BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 1186
AUTHOR: Liu
AMENDED: April 15, 2010
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 21, 2010
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Daniel Alvarez
SUBJECT : K-12 Education Governance
KEY POLICY ISSUE
Would clarity in state level governance of K-12 education
lead to greater accountability and responsibility?
SUMMARY
This bill reshapes the state-level governance structure of
K-12 education.
BACKGROUND
The California Constitution specifies that a Superintendent
of Public Instruction (SPI) shall be elected by the people at
each gubernatorial election. The Constitution provides no
further specification of the duties of the SPI. (Article IX,
Section 2)
The California Constitution requires the Legislature to
provide for the appointment or election of the State Board of
Education. In addition, the state Constitution specifies the
following duties of the SBE: 1) Adopt textbooks for use in
grades one through eight; 2) Appoint, upon the nomination of
the SPI, one Deputy and three Associate Superintendents of
Public Instruction. (Article IX, Section 7)
Current law provides for an eleven member (SBE) appointed by
the Governor for four-year terms, with each appointee subject
to confirmation by a two-thirds vote of the Senate.
(Education Code 33000) In addition, current law provides
that the SBE determines all questions of policy within its
powers. (EC 33000)
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Beginning in 1991, then Governor Wilson created by Executive
Order and appointed a "Secretary of Child Development and
Education" to be his cabinet-level advisor on education
matters. The Legislature refused to approve the statutory
authorization for this position and the Governor was forced
to fund the position with funds redirected from other offices
within the Executive Branch. Governors Davis and
Schwarzenegger have also chosen to appoint a Secretary of
Education as their cabinet-level advisor on education
matters, even though the position still has not been
specifically authorized in statute.
ANALYSIS
This bill makes various changes to the state-level governance
structure of K-12 education related to the State Board of
Education, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and
the establishment of the Secretary of Education.
Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires appointees to the State Board of Education
(SBE) to:
a) Represent and reside in different geographical
regions of the state.
b) Represent the array of disciplines active in
the public education
system including, but not limited to, teachers,
principals, school district administrators and
financial officers, charter school administrators,
county offices of education, school district
governing boards, classified employees, and
parents.
2) Repeals the authority of the SBE "to determine all
questions of policy within its powers" and instead
requires the SBE, together with the Secretary for
Education, to advise the Governor on education policy.
3) Repeals the broad authority of the SBE to adopt
regulations for the government of the K-12 schools that
receive financial support from the state and instead
clarifies the SBE shall adopt rules and regulations not
inconsistent with the laws of the state for its own
procedures.
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4) Clarifies that the SBE shall make recommendations for
the improvement of the administration and efficiency of
the public schools of the state and shall report the
results, and any recommendations that it makes under
this section, to the Governor, as specified.
5) Repeals the SBE power to issue subpoenas to compel the
attendance of witnesses.
6) Establishes the Secretary for Education who shall be
appointed by the Governor and subject to the
confirmation by the Senate. Specifies the Secretary for
Education shall be a cabinet-level officer who, with the
SBE, shall advise the Governor on education policy.
In addition, the bill requires the Secretary for
Education to develop and recommend policies and programs
and fiscal and governance incentives that promote
sharing and consolidation of educational services among
school districts and county offices of education,
expansion of K-12 education to include early childhood
education, and an increase in the ratio of school
counselors to middle and high school pupils.
7) Repeals the requirement that the SPI execute, under
direction of the SBE, the policies which have been
decided upon by the board and instead specifies the role
of the SPI is to ensure delivery of high-quality
education to the pupils of the state from preschool
through grade 12.
8) Requires the responsibilities of the SPI to include
among other things:
a) Establishing educational expectation for
pupils.
b) Apportioning resources to schools.
c) Managing statewide educational and financial
accountability programs.
d) Facilitating educational accountability by
administering and promoting the effective use of
data to measure and improve pupil learning.
9) Defines educational accountability to include, but not
be limited to:
a) Measuring pupil and institutional performance
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to ensure adequate and equitable education and
compliance with special education and civil rights
law.
b) Monitoring the implementation of state and
federal programs.
c) Identifying schools that fail to meet pupil
achievement targets.
d) Defining and implementing intervention
strategies for schools that fail to meet pupil
achievement targets.
10) Clarifies that the Department of Education shall be
administered by the Director of Education who is
appointed by the SPI.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill : According to the author's office,
several studies in the last decade have criticized
California's education governance system and made
recommendations for reform that have yet to be
implemented. All the studies have found the current
system overly complex, inefficient, ineffective, and
lacking in transparency and accountability.
2) Existing statute establishes specific duties for the
SBE and the SPI , however, the various provisions of law
can be confusing and perhaps even overlapping. For
example, the Education Code indicates that the SPI shall
"superintend the schools of this state" and also
specifies that the SBE shall "determine all questions of
policy within its powers."
3) The voters have rejected attempts to eliminate SPI
and increase the authority of the SBE . The elected
Superintendent of Public Instruction has been the
highest ranking education official since 1849. There
have been three initiatives, in 1928, 1958, and 1968
which would have the SPI appointed by the SBE. All
three were rejected by the voters.
4) Policy arguments :
Proponents argue that changes in this measure
will have the effect of ensuring all geographic
areas of the state would have representation on the
SBE.
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Opponents argue that by making the State Board
of Education an advisory body, it removes a
critical access point for the public. The SBE
operates independently and seeks to affect their
decision-making authority based on the best
information before them and less likely to be
swayed by politics. By making the SBE advisory
body removes a degree of transparency to the
public.
SUPPORT
Small School District Association
OPPOSITION
California Charter School Association