BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-12 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 86
AUTHOR: Mendoza
AMENDED: June 6, 2011
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 15, 2011
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Beth Graybill
SUBJECT : Charter Schools: Petitions.
SUMMARY
This bill expands existing signature requirements for charter
school petitions to include classified employees and requires
the signature petitions to prominently display a statement
that classified employees signing the petition have a
meaningful interest in working at the charter school.
BACKGROUND
Existing law authorizes anyone to develop, circulate, and
submit a petition to establish a charter school. Current law
requires charter developers to collect certain signatures in
support of the petition and requires petitions to include a
prominent statement that a signature means that the person
signing has a meaningful interest in teaching in or having
his or her children attend the school. (Education Code �
47605)
For petitions that propose to establish a new charter
school, the charter developers must obtain the
signatures of either the parents of at least half of the
pupils expected to enroll at the school or half of the
teachers expected to be employed at the school during
its first year of operation.
For petitions that propose to convert an existing public
school to a charter school, the charter developer must
collect the signatures of not less than 50 percent of
the permanent status teachers at the school to be
converted.
ANALYSIS
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This bill :
1) Requires petitions that propose to establish a new
charter school, to meet either of the following
signature requirements:
a) The signatures of either the parents of at
least half of the pupils expected to enroll at the
school for its first year of operation, or
b) A number of teachers and classified employees
that combined is equivalent to at least one-half of
the total number of teachers and
classified employees that the charter school
estimates will be employed at the school during its
first year of operation.
2) Requires a petition to convert an existing public school
to a charter school to be signed by a number of
permanent status teachers and permanent classified
employees that combined is equivalent to at least
one-half of the total number of permanent status
teachers and permanent classified employees that the
charter school estimates will be employed at the school
during its first year of operation.
3) Requires petitions that include the signatures of
classified employees to include a prominent statement
specifying that the signature of a classified employee
means that the employee is meaningfully interested in
working at the charter school.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill : The sponsor of this measure, Service
Employees International Union (SEIU), maintains that
although classified employees play an important role in
the operation of a school, they are generally not
represented in the petition process and do not have a
formal voice in decisions that may impact their
employment. Proponents maintain that while current law
provides classified employees certain rights to be
reassigned to other positions in the district; they are
often at risk of losing their jobs during a charter
school conversion, a risk that has increased in recent
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years due to the fiscal constraints and layoffs many
districts have experienced. The stated intent of AB 86
is to provide parity for classified employees by
entitling them to participate in a charter school
petition process in the same manner as permanent status
teachers.
2) Classified employees . Employees in positions that do
not require certification are considered "classified"
staff, which may include paraprofessionals (teaching
assistants, teacher aids, pupil services aides, and
library aides), office/clerical staff and those that
have administrative support duties, and bus drivers,
custodians, and cafeteria workers. The number of
permanent classified staff at any individual school
varies depending on the type and size of the school,
district resources, and the needs of students. In many
schools, the number of classified staff is about half of
the number of teachers, and many classified staff are
not full-time. For example, for the 2009-10 school
year, Burbank Elementary in the Long Beach Unified
School District had 36 teachers and 19 classified staff,
including 3 paraprofessionals, while C.K. McClatchy High
in the Sacramento Unified School District had 89
full-time teachers and 43 classified staff, of which 22
were paraprofessionals.
3) Conversion charter petition process . Current law
provides teachers the right to participate in a charter
petition process. Certificated staff in non-teaching
positions such as school counselors, librarians, and
other certificated staff may sign petitions, they are
not specifically entitled by law to sign petitions to
convert an existing public school to a charter school.
Yet under the provisions of this bill, classified staff
in non-instruction related positions would be entitled
to sign a conversion petition. By providing all
permanent classified staff the right to sign a petition,
this bill appears to give classified employees greater
rights in the petition process than certificated
employees. Notwithstanding the important contributions
classified staff make to a learning community and the
operation of a school, it could be argued that the
required signatures should be limited to those who have
a meaningful interest of the instruction of students at
the school, such as the teaching staff who will be
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responsible for implementing the educational programs
and will be accountable for student outcomes, parents
who want their children to attend the school and are
also accountable for their pupil's success, and
paraeducators who assist with classroom learning.
