BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1007
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1007 (Carter)
As Amended April 15, 2009
Majority vote
EDUCATION 9-0 APPROPRIATIONS 15-1
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|Ayes:|Brownley, Nestande, |Ayes:|De Leon, Ammiano, Charles |
| |Ammiano, Arambula, | |Calderon, Davis, Duvall, |
| |Carter, Eng, Miller, | |Fuentes, Hall, Harkey, |
| |Solorio, Torlakson | |Miller, John A. Perez, |
| | | |Price, Skinner, Solorio, |
| | | |Audra Strickland, |
| | | |Torlakson |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+---------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Nielsen |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Amends current law governing the appointment of non-voting
pupil members to school district governing boards. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Requires the governing board of a school district maintaining one
or more high schools to make its currently required appointment of
one or more non-voting pupils to the board upon receipt of a pupil
petition requesting this, within 30 days of receipt of that
petition or at its next regularly scheduled meeting if no meeting
is held within those 30 days.
2)Authorizes, explicitly, the governing board of a school district
to create a student advisory board to assist any pupil members of
the governing board in their duties, and allows the governing
board to determine the structure and composition of such a board.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the submission of a petition requesting that the
governing board of a school district maintaining one or more high
schools, appoint one or more non-voting pupils to the board, and
requires such petitions to contain the signatures of either not
less than 500 pupils enrolled in the district's high schools or
AB 1007
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not less than 10% of the district's high school enrollment,
whichever is less.
2)Requires the governing board to appoint one or more pupil members
upon submission of a valid pupil petition requesting such an
appointment.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
minor absorbable General Fund/Proposition 98 reimbursable mandated
costs to comply with these requirements.
COMMENTS : Current law requires a school district governing board to
appoint one or more non-voting pupil members if its pupils validly
petition the board to do so; there is currently no amount of time
specified within which the board must make this appointment. The
permissive nature of the Education Code also allows a governing
board to make such appointments in the absence of a petition should
the board choose to do so. This bill requires appointments,
following submission of a valid pupil petition, to be made within 30
days or at the next board meeting if no board meeting is held within
that 30-day period. This bill also authorizes a school district
governing board to establish a student advisory board, structured,
and composed per the board's specifications, to aid and advise any
pupil members of the board.
According to the author, "At present, students may submit a petition
to the Governing Board of a school district requesting the addition
of a Student Board Member to the Governing Board. However, there
exists no period of time in which the Governing Board must respond,
leaving an ambiguous area in the Education Code." The author goes
on to state the intent of this bill, "?AB 1007 seeks to clarify
existing law and provide a period of time in which the Governing
Board of a school district must respond to a student-submitted
petition."
There are likely benefits to having pupil members on school district
governing boards, in that those members would be better able to
represent and advise their governing boards from the perspective of
the nearly two million high school pupils in the state. In 2008 the
California School Boards Association (CSBA) conducted a survey of
California's 420 school districts with enrollment in any of grades
9-12; according to CSBA, 62 district governing boards (44%), of the
141 districts responding, had one or more pupil members.
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It is unclear that there is a problem with school district governing
boards, either knowingly or inadvertently, delaying action following
the receipt of a pupil petition requesting that the board appoint a
non-voting pupil member. If there is no problem, then this proposal
to place a deadline on the appointment of a pupil member may be
solving a problem that does not exist.
The bill also proposes to authorize school district governing boards
to create a student advisory board to aid and advise pupil board
members; the advisory board would provide an even broader student
perspective, that could then be passed on to the governing board
through its pupil member(s). In addition, such an activity would
have an educational benefit for the students participating on the
student advisory board in the same manner that other student
activities, such as participation in student council, benefit
students and build a better understanding of leadership and civic
responsibility. It is not surprising that the California
Association of Student Councils is the sponsor of this bill. It
should also be noted that, while such a student advisory board would
be beneficial, the permissive nature of the Education Code would
currently allow governing boards to create such an advisory board
and to provide this type of activity to the district's students;
however, explicitly stating the authority to provide such a
beneficial activity may help to move some governing boards in the
direction of doing so.
Previous legislation: AB 1897 (Reyes), vetoed in 2004, would have
required the governing board of a school district to appoint to its
membership a preferential voting pupil member, and also require
school districts with more than one high school to select a pupil
member from a different high school each year on a rotating basis.
AB 3686 (Becerra), Chapter 141, Statutes of 1992, authorizes a
governing board to adopt a resolution allowing the nonvoting or
preferential voting member to make motions to the board. AB 2226
(Bates), vetoed in 1991, would have eliminated the student petition
process necessary for a student member to be appointed to the school
board; and, instead required school boards to appoint one or more
non-voting pupil members. AB 2998 (O'Connell), Chapter 220,
Statutes of 1990, authorizes non-voting student members of local
school boards to receive preferential voting rights (the right to
make a formal expression of opinion that is recorded in the minutes,
but is not included in the official vote of the board) upon
submission of a student petition, that may be the same petition used
to request student representation to the board.
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Analysis Prepared by : Gerald Shelton / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0000619