BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
SB 590 (de León) - Classified School Employee Staff Development
and Training
Amended: April 23, 2013 Policy Vote: Education 7-2
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 6, 2013 Consultant: Jacqueline
Wong-Hernandez
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 590 establishes the Classified School Employee
Staff Development and Training Program for classified employees
at California community colleges (CCCs) and local educational
agencies (LEAs) and authorizes a portion of the funds provided
from state, federal, or local sources for teacher professional
development to be set aside for professional development
training for classified school employees. This bill declares the
intent of the Legislature that professional development funds be
set aside, as specified.
Fiscal Impact: Substantial cost pressure on LEAs to divert
existing professional development funds to training classified
employees as specified, and for the state to provide additional
funding.
Background: 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. They are employed by LEAs
in K-12 public school settings or at the CCCs and include both
part-time and full-time staff. There is not currently a
dedicated state-funded professional development training program
for classified employees.
Existing law authorizes the Professional Development Block
Grant, which supports professional development activities
allowed by the Staff Development Instructional Support, Teaching
as a Priority, and Intersegmental programs. These activities
include teacher recruitment and retention incentives, staff
development projects designed to improve elementary teacher
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skills, and programs that promote development of highly
qualified teachers. While the Budget Act of 2012 includes $218.4
million for this block grant, the funds are subject to
categorical flexibility whereby school districts may utilize the
funds for any educational purpose.
Proposed Law: SB 590 allows, and declares legislative intent
that it occur, LEAs and CCCs to divert a portion of the funds
provided from state, federal, or local sources for teacher
professional development and set it aside for professional
development training for classified school employees. This bill
establishes conditions for spending funds set aside for the
Classified School Employee Staff Development and Training
Program, and allows the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
restrict an LEA's use of those funds if it does not adhere to
the conditions set forth in this bill.
Related Legislation: AB 406 (Yamada) 2009 would have created the
Classified School Employee Training Program to provide grants to
LEAs and CCCs through the consolidation of existing funds for
classified staff training and from any new funds from state,
federal, or local sources. That bill was held on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee's Suspense File.
Staff Comments: This bill's authorization of LEAs and CCCs to
set aside funds for classified staff training does not, in and
of itself, result in new costs. Coupled with its legislative
intent that it occur, however, the bill creates cost pressure to
divert existing resources to that activity and to provide
additional resources to continue to support both certificated
and classified staff training.
State funding for professional development is approximately $218
million per year (which is currently subject to categorical
flexibility) and is primarily spent on teachers. Classified
employees make up approximately 47% of the total employees in
public schools, and their specific inclusion creates substantial
cost pressure on those funds or for the Legislature to increase
that funding in recognition of its intent for LEAs and CCCs to
set aside funding to train classified employees, as specified.
Staff notes that as part of the 2013-14 Governor's Budget, the
Administration proposes to restructure the existing K-12 finance
system and eliminate over 40 existing programs. The
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Administration proposes to primarily fund LEAs using a new
formula known as the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). The
LCFF would consolidate the vast majority of state categorical
programs and revenue limit apportionments into a single funding
stream and would eliminate the statutory and programmatic
requirements for almost all existing categorical programs,
including the Professional Development Block Grant. If LEAs are
given full flexibility over those funds, it may be difficult to
determine if funds are set aside pursuant to this bill and to
enforce the conditions outlined.