BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 590|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 590
Author: De León (D)
Amended: 8/14/13
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 7-2, 4/10/13
AYES: Liu, Block, Correa, Hancock, Hueso, Jackson, Monning
NOES: Wyland, Huff
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-2, 5/23/13
AYES: De León, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Gaines
SENATE FLOOR : 28-9, 5/29/13
AYES: Beall, Block, Calderon, Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De
León, DeSaulnier, Evans, Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill,
Hueso, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Monning, Padilla,
Pavley, Price, Roth, Steinberg, Torres, Wolk, Yee
NOES: Anderson, Berryhill, Emmerson, Gaines, Huff, Knight,
Nielsen, Walters, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Fuller, Wright, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 51-24, 9/4/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : School Personnel: professional development:
classified employees
SOURCE : AFL-CIO
DIGEST : This bill requires a local education agency (LEA), if
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it expends funds for professional development for any schoolsite
staff, to consider the needs of classified school employees.
Assembly Amendments (1) insert language that requires a local
educational agency, if it expends funds for professional
development for any schoolsite staff, to consider the needs of
its classified school employees, as specified; (2) delete
language to establish the Classified School Employee Development
Training Program under which local educational agencies, as
defined, would be required to set aside a portion of the total
funding received for professional development from state and
federal sources, as defined; and (3) delete language that
requires a local educational agency to meet certain requirements
as a condition of spending any of the funds, as specified.
ANALYSIS : Currently, there is not a state funded professional
development training program for classified employees. The
Administrator Training and Chief Business Officer Training
programs provided incentive grants of up to $3,000 per person to
local educational agencies for training principals, vice
principals, and chief business or financial officers. However,
these programs were recently repealed.
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 in K-12 public
school settings or at the CCCs and have major responsibilities
for reinforcing classroom instruction and the health and safety
of students. Classified school employees include both part-time
and full-time staff.
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
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.
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This bill requires an LEA, if it expends funds for professional
development for any school site staff, to consider the needs of
classified school employees. Specifically, this bill:
1.Specifies professional development training for classified
school employees includes, but is not limited to any of the
following:
A. Pupil learning and achievement, including all of the
following:
(1) Training for paraprofessionals to assist teachers
and administrators to improve the academic achievement of
pupils.
(2) Training to ensure the curriculum frameworks and
instructional materials are aligned to the common core
standards.
(3) Training in the management and use of state and
local pupil data to improve pupil learning.
(4) Training on the best practices in the appropriate
interventions and assistance to at-risk pupils.
A. Pupil and campus safety, including training and staff
development in the latest and best practices for pupil
safety and campus safety.
B. Education technology, including management strategies
and best practices regarding the use of education
technology to improve pupil performance.
C. School facility maintenance and operations, including
new research and best practices in the operation and
maintenance of school facilities, such as green technology
and energy efficiency, that help reduce the use and the
cost of energy at school sites.
D. Special education, including training and staff
development on the best practices to meet the needs of
special education pupils, and to comply with any new state
and federal mandates.
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E. School transportation and bus safety, including training
and staff development on the best practices and standards
for pupil transportation.
F. Parent involvement, including training and staff
development to enhance the ability of a school to increase
parent involvement at school sites.
G. Food service, including training and staff development
on new research and findings for food preparation to
provide nutritional meals and food management.
H. Health, counseling, and nursing services, including
training and staff development on the latest and best
practices for pupil health care and counseling needs.
I. Environmental safety, including training and staff
development on pesticides and other possibly toxic
substances so that they may be safely used at school sites.
1.Defines "classified school employee" to mean 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 office of education.
2.Defines 'local educational agency" to mean a school district,
a county office of education, a charter school, or a community
college district.
3.Makes legislative findings and declarations regarding the
vital role that classified employees play in public schools
and their need for professional development and training to
update their skills and to learn the best practices for vital
education programs, including campus safety, academic
achievement and curriculum standards, special education,
health care, child nutrition, pupil transportation,
environmental safety, and parental involvement.
4.Specifies that nothing in this measure prohibits an LEA from
providing professional development to teachers and
administrators.
Prior Legislation
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AB 406 (Yamada, 2009) would have created the Classified School
Employee Training Program to provide grants to school and
community college districts through the consolidation of
existing funds for classified staff training and from any new
funds from state, federal, or local sources. The bill was held
in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, substantial
cost pressure on local educational agencies to divert existing
professional development funds to training classified employees,
as specified and for the state to provide additional funding.
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/4/13)
AFL-CIO (source)
California Federation of Teachers
California School Employees Association
Classified School Employees
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Supporters argue that classified
employees perform a variety of functions on school campuses,
including instructional aide, maintenance, accounting,
transportation, food service, and safety. Schools often rely on
paraprofessionals, healthcare professionals, information
technology assistants and other classified school employees to
perform these duties. These jobs may require specific training,
certifications or licenses, Peace Officer Standards and Training
certification, medical procedures, food handling, etc. Under
existing law, there is no categorical program that provides
specific training for classified school employees and teaches
them new approaches in fulfilling their job responsibilities.
The author's office believes that professional development is
necessary to ensure that these employees continue to maintain
and update their skills and knowledge to implement new statutory
requirements for student care, and to better assist students,
parents, and other educators.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 51-24, 9/4/13
AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta,
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Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau,
Chesbro, Cooley, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier,
Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Roger Hernández,
Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal, Medina, Mitchell,
Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez,
Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Stone, Ting, Weber,
Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Chávez, Conway, Dahle,
Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones,
Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor, Morrell, Nestande, Olsen,
Patterson, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hall, Melendez, Skinner, Vacancy, Vacancy
PQ:ej 9/5/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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