BILL NUMBER: SB 559 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Huff
FEBRUARY 22, 2013
An act to amend Sections 44949 and 44955 of the Education Code,
relating to school employees.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 559, as introduced, Huff. Certificated employees: layoff
notices.
Existing law requires that, when a reduction in the number of
certificated employees employed by a school district is authorized
for specified reasons, the notice of termination of the services of
an employee in the subsequent school year be given to the employee
before May 15. Existing law further requires the superintendent of
the school district to give written notice, no later than March 15,
to the governing board of the school district and the employee that
it has been recommended that the notice of termination described
above be given to the employee.
This bill would revise the deadline for the notice of termination
of services to the employee to before August 1, and would revise the
deadline for the notice the superintendent of a school district is
required to provide to no later than June 1. The bill would make
various findings and declarations relating to the issuance of the
notices specified above.
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. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a)Each year, the May revision of the proposed state budget, and
the annual Budget Act, provide more predictive information for
purposes of the district's budgetary and personnel decisions than the
January budget proposed by the Governor.
(b) Existing law requires school districts to issue preliminary
reduction in force notices by March 15 and final reduction in force
notices by May 15 of each year.
(c) As a result of this existing law and in order to guarantee
that it will remain fiscally solvent, school districts have relied on
the January budget proposed by the Governor to determine the number
of layoff notices that it must give to its employees. This results in
thousands of teachers receiving notices that are later rescinded
when more accurate information is available in May when the proposed
budget is revised and later when the annual Budget Act is enacted.
(d) According to the Legislative Analyst Office, this practice
unnecessarily costs taxpayers $706 per teacher, amounting to millions
of dollars annually that could be spent in the classroom and
employing teachers.
(e) Given the evidence that the existing statutory deadlines hurt
schools across the State of California, it will be more productive
for the schools, pupils, and teachers if the deadlines for giving
notice to certificated employees that the school district may
terminate their services are extended by two and one-half months.
SEC. 2. Section 44949 of the Education Code is amended to read:
44949. (a) (1) No later than March
15 June 1 and before an employee is given notice
by the governing board that his or her services will not be required
for the ensuing year for the reasons specified in Section 44955, the
governing board and the employee shall be given written notice by
the superintendent of the district or his or her designee, or in the
case of a district which that has no
superintendent by the clerk or secretary of the governing board, that
it has been recommended that the notice be given to the employee,
and stating the reasons therefor for the
notice .
Until
(2) Until the employee has
requested a hearing as provided in subdivision (b) or has waived his
or her right to a hearing, the notice and the reasons
therefor for the notice shall be confidential
and shall not be divulged by any person, except as may be necessary
in the performance of duties. However, the a
violation of this requirement of confidentiality, in and of
itself, shall not in any manner be construed as affecting the
validity of any hearing conducted pursuant to this section.
(b) The employee may request a hearing to determine if there is
cause for not reemploying him or her for the ensuing year. A request
for a hearing shall be in writing and shall be delivered to the
person who sent the notice pursuant to subdivision (a), on or before
a date specified in that subdivision, which shall not be less than
seven days after the date on which the notice is served upon the
employee. If an employee fails to request a hearing on or before the
date specified, his or her failure to do so shall constitute his or
her waiver of his or her right to a hearing. The notice provided for
in subdivision (a) shall advise the employee of the provisions of
this subdivision.
(c) In the event If a hearing is
requested by the employee, the proceeding shall be conducted and a
decision made in accordance with Chapter 5 (commencing with Section
11500) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code and
the governing board shall have all the power granted to an agency
therein, except that all of the following shall apply:
(1) The respondent shall file his or her notice of defense, if
any, within five days after service upon him or her of the accusation
and he or she shall be notified of this five-day period for filing
in the accusation.
(2) The discovery authorized by Section 11507.6 of the Government
Code shall be available only if request is made therefor within 15
days after service of the accusation, and the notice required by
Section 11505 of the Government Code shall so indicate.
(3) The hearing shall be conducted by an administrative law judge
who shall prepare a proposed decision, containing findings of fact
and a determination as to whether the charges sustained by the
evidence are related to the welfare of the schools and the pupils
thereof. The proposed decision shall be prepared for the governing
board and shall contain a determination as to the sufficiency of the
cause and a recommendation as to disposition. However, the governing
board shall make the final determination as to the sufficiency of the
cause and disposition. None of the findings, recommendations, or
determinations contained in the proposed decision prepared by the
administrative law judge shall be binding on the governing board.
Nonsubstantive procedural errors committed by the school district or
governing board of the school district shall not constitute cause for
dismissing the charges unless the errors are prejudicial errors.
Copies of the proposed decision shall be submitted to the governing
board and to the employee on or before May 7
July 24 of the year in which the proceeding is commenced. All
expenses of the hearing, including the cost of the administrative law
judge, shall be paid by the governing board from the district funds.
The board may adopt , from time to
time such , may adopt rules and
procedures not inconsistent consistent
with provisions of this section as may be
necessary to effectuate this section.
(d) Any notice or request shall be deemed sufficient when it is
delivered in person to the employee to whom it is directed, or when
it is deposited in the United States registered mail, postage prepaid
and addressed to the last known address of the employee.
(e) If after request for hearing pursuant to subdivision (b) any
continuance is granted pursuant to Section 11524 of the Government
Code, the dates prescribed in subdivision (c) which
that occur on or after the date of granting the
continuance and the date prescribed in subdivision (c) of Section
44955 which that occurs after the date
of granting the continuance shall be extended for a period of time
equal to the continuance.
SEC. 3. Section 44955 of the Education Code is amended to read:
44955. (a) No permanent employee shall 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 probationary
employee shall be deprived of his or her position for cause other
than as specified in Sections 44948 to 44949, inclusive.
(b) (1) Whenever 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 declined
below the corresponding period of either of the previous two school
years, whenever 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
education agreement as defined set
forth in Section 46304, whenever a particular kind of service
is to be reduced or discontinued not later than the beginning of the
following school year, or whenever the amendment of state law
requires the modification of curriculum, and when in the opinion of
the governing board of the district it shall have 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 school district on the
same date, the governing board shall determine the order of
termination solely on the basis of needs of the school
district and the students thereof pupils of
the district . Upon the request of any
an employee whose order of termination is so
determined, the governing board shall furnish in writing no later
than five days prior to 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 that requirement.
(c) (1) Notice of such
termination of services shall be given before the 15th of
May August 1 in the manner prescribed in Section
44949, and services of such those
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 If 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
(2) The governing board shall make
assignments and reassignments in such a manner that employees shall
be retained to render any service which that
their seniority and qualifications entitle them to render.
However, prior to assigning or reassigning any certificated employee
to teach a subject which that he or she
has not previously taught, and for which he or she does not have a
teaching credential or which that 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 school district may deviate
from terminating a certificated employee in order of seniority 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 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.