BILL NUMBER: SB 1331 CHAPTERED 09/23/00 CHAPTER 584 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 23, 2000 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 22, 2000 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 30, 2000 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 25, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 7, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 28, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 11, 2000 INTRODUCED BY Senator Alpert JANUARY 5, 2000 An act to amend Section 42127.8 of, and to add and repeal Section 42127.85 of, the Education Code, relating to school districts. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 1331, Alpert. School districts: fiscal crisis: hiring process. Existing law establishes a County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, operated by a county office of education, to provide fiscal management assistance and other services at the request of a school district or county office of education. This bill would also require the team to conduct a review, make recommendations, and provide technical assistance to streamline and improve the hiring process and related personnel system of a school district if the district meets certain criteria. The bill would require these provisions to be implemented only to the extent funding is provided for these purposes, would require annual reports to the Legislature, and would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2006, unless a later enacted statute extends or deletes that date. The bill would clarify that the $1,000,000 reappropriated to the State Department of Education for allocation to the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team contained in a specified item of the Budget Act of 2000 is also available for costs incurred by the team pursuant to this bill. This provision would not constitute an appropriation because the costs incurred by the team pursuant to this bill are within the purposes for which the $1,000,000 was reappropriated. To the extent this bill would require a county office of education operating the team under existing law to perform new or additional duties, it would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement, including the creation of a State Mandates Claims Fund to pay the costs of mandates that do not exceed $1,000,000 statewide and other procedures for claims whose statewide costs exceed $1,000,000. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 42127.8 of the Education Code is amended to read: 42127.8. (a) The governing board provided for in subdivision (b) shall establish a unit to be known as the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team. The team shall consist of persons having extensive experience in school district budgeting, accounting, data processing, telecommunications, risk management, food services, pupil transportation, purchasing and warehousing, facilities maintenance and operation, and personnel administration, organization, and staffing. The Superintendent of Public Instruction may appoint one employee of the State Department of Education to serve on the unit. The unit shall be operated under the immediate direction of an appropriate county office of education selected jointly, in response to an application process, by the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Secretary for Education. (b) The unit established under subdivision (a) shall be selected and governed by a 23-member governing board consisting of one representative chosen by the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association from each of the 11 county service regions designated by the association, 11 superintendents of school districts chosen by the Association of California School Administrators from each of the 11 county service regions, and one representative from the State Department of Education chosen by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The governing board of the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team shall select a county superintendent of schools to chair the unit. (c) The Superintendent of Public Instruction may request the unit to provide the assistance described in subdivision (b) of Section 1624, Section 1630, Section 33132, subdivision (b) of Section 42127.3, subdivision (c) of Section 42127.6, Section 42127.9, and subdivision (a) of Section 42238.2, and to review the fiscal and administrative condition of any county office of education. (d) In addition to the functions described in subdivision (c), the unit shall do all of the following: (1) Provide fiscal management assistance, at the request of any school district or county office of education. Each school district or county office of education receiving that assistance shall be required to pay the onsite personnel costs and travel costs incurred by the unit for that purpose, pursuant to rates determined by the governing board established under subdivision (b). The governing board annually shall distribute rate information to each school district and county office of education. (2) Facilitate training for members of the governing board of the school district, district and county superintendents, chief financial officers within the district, and schoolsite personnel whose primary responsibility is to address fiscal issues. Training services shall emphasize efforts to improve fiscal accountability and expand the fiscal competency of local agencies. The unit shall use state professional associations, private organizations, and public agencies to provide guidance, support, and the delivery of any training services. (3) Facilitate fiscal management training through the 10 county service regions to county office of education staff to ensure that they develop the technical skills necessary to perform their fiduciary duty. The governing board established pursuant to subdivision (b) shall determine the extent of the training that is necessary to comply with this paragraph. (4) Produce a training calendar, to be disseminated semiannually to each county