Alternatively, if the author's intent is to provide
parity for employees in the charter petition process,
would it make sense to extend this entitlement to all
employees? Staff recommends amendments to substitute
the term "non-supervisorial certificated staff" for the
term "teachers" in subparagraphs (1) and (2) of Section
47605(a).
4) Technical amendment . This bill specifies that petitions
to convert a traditional public school into a charter
must be signed by at least half of the number of
permanent teachers and permanent classified staff that
the charter school estimates will be employed at the
school during its first year of operation. Since this
provision applies to conversion charter schools, and the
intent is to require petitions to be signed by the
existing employees of the school being converted, staff
recommends a technical amendment to delete the language
"that the charter school estimates will be employed in
its first year of operation" and replace that language
with "currently employed at the public school to be
converted."
5) Related and prior legislation . This bill is similar to
AB 2363 (Mendoza, 2010); which would have required
charter school petitioners to obtain the signatures of
half of the number of teachers and half of the number of
classified employees, as specified. This bill was heard
by the Senate Education Committee and failed passage on
a 2-6 vote.
SB 433 (Liu) would require charter schools to comply with
state statutes governing the suspension and expulsion of
pupils. This measure was heard in this Committee on May
4, 2011 and was held at the request of the author.
SB 645 (Simitian) establishes new academic criteria for
charter school renewals. This measure was passed as
amended by this Committee on May 4, 2011 on a 7-1 vote.
AB 401 (Ammiano) limits until January 1, 2017, the total
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number of charter schools authorized to operate at 1,450
and adds additional criteria relating to the disclosure
of relatives of charter school personnel. This measure
is scheduled to be heard in this Committee on June 15,
2011.
AB 360 (Brownley) makes charter schools subject to the Ralph
M. Brown Act or Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, depending
on the entity operating the school. Also subjects
charters to the California Public Records Act and the
Political Reform Act. This measure is scheduled to be
heard in this Committee on June 15, 2011.
AB 440 (Brownley) establishes various academic and fiscal
accountability standards related to charter schools.
AB 1034 (Gatto) requires charter schools to report specified
information relating to pupil demographics and academic
progress, requires charter schools to collect data
regarding pupils who transfer out of the school, and
modifies existing law regarding charter school
admissions.
AB 1741 (Coto, 2010), would have required charter schools
that expect 15% of their pupil population to be English
learners to meet additional petition requirements
relating to the education of those students. This bill
was heard and passed as amended by the Senate Education
Committee and was subsequently held in the Senate Rules
Committee.
AB 1982 (Ammiano, 2010), would have limited until January 1,
2017, the total number of charter schools authorized to
operate at 1450 and prohibits charter schools operated
by a private entity from employing relatives, as
specified. This bill was heard by the Senate Education
Committee and failed passage on a 3-4 vote.
AB 1991 (Arambula, 2010) would have authorized charter school
renewals to be granted for five to ten years. This bill
failed passage in the Assembly Education Committee.
AB 2320 (Swanson, 2010) would have added new requirements to
the charter school petition process, deletes the
authority of a charter school petitioner to submit a
petition to a County Board of Education to serve pupils
that would otherwise be served by the County Office of
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Education, and eliminates the ability of the State Board
of Education to approve charter school petition appeals.
This bill was heard by the Senate Education Committee
and failed passage on a 2-3 vote.
AB 572 (Brownley, 2009) would have required charter schools
to comply with the Brown Act open meeting law, the
California Public Records Act, and the Political Reform
Act. This bill was passed by the Senate Education
Committee and subsequently vetoed by Governor
Schwarzenegger.
ABX5 8 (Brownley, Fifth extraordinary session of 2009) would
have deleted the cap on charter schools and would have
made other changes to provisions governing audit and
fiscal standards, and the authorization, renewal and
revocation of charter schools. The Senate Education
Committee hearing for this bill was canceled at the
request of the author and the bill was subsequently held
by the Committee.
SUPPORT
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
AFL-CIO
Association of California School Administrators
California Charter Schools Association
California Labor Federation
California School Employees Association
Service Employees International Union
OPPOSITION
Charter Schools Development Center