BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 331|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 331
Author: Levine (D)
Amended: 4/7/15 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 8-0, 6/10/15
AYES: Liu, Runner, Block, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan, Vidak
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hancock
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 6-0, 6/22/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza
NO VOTE RECORDED: Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 4/30/15 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: School district governing boards: reduction of
membership
SOURCE: Sonoma County Office of Education
DIGEST: This bill authorizes a county committee on school
district organization to decrease the membership of a school
district's governing board from five to three if the district's
average daily attendance (ADA) during the preceding year was
less than 300.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Requires any elementary school district having a governing
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board of three members and whose ADA for the preceding fiscal
year was 300 or more do one of the following:
a) By its own action determine that the number of members
of its governing board shall be increased to five, in which
case two additional members shall be elected at an upcoming
established election date; or
b) Request the county superintendent of schools to submit
the question of whether the board should be increased to
five members to the voters of the district at an upcoming
established election date.
2)Provides that a proposal to change the membership of a school
district or community college district governing board may be
initiated by the county committee on school district
organization or made to the committee by a petition signed by
a specified number of qualified registered voters residing in
the district.
3)Requires the county committee on school district organization
to call and conduct at least one hearing in the district on a
proposal to change the membership of the district's governing
board and to approve or disapprove the proposal at the
conclusion of the hearing.
This bill:
1)Authorizes the county committee on school district
organization to reduce the members of a school district from
five to three, if the district's ADA during the preceding year
was less than 300, or adopt one of the alternative methods of
electing governing board members in accordance with procedural
requirements in existing law.
2)Makes other nonsubstantive changes.
Comments
Need for the bill. According to the author's office, the
ability for board membership to expand or contract in proportion
to enrollment becomes increasingly important in rural and very
small districts, which may have a difficult time finding five
community members able to serve on the board. Compounding the
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problem of recruiting board members, existing law requires an
election to be held for vacant seats if no one is appointed.
The author's office maintains that the cost of an election is
burdensome and sometimes prohibitive for a very small school
district.
County committees on school district organization. County
committees on school district organization are the local
initiator, coordinator, analyst, facilitator, and arbitrator for
the reorganization of school districts. Roughly half of county
committees are comprised of members of the county board of
education while the remaining are independent of the board,
although workload often falls to county board staff. A county
committee on school district organization is authorized to
increase and decrease a school district's board membership from
five to seven and from seven to five. The county committee can
also increase a board from three to five members when ADA
increases. However, state law does not allow for the county
committee to reduce a five member board if ADA declines.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, potential,
likely minor, reimbursable state mandated costs for county
committees to review proposals to decrease the size of a school
district governing board if the Commission on State Mandates
determines this bill imposes a higher level of service.
SUPPORT: (Verified6/23/15)
Sonoma County Office of Education (source)
Santa Clara County Office of Education
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School Employers Association of California
OPPOSITION: (Verified6/23/15)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 4/30/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Chang, Chau,
Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd,
Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia,
Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove,
Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea,
Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Campos, Chávez, Gomez
Prepared by:Lenin Del Castillo / ED. / (916) 651-4105
6/23/15 10:40:49
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