service region, that publicizes all of the fiscal training services that are being offered at the local, regional, and state levels. (e) The governing board shall reserve not less than 25 percent, nor more than 50 percent, of its revenues each year for expenditure for the costs of contracts and professional services as management assistance to school districts or county superintendents of schools in which the board determines that a fiscal emergency exists. (f) The governing board established under subdivision (b) may levy an annual assessment against each county office of education that elects to participate under this section in an amount not to exceed twenty cents ($0.20) per unit of total average daily attendance for all school districts within the county. The revenues collected pursuant to that assessment shall be applied to the expenses of the unit. (g) The governing board established under subdivision (b) may pay to the State Department of Education, from any available funds, a reasonable amount to reimburse the department for actual administrative expenses incurred in the review of the budgets and fiscal conditions of school districts and county superintendents of schools. (h) When employed as a fiscal adviser by the State Department of Education pursuant to Section 1630, employees of the unit established pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be considered employees of the department for purposes of errors and omissions liability insurance. SEC. 2. Section 42127.85 is added to the Education Code, immediately following Section 42127.8, to read: 42127.85. (a) In addition to the functions described in subdivisions (c) and (d) of Section 42127.8, the unit established pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 42127.8 shall conduct a review, make recommendations, and provide technical assistance, including a followup review and report, to streamline and improve the hiring process and related personnel system of a school district if the school district meets all of the following criteria: (1) The school district has requested for at least three consecutive years a variable term waiver pursuant to subdivision (m) of Section 44225 for authorization to hire teachers with emergency permits. For each of these three years, the number of emergency permits that the school district has requested either exceeds 20 percent of the school district's estimated need for credentialed teachers, or exceeds 50 permits, whichever is more. (2) The number of emergency permits the district has requested in its latest declaration of need for fully qualified educators either exceeds 20 percent of the school district's estimated need for credentialed teachers, or exceeds 50 permits, whichever is more. (b) School districts shall not be required to pay for the costs incurred by the unit in conducting any activities pursuant to this section or providing any related assistance. Costs incurred by the unit shall be pursuant to rates determined by the governing board established under subdivision (b) of Section 42127.8, and it is the intent of the Legislature that the costs shall be funded through the annual Budget Act. (c) This section shall be implemented only to the extent funding is provided for these purposes. (d) First priority for a review pursuant to this section shall be given to school districts participating in a Teacher Recruitment Incentive Program consortium pursuant to Chapter 3.44 (commencing with Section 44751) of Part 25. (e) Except for a followup review and report, a school district shall not receive a review of its personnel systems pursuant to this section any more frequently than once in any five-year period. (f) (1) To the extent that the number of school districts that qualify for unit review pursuant to this section exceeds that capacity of unit funding or staffing resources, the unit shall select a representative sample of school districts to be reviewed. (2) The sample shall be representative of the diverse geography, size, and population density (urban, suburban, or rural) of the school districts in question. (3) Within the sample, priority shall be given to school districts with the greatest population of pupils attending schools with scores in the lowest half of the state Academic Performance Index. (4) Review pursuant to this section shall not be conducted on more than five school districts with average daily attendance of 1,500 or less. (g) Any school district that qualifies for review under this section may elect not to participate if any of the following conditions are met: (1) Of the schools within the school district, the schools that scored a 5 or less on the state Academic Performance Index have fewer than 20 percent of their teachers on emergency permits. (2) The school district has requested emergency permits for more than 50 teachers, but fewer than 15 percent of their total estimated need for credentialed teachers. (3) The school district has an average daily attendance of 1,500 or less. (h) The unit shall report its activities annually to the Legislature and shall report in a summarized format on January 1, 2005. (i) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2006, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2006, deletes or extends that date. SEC. 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the one-million-dollar ($1,000,000) reappropriation to the State Department of Education for allocation to the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team contained in subdivision (e) of Item 6110-485 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2000 shall also be available for costs incurred by the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team pursuant to Section 42127.85 of the Education Code. SEC. 4. Notwithstanding Section 17610 of the Government Code, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code. If the statewide cost of the claim for reimbursement does not exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000), reimbursement shall be made from the State Mandates Claims Fund.