BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 1452
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|Author: |Hadley |
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|Version: |February 27, 2015 Hearing Date: |
| | June 17, 2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |No |
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|Consultant:|Lenin Del Castillo |
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Subject: Certificated employees: personnel files:
expungement: egregious ????..misconduct
SUMMARY
This bill prohibits school districts, county offices of
education and charter schools from expunging from an employee's
personnel file credible complaints of, substantiated
investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct.
BACKGROUND
Existing law specifies that school districts, county offices of
education, and charter schools are prohibited from entering into
an agreement that would authorize expunging from a school
employee's personnel file credible complaints of, substantiated
investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct.
Egregious misconduct includes sex offenses, controlled substance
offenses and child abuse and neglect offenses. However, this
prohibition does not preclude any agreement to remove documents
containing allegations that have been the subject of a hearing
before an arbitrator, school board, personnel commission,
Commission on Professional Competence, or administrative law
judge, in which the employee prevailed, the allegations were
determined to be false, not credible, or unsubstantiated, or a
determination was made that the discipline was not warranted.
(Education Code § 44939.5)
ANALYSIS
AB 1452 (Hadley) Page 2
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This bill prohibits school districts, county offices of
education, and charter schools from expunging from an employee's
personnel file credible complaints of, substantiated
investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct, as
defined in Education Code § 44932.
STAFF COMMENTS
1)Need for the bill. According to the author's office, this
bill would prohibit a school district, administrator or
charter school from purging credible substantiated cases of
abuse or neglect where the district has made a decision not to
discipline a teacher based on an accusation of egregious or
immoral acts. This will preserve an important record for
current and future administrators to determine if there is a
pattern of behavior that suggests children may be at risk.
This will also allow prosecutors to build a more solid case
when a teacher is accused of new acts of egregious or immoral
behavior. By the same token, the absence of such accusations
in an employee's personnel record would also be a more
meaningful fact in establishing the possible innocence of an
accused employee, if parents, administrators and courts can
rely upon such records not to have been previously expunged.
2)Closing a loophole. Among other things, AB 215 (Buchanan,
Chapter 55, Statutes of 2014) established the prohibition for
school districts to enter into an agreement that would
authorize expunging a teacher's record of credible complaints
of, substantiated investigations into, or discipline for,
egregious misconduct. Egregious misconduct includes sex
offenses, controlled substance offenses, and child abuse and
neglect offenses, as specified. According to the author's
office, AB 215 did not expressly prohibit an administrator or
school district from unilaterally expunging a teacher's record
and as a result, a school district could purge personnel files
of egregious misconduct complaints as part of a district
policy. This bill is intended to close that loophole.
3)Prior and related legislation. AB 215 (Buchanan, Chapter 55,
Statutes of 2014) made various changes to the dismissal
process for certificated employees.
AB 1452 (Hadley) Page 3
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SUPPORT
EdVoice
OPPOSITION
None received.
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