BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2363
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 7, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 2363 (Mendoza) - As Amended: March 23, 2010
SUBJECT : Charter schools: authorization.
SUMMARY : Requires, in addition to the existing signature
requirements, a charter school petition to include signatures
from at least 50% of the number of classified employees the
petitioner estimates that will be employed by the charter school
in the first year of operation; requires a conversion charter
school petition to include 50% of the permanent classified
employees currently employed at the school that is to be
converted to a charter school; and, requires the signature
petition to prominently display a statement that the classified
employee has a meaningful interest in working at the charter
school.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the Charter Schools Act of 1992 which authorizes a
school district, a county board of education or the state
board of education (SBE) to approve or deny a petition for a
charter school to operate independently from the existing
school district structure as a method of accomplishing, among
other things, improved student learning.
2)Establishes a process for the submission of a petition for the
establishment of a charter school. Authorizes a petition,
identifying a single charter school to operate within the
geographical boundaries of the school district, to be
submitted to the school district. Authorizes, if the
governing board of a school district denies a petition for the
establishment of a charter school, the petitioner to elect to
submit the petition to the county board of education.
Authorizes, if the county board of education denies the
charter, the petitioner to submit the petition to the SBE.
Authorizes a school that serves a countywide service to submit
the charter petition directly to the county office of
education. Authorizes a school that serves a statewide
purpose to go directly to the SBE.
3)Requires a petition seeking to establish a new charter school
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to include signatures of at least one half of the parents or
guardians of students that the petitioner expects to enroll in
the charter school in the first year of operation, or
signatures by a number of teachers that is equal to at least
half the teachers estimated to be employed at the charter
school in the first year of operation.
4)Requires a petition seeking to convert an existing public
school to a charter school, to include the signatures of no
less than 50% of the permanent status teachers employed at the
public school proposed to be converted to a charter school.
5)Requires the charter school signature petition to prominently
display a statement that the signatures represent that either
the parents have a meaningful interest in having their child
attend the charter school, or the teachers have a meaningful
interest in teaching at the charter school.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : According to the California Department of Education
(CDE), the 2008-09 count of operating charter schools is 746
with student enrollment of more than 285,000 in this state.
This includes 4 statewide benefit charters and 8 SBE-approved
charters. Some charter schools are new, while others are
conversions from existing public schools. Charter schools are
part of the state's public education system and are funded by
public dollars. A charter school is usually created or
organized by a group of teachers, parents and community leaders,
a community-based organization, or an education management
organization. Charter schools are authorized by school district
boards, county boards of education or the state board of
education. A charter school is generally exempt from most laws
governing school districts, except where specifically noted in
the law. Specific goals and operating procedures for the charter
school are detailed in an agreement (or "charter") between the
sponsoring board and charter organizers.
Background on Classified Employees . This bill requires charter
school petitions to include 50% of the classified employees the
charter school estimates will be employed by the charter school;
and, requires, for a conversion charter school petition, 50% of
the permanent classified employees currently employed at the
school to be converted. The term "permanent classified
employee" refers to employees who have passed their probationary
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term and have achieved permanent status in their classification.
Existing law requires conversion charter school petitions to
attain signatures from 50% of the permanent status teachers that
currently work at a school to be converted. The provisions of
this bill achieve parity with regard to the signatures required
from permanent teachers by requiring signatures from permanent
classified staff, who are also at risk of losing their jobs.
According to the sponsor of this bill, the Service Employees
International Union (SEIU), 10,000 classified employees have
been laid off this year. Unlike teachers, classified employees
only need a 30 day notice to be laid off. Due to this limited
notice and recent state budget crisis, classified employees can
often be laid off in higher proportions than teachers.
Would this make petitioning for a charter school more difficult ?
Requiring 50% of permanent classified staff to sign a
conversion charter school petition will raise the number of
total signatures required for the petition. The committee
should consider how including classified employees in the
signature requirement will make the conversion petition process
more difficult.
The number of permanent classified staff at an individual
schoolsite varies greatly depending on the type of school, size
of school and resources at the schoolsite. Therefore, it is
difficult to access whether attaining these additional
signatures will be a difficult barrier for a conversion charter
school petition. One could estimate that on a given schoosite,
this signature requirement could vary from as few as 3
signatures to nearly 60 signatures, in addition to the
signatures required for teachers. According to SEIU, the number
of classified staff changes from school site to school site
depending on their need for aides for English language learners
and special education students. In addition, some schools have
paid security personnel and playground supervisors while some do
not. It is very hard to have an exact number because classified
staffing is driven on an as needed basis and funding basis.
