BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1007
Page 1
GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB 1007 (Carter)
As Amended July 23, 2009
2/3 vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |63-12|(May 18, 2009) |SENATE: |27-10|(September 3, |
| | | | | |2009) |
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|ASSEMBLY: |60-15|(September 9, | | | |
| | |2009) | | | |
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Original Committee Reference: ED.
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 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.
The Senate amendments make technical amendments to renumber this
statutory language, and add a coauthor.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the submission of a petition requesting that the
AB 1007
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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 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.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar
to the version passed by the Senate.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
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."
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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. However, 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 currently allows 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.
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE :
"I am unaware of any school board intentionally withholding
action on a student representation petition. Therefore, I
believe this bill is unnecessary."
AB 1007
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Analysis Prepared by : Gerald Shelton / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0003374