BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 590
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Date of Hearing: August 14, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
SB 590 (De Leon) - As Amended: July 3, 2013
Policy Committee: Education Vote:5-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires a local education agency (LEA), if it expends
funds for professional development, to consider the needs of
classified school employees. 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, a public school, a charter school, or
a county offices of education (COE).
2)Defines LEA as a school district, COE, charter school, or a
community college district.
3)Specifies professional development training for classified
school employees includes, but is not limited to any of the
following:
a) Pupil learning and achievement, as specified.
b) Pupil and campus safety.
c) Education technology.
d) School facility maintenance and operations.
e) Special education.
f) School transportation and bus safety.
g) Parent involvement.
h) Food service.
i) Health, counseling, and nursing services.
j) Environmental safety - training on pesticides and other
toxic substances.
FISCAL EFFECT
No direct GF/98 state impact. This bill, however, will create
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local pressure for LEAs to expend funds on professional
development training for classified employees. With the passage
of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), this statute
appears contrary to the rationale for the LCFF, which is to
provide for maximum discretion to LEAs to expend funds for
programs/services LEAs determine best meets the needs of their
pupils.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the California School Employee
Association (CSEA), sponsor of this bill, "Classified
employees perform a wide variety of functions on school
campuses, including teaching assistance, maintenance,
accounting, transportation, food services, safety, information
systems, and many others. Many jobs require specific
training, certification, or licenses relating to pesticide
management, Peace Officer Standards and Training
certification, Cal/OSHA certification, teaching assistant
certification, Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, food handling?
[This bill] is a very modest step towards insuring that school
students, campuses, and facilities are taken care of by well
trained professionals."
2)The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) , enacted as part of
the 2013 Budget [AB 97 (Budget Committee), Chapter 47,
Statutes of 2013], established a new funding formula for K-12
education to be phased in over seven years. The formula
consists of three major components: (a) base grant (general
purpose funding), (b) supplemental grant (funding for English
learner (EL) and poor/needy pupils), and (c) a concentration
grant (additional funding for those LEAs with a high number of
EL and poor/needy pupils).
The LCFF is intended to provide LEAs with maximum flexibility
and as such, there are minimal expenditure requirements tied
to the funding LEAs receive. Therefore, the LCFF
consolidated the funding for the majority of the state's
categorical programs, including those under categorical
flexibility (i.e., professional development). The rationale
for this program consolidation was to allow LEAs to make their
own decisions based on their pupils' needs regarding which
programs to continue and fund them accordingly. For example,
if a school district wanted to provide professional
development to its administrators, it can do so with any
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funding it receives from LCFF and in any manner it sees fit.
Under LCFF, LEAs are no longer tied to program requirements in
exchange for funding they receive.
This bill requires LEAs, if they expend funds for professional
development, to consider the need for specified types of
professional development for classified employees. This bill
does not establish a new program; it does, however, suggest a
state expectation to provide professional development to
classified employees.
The 2013 Budget Act allocated $2.13 billion GF/98 to LEAs to
begin implementing the LCFF.
3)Why specify the consideration of only classified employees for
professional development and not teachers and administrators ?
Classified employees are an essential part of a school's
success. In particular, paraprofessionals (instructional
aides) support teachers and administrators in delivering
instruction. With the passage of LCFF, there is not a
requirement to provide or consider professional development
for any schoolsite staff. As a result, this bill will require
professional development to be considered for classified
employees only and not teachers or administrators. The
committee may wish to consider the importance of LEAs
considering providing professional development to teachers and
administrators as well as classified employees.
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4)Professional development funding for Common Core (CC)
standards . The 2013 Budget [AB 86 (Budget Committee), Chapter
48, Statutes of 2013, allocated $1.25 billion one-time GF/98
to LEAs for the implementation of the CC standards. The CC
standards were adopted in 2010 in English language arts (ELA)
and mathematics. They are based on national standards and are
modified to align with existing state academic content
standards in ELA and mathematics.
LEAs are expected to receive approximately $200 per pupil to
expend on professional development, technology, and
instructional materials. Specifically, LEAs may use funding
to provide professional development to teachers,
administrators, and classified employees who provide direct
instruction to pupils.
5)Previous legislation . AB 406 (Yamada) established the
Classified School Employee Training program to provide
classified school employees with instruction and training in
specified areas. This bill was held on this committee's
Suspense File in May 2009.
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Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081