According to the author, this bill would provide classified
employees the same rights as those afforded to teachers by
allowing classified employees to participate in the petition
signature process in the same manner as teachers when
establishing new charter schools or converting existing schools
into charters. The bill would establish a fair process for
classified employees to present some show of interest in being
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employed by a charter school. This bill is a simple parity
proposal. Currently, classified employees have no voice in the
establishment of charter schools which could potentially impact
their employment.
According to the sponsor of the bill, SEIU, "When seeking to
convert an existing public school to a charter, the petition must
include the signatures of no less than 50% of the teachers at the
public school proposed to be converted to a charter. The
signatures establish that half of the teachers have a meaningful
interest in being employed by a charter school. Even though
charter schools impact classified employees, they have no voice in
the establishment of charter schools. AB 2363 would simply
provide parity for classified employees by allowing them to enjoy
the same rights that are currently afforded to teachers in the
charter school petition process."
Related legislation : AB 1741 (Coto), pending in the Assembly
Education Committee, requires a local educational agency (LEA)
that identifies a persistently lowest-achieving school (PLAS)
and chooses to implement a restart model, as described in
federal regulations, by converting the school or closing and
reopening the school under a charter school operator or a
charter management organization (CMO), to select a charter
school operator or CMO that demonstrates specified requirements
relative to meeting the needs of English learners (ELs).
AB 1982 (Ammiano) from 2010, pending referral in the Assembly
Rules Committee, establishes a cap on the number of charter
schools that can be authorized in California, and makes other
changes to charter school authorization process.
AB 1991 (Arambula) from 2010, pending referral in the Assembly
Rules Committee, establishes a charter school renewal process
for charter schools identified as persistently lowest achieving.
AB 1950 (Brownley) from 2010, pending referral in the Assembly
Rules Committee, requires enhanced charter school fiscal and
academic accountability standards.
AB 2320 (Swanson) from 2010, pending in the Assembly Education
Committee, requires charter school petitions to describe the
different and innovative teaching methods the school will use,
how the school will provide vigorous competition and stimulate
continual improvements within the public school system, and the
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means by which the school will achieve a balance of pupils who
live in poverty, are English learners or are individuals with
exceptional needs; deletes the authorization for the state board
of education (SBE) to approve charter school petitions on
appeal; and, limits state wide benefit charter schools to those
that partner with specific entities.
AB 2543 (Lowenthal), pending in the Assembly Education
Committee, requires the governing board of a school district or
a county board of education to approve or deny a charter school
renewal petition no later than December 1 of the renewal year;
and, authorizes a charter school to appeal a district board's
denial of a renewal petition to the county board of education,
or a county board's denial of a renewal petition to the state
board, within 30 days of the date of the denial.
AB 572 (Brownley) from 2009, pending on the Senate Floor,
requires charter schools to comply with the same conflict of
interest requirements as school districts.
Previous legislation : AB 8 X5 (Brownley) from 2009 proposed
comprehensive changes to the Education Code consistent with the
federal Race to the Top (RTTT) program; this bill addressed the
four RTTT policy reform areas of standards and assessments, data
systems to support instruction, great teachers and leaders and
turning around the lowest-achieving schools. Deleted the
statewide charter school cap; proposed enhanced charter school
fiscal and academic accountability standards. This bill was
held in the Senate Education Committee at the request of the
author.
AB 3 X5 (Torlakson) from 2009 deleted the statewide charter
school cap and proposed changes to the measurable student
outcomes, renewal and revocation procedures for charter schools.
This bill was introduced but was not referred to a committee.
AB 2115 (Mullin) from 2008 required charter schools to adopt and
comply with a conflict of interest policy that required its
governing board members to abide by the same conflict of
interest requirements as local education agency governing board
members. The bill was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger with
the following message: "Not only would this bill create state
mandated costs for charter schools to comply with its
provisions, the measure runs counter to the intent of charter
schools, which were created to be free from many of the laws
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governing schools districts."
AB 1772 (Garcia) from 2008 required charter schools to adopt and
comply with a conflict of interest policy that required its
governing board members to abide by the same conflict of
interest requirements as local education agency governing board
members. The measure was held in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee at the author's request.
AB 1197 (Wiggins) of 2004 specified that individuals who govern
charter schools shall file statements of economic interest under
the Political Reform Act. The bill failed passage on the Senate
Floor.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Service Employees International Union (Sponsor)
California Federation of Teachers
California School Employees Association
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087