BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 86
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 13, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 86 (Mendoza) - As Introduced: January 6, 2011
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:6-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill amends the charter school petition process to include
permanent classified employees.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires at least one-half of permanent classified employees
projected to work at the charter school to sign a petition to
establish a new charter school, as specified.
2)Requires at least 50% of permanent classified employees
currently employed at a public school to sign a petition
converting the school into a charter school.
3)Requires a charter school petition to include a signature of a
classified employee indicating he is or she is meaningfully
interested in working at the charter school.
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor absorbable costs, likely less than $80,000, to school
districts to implement this measure. Current law requires
school district governing boards to consider the level of
support for the charter petition by teachers and other employees
of the district.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . A charter school is a public school that may provide
instruction in any of grades K-12. It is usually created or
organized by a group of teachers, parents and community
leaders or a community-based organization. A charter school
AB 86
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may be authorized by an existing local public school board,
county board of education, or the State Board of Education.
Specific goals and operating procedures for the charter school
are detailed in an agreement (charter) between the sponsoring
board and charter organizers. A charter school is generally
exempt from most laws governing school districts, except where
specifically noted in the law.
In order to establish a new charter school or convert an
existing public school into a charter school, a petition must
be submitted to the potential charter authorizer (i.e., local
governing board). Existing law requires a petition for either
a new charter school or conversion charter school to be signed
by a minimum number of teachers. For a new charter school, at
least one-half of the number of teachers estimated to be
employed at the school during its first year of operation must
sign the petition. For a conversion charter school, statute
requires 50% of the permanent teachers employed at the
existing charter school to sign the petition. Likewise, a
teacher's signature must be included in the charter petition,
indicating his or her meaningful interest in teaching at the
charter school.
This bill, sponsored by the Service Employees International
Union, requires charter school petitions to include the
signatures of permanent classified employees, as specified.
Classified employees include custodial staff, teachers' aides,
and clerical staff. A permanent classified employee is an
employee who has passed the probationary period and achieved
permanent status.
2)Number of charter schools . In 2009-10, there were 823 charter
schools enrolling 323,859 students. This number includes 13
charter schools approved by the State Board of Education
(SBE).
3)Previous legislation . AB 2363 (Mendoza), similar to this
measure, failed passage in the Senate Education Committee in
June 2010.
4)Related legislation .
a) AB 360 (Brownley), pending on the Assembly Floor,
requires charter schools to comply with the same conflict
of interest requirements as school districts.
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b) AB 440 (Brownley), pending in this committee,
establishes academic and fiscal accountability standards
related to charter schools.
c) AB 1034 (Gatto), pending in this committee, makes
changes to charter school requirements regarding student
demographic data and admissions requirements, as specified.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081