts and COEs to the
extent permanent employees seek due process related to
dismissal. Costs associated with due process hearings or other
dismissal proceedings can range from $10,000 to over $100,000
per case, depending on the scope. It is estimated that 1,300
employees in small school districts would now be eligible for
permanent status. The bill also extends due process rights to
ROC/P instructors and certain nonsupervisory, non-management
employees, such as school counselors, psychologists, speech
therapists.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Specifies that if the ADA of the schools and classes
maintained by a county superintendent of schools is 250 or
more, each person who, after being employed for two complete
consecutive school years by the superintendent in a teaching
position in those schools or classes requiring certification
and whose salary is paid from the county school service fund,
is reelected for the next succeeding school year, shall be
classified as a permanent employee. (Education Code (EC)
Section 1296)
2)Specifies that service by a person as an instructor in classes
conducted at ROC/Ps shall not be included in computing the
service required as a prerequisite to attainment of, or
eligibility to, classification as a permanent employee of a
school district. (EC Section 44910)
3)Specifies that every employee of a school district of any type
or class having an ADA of 250 or more who, after having been
employed by the district for two complete consecutive school
years in a position or positions requiring certification
AB 1619
Page 3
qualifications, is reelected for the next succeeding school
year to a position requiring certification qualifications
shall, at the commencement of the succeeding school year be
classified as and become a permanent employee of the district.
(EC Section 44929.21)
4)Specifies the governing board of a school district of any type
or class having an average daily attendance of less than 250
pupils may classify as a permanent employee of the district
any employee who, after having been employed by the school
district for three complete consecutive school years in a
position or positions requiring certification qualifications,
is reelected for the next succeeding school year to a position
requiring certification qualifications. (EC Section 44929.23)
5)Authorizes a county superintendent of schools to enter into
contracts of employment with persons employed by him in
positions requiring certification qualifications for periods
of not to exceed the end of the school year in which the term
for which the county superintendent of schools was elected or
appointed expires and in no event, for more than four years
and six months. (EC Section 1293)
COMMENTS : This bill makes four substantive changes regarding
which credentialed employees can attain permanent employee
status. This bill requires the following groups to attain
permanent employee status after completing a probationary
period:
1)Nonsupervisory certificated employees at COEs, both below and
above 250 ADA and both teaching and non-teaching positions.
2)School district ROC/P instructors.
3)Nonsupervisory certificated employees at school districts,
with an ADA of 250 or less.
What protections does "permanent employee" status offer to these
employees? "Permanent employee" status guarantees the specific
employees listed in the bill with due process rights if they are
dismissed. In the case of dismissal, "permanent employee"
status allows employees to request a hearing before a Commission
on Professional Competence to decide whether their dismissal was
appropriate. Further, a "permanent employee" has the right to
AB 1619
Page 4
request a hearing during a reduction in force.
ROP Teachers: This bill requires service as an ROC/P teacher to
count toward attaining permanent employee status. With the
implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF),
ROC/Ps no longer receive categorical program funding. Instead,
funding for ROC/Ps has been rolled into the funding that is
allocated via the LCFF. However, existing law requires
districts to maintain their 2012-13 level of ROC/P funding for
two years. After the two-year period, local funding for ROC/Ps
is optional. If this bill is implemented July 1, 2015, existing
ROC/P teachers would attain permanent employee status, however,
one year later, designated funding for ROC/Ps will be folded
into the LCFF funding formula. Generally, ROC/P teachers have
not been given permanent employee status due to the volatile
nature of ROC/P funding and industry changes regarding specific
courses offered through those programs. The sponsors, however,
have presented evidence that in at least one school district,
ROC/P teachers have been employed for nearly 18 years
continuously and that these teachers should attain permanent
employee status.
Neumarkel Case: The sponsors indicate that this bill was
spurred by the ruling in the case of Neumarkel v. Allard, 163
Cal. App. 3d 457 (1985), which upheld EC Section 1296, stating
that certificated employees, in teaching positions, at COEs with
more than 250 ADA can attain permanent employee status. The
Neumarkel v. Allard case was decided in 1985 and it hasn't been
overturned or cited in any recent court cases. The sponsor
indicated that a few rural COEs have recently dismissed
counselors, and that is the impetus for the bill.
County Offices and Districts with less than 250 ADA: According
to the sponsor, the California Teachers Association, there are
17 COE's with less than 250 ADA and approximately 250 school
districts with less than 250 ADA. This bill will affect those
districts and COEs by requiring that all certificated employees
attain permanent employee status after a probationary period.
According to the author, "Under current law, permanent school
employees can only be terminated for just-cause or as part of a
layoff. However, some school employees in the state have been
inappropriately denied permanent status which prevents them from
going through the proper dismissal procedures. This bill will
AB 1619
Page 5
address this problem by proposing the following changes:
1)Allow the time served of ROP instructors to be included in
calculating the prerequisite to attain permanent status.
Existing law requires that only certified teachers provide
instruction at these centers, but the law also prohibits ROP
teachers from being classified as a permanent employee of a
school district (EC Section 44910), regardless of the amount
of time they work.
2)Subject all certificated employees, regardless of the average
daily attendance of the school districts, to the same
dismissal procedures. Under existing law, small school
districts with an average daily attendance of less than 250
students utilize different criteria when determining an
employee's classification status, which has prevented
employees from receiving permanent status."
Related Legislation: AB 165 (Cohn) of 2001, which was held on
the Assembly Appropriations Committee, would have required COE)
serving at least 250 ADA, to grant permanent status to
non-supervisory, non-management employees who work in positions
requiring certification, if the individual works two consecutive
school years and is rehired for the next (third) year.
Analysis Prepared by : Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0003609