BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 753
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Date of Hearing: April 8, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
AB 753
(Medina) - As Introduced February 25, 2015
SUBJECT: Certificated school employees
SUMMARY: Makes changes, as of July 1, 2017, regarding which
credentialed employees can attain permanent employee status.
Specifically, this bill extends permanent employee status to all
nonsupervisory, non-management employees who work in positions
requiring certification in school districts and county offices
of education (COEs) as follows:
a) For school districts and COEs with 250 or less average
daily attendance (ADA), permanent status is granted to an
employee that has been employed by the district or COE for
three consecutive years and is reelected for the fourth
year.
b) For school districts and COEs with 250 or more ADA,
permanent status is granted to an employee that has been
employed by the district or COE for two consecutive years
and is reelected for the third year.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Specifies that if the ADA of the schools and classes
maintained by a county superintendent of schools is 250 or
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more, each person who, after being employed for two complete
consecutive school years by the superintendent in a teaching
position in those schools or classes requiring certification
and whose salary is paid from the county school service fund,
is reelected for the next succeeding school year, shall be
classified as a permanent employee. (Education Code (EC)
Section 1296)
2)Specifies that every employee of a school district of any type
or class having an ADA of 250 or more who, after having been
employed by the district for two complete consecutive school
years in a position or positions requiring certification
qualifications, is reelected for the next succeeding school
year to a position requiring certification qualifications
shall, at the commencement of the succeeding school year be
classified as and become a permanent employee of the district.
(EC Section 44929.21)
3)Specifies the governing board of a school district of any type
or class having an average daily attendance of less than 250
pupils may classify as a permanent employee of the district
any employee who, after having been employed by the school
district for three complete consecutive school years in a
position or positions requiring certification qualifications,
is reelected for the next succeeding school year to a position
requiring certification qualifications. (EC Section 44929.23)
4)Authorizes a county superintendent of schools to enter into
contracts of employment with persons employed by him in
positions requiring certification qualifications for periods
of not to exceed the end of the school year in which the term
for which the county superintendent of schools was elected or
appointed expires and in no event, for more than four years
and six months. (EC Section 1293)
FISCAL EFFECT: Legislative Counsel has keyed this bill as a
state-mandated local program. According to the Assembly
Appropriations Committee for a substantially similar bill,
unknown, potentially significant General Fund and Proposition 98
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costs to school districts and COEs to the extent permanent
employees seek due process related to dismissal. Costs
associated with due process hearings or other dismissal
proceedings can range from $10,000 to over $100,000 per case,
depending on the scope. It is estimated that 1,300 employees in
small school districts would now be eligible for permanent
status.
COMMENTS: This bill makes substantive changes regarding which
credentialed employees can attain permanent employee status.
This bill requires the following groups to attain permanent
employee status after completing a probationary period:
1)Nonsupervisory certificated employees at COEs, both below and
above 250 ADA and both teaching and non-teaching positions.
2)Nonsupervisory certificated employees at school districts,
with an ADA of 250 or less.
What protections does "permanent employee" status offer to these
employees? "Permanent employee" status guarantees the specific
employees listed in the bill with due process rights if they are
dismissed. In the case of dismissal, "permanent employee"
status allows employees to request a hearing before a Commission
on Professional Competence to decide whether their dismissal was
appropriate. Further, a "permanent employee" has the right to
request a hearing during a reduction in force.
Neumarkel Case: Existing law states that certificated
employees, in teaching positions, at COEs with more than 250 ADA
can achieve permanent status after a probationary period. This
means that certificated employees in nonteaching positions do
not have the right to attain permanent status. This policy
affects groups of certificated employees at COEs such as school
psychologists, counselors and school nurses, among others.
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The sponsors indicate that this bill was spurred by the ruling
in the case of Neumarkel v. Allard, 163 Cal. App. 3d 457 (1985),
which upheld EC Section 1296, stating that certificated
employees, in teaching positions, at COEs with more than 250 ADA
can attain permanent employee status. The Neumarkel v. Allard
case was decided in 1985 and it hasn't been overturned or cited
in any recent court cases. The sponsor indicated that a few
rural COEs have recently dismissed counselors, and that is the
impetus for the bill.
County Offices and Districts with less than 250 ADA: According
to the sponsor, the California Teachers Association, there are
17 COE's with less than 250 ADA and approximately 250 school
districts with less than 250 ADA. This bill will affect those
districts and COEs by requiring that all certificated employees
attain permanent employee status after a probationary period.
According to the author, permanent status establishes a
procedure for dismissing certificated education employees which
guarantees due process and impartial consideration of the facts
when disagreement about the facts exists. Current statutes were
established based on the limited or insecure need for these
instructors, but limits the due process protections for teachers
in the educational environments referenced. Instead of denying
the rights of educators, school employers (whether working with
employees at county offices of education or in communities where
there are few students) should employ the layoff process to
reduce their staffing if needed.
Old Code Sections: This bill deletes code sections that only
apply to employees whose probationary period commenced prior to
the 1983-84 fiscal year and code sections that apply to COEs and
school districts with more or less than 250 ADA. The sponsors
indicated that the intent is to eliminate any code sections that
apply different rules to COEs and districts with more or less
than 250 ADA so that all local education agencies follow the
same requirements.
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Arguments in Support: The California Teachers Association
supports the bill and states, "Under the Education Code,
permanent employees can only be terminated for just-cause or as
part of a layoff. Unfortunately, several classes of certificated
education employees have been inappropriately denied permanent
status based on the need to create fiscal solvency or in
anticipation that the need for services into the future was
insecure; there are currently systems in place to appropriately
reduce staffing if needed. AB 753 will remedy this situation
treating all certificated education employees with dignity,
respect, and professionalism."
Arguments in Opposition: StudentsFirst opposes the bill and
states, "The changes proposed in AB 753 not only ignore the
growing evidence on best practices for reforming tenure across
the country, but also directly undermine the court's ruling in
Vergara v. California. StudentsFirst has long stood with
students and parents in demanding that permanent status be a
meaningful career benchmark for our most outstanding educators.
AB 753 would undermine this vision and move California even
further away from ensuring all students are afforded the
opportunity to learn from high quality educators in every
subject and at every grade level."
Previous Legislation: AB 1619 (Gonzalez) of 2014, which failed
passage in the Senate Education Committee, would have extended
permanent status to:
1)Nonsupervisory certificated employees at COEs, both below and
above 250 ADA and both teaching and non-teaching positions.
2)School district ROC/P instructors.
3)Nonsupervisory certificated employees at school districts,
with an ADA of 250 or less.
AB 165 (Cohn) of 2001, which was held on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee, would have required COE) serving at
least 250 ADA, to grant permanent status to non-supervisory,
non-management employees who work in positions requiring
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certification, if the individual works two consecutive school
years and is rehired for the next (third) year.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Teachers Association
Southern Humboldt Teachers Association
Opposition
Association of California School Administrators
Edvoice
Small School Districts' Association
StudentsFirst
Analysis Prepared by:Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087
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