BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1563
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 9, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 1563 (Norby) - As Introduced: January 30, 2012
SUBJECT : Schools: volunteers: capital maintenance projects.
SUMMARY : Authorizes the governing board of a school district
to permit a person, except a person required to register as a
sex offender, to serve as an unpaid volunteer for a capital
maintenance project in the school district. Specifically, this
bill specifies that to the extent this provision conflicts with
a provision of a collective bargaining agreement entered into by
a public school employer and an exclusive bargaining
representative before January 1, 2013, this provision shall not
apply to the school district until expiration of that collective
bargaining agreement.
EXISTING LAW specifies:
1)That a school district may not abolish any of its classified
positions and utilize volunteer aides, in lieu of classified
employees who are laid off as a result of the abolition of a
position. Specifies a school district shall not refuse to
employ a person in a vacant classified position and use
volunteer aides in lieu of filling the classified position.
(Education Code 35021)
2)Any person, except a person required to register as a sex
offender, may be permitted by the governing board of any
school district to serve as a breakfast or lunch period
monitor, or to serve as a nonteaching volunteer aide under the
immediate supervision and direction of the certificated
personnel of the district to perform noninstructional work
which serves to assist the certificated personnel in
performance of teaching and administrative responsibilities.
With respect to this noninstructional work, the nonteaching
volunteer aide shall serve without compensation of any type or
other benefits accorded to employees of the district.
(Education Code 35021, 44814 and 44815)
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed non-fiscal.
COMMENTS : This bill authorizes a school district to permit a
AB 1563
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person to serve as an unpaid volunteer for a capital maintenance
project in the school district.
According to the author, in a time where schools are facing
devastating cuts to every aspect of their learning environment,
we must be creative in finding solutions to problems that are
unique to each school. There are many capital maintenance
issues in different schools that school boards can't get fixed
due to cuts in personnel and their respective budget. As a
result, there are classrooms that need painting done, trees need
trimming, lawns need mowing and other capital maintenance issues
need resolving. AB 1563 would allow school boards to permit
volunteers to work on capital maintenance projects. AB 1563
follows the same provisions listed in existing law related to
not replacing certified personnel or classified positions and
replacing them with volunteers.
Can Districts do this Already & How does this affect the
District's Insurance? This bill seeks to authorize districts to
use volunteers for capital maintenance projects, however, it
appears that districts can currently use volunteers in this
manner under existing law. According to the California School
Boards Association (CSBA), some school districts use volunteers
to perform capital maintenance projects already. For example,
Solana Beach School District has approved volunteer resolutions,
allowing volunteers to perform these types of activities.
Further examples of districts utilizing volunteers for capital
maintenance projects have also been provided by the California
School Employees Association (CSEA).
CSEA, in their letter of opposition to the bill, argues that
districts have had volunteers work on capital maintenance
projects, and as a result, have had negative ramifications due
to faulty work. This situation raises the question whether a
district's insurance would cover the cost of faulty work
performed by volunteers. Further, some question whether a
district's workers compensation insurance would cover volunteers
if they were injured while performing such work. As an example,
in Solana Beach School District, volunteers are covered by the
district's workers compensation insurance. Volunteers are
covered whether they're working on a project, or driving kids on
a field trip. In addition, faulty work on a maintenance project
would be covered by a district's general property liability
insurance.
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With these examples in mind, the committee should consider
whether it is necessary to specifically authorize school
districts to use volunteers for capital maintenance projects, if
they can already do so under existing law.
Arguments in Opposition : CSEA opposes the bill and argues, this
measure allows volunteers to perform a variety of projects
normally performed by classified school employees, such as
carpenters, painters, electricians, glaziers, plumbers, and
others. Current law allows volunteers to perform capital
projects, subject to collective bargaining. In fact, CSEA has
bargained numerous contracts which allow volunteers to perform
capital projects, with certain protections, including:
The local bargaining representative should be notified
of the project and, in most cases, sign off.
Work should be supervised by a qualified staff member.
Work should not displace current classified employees or
result in layoff, loss of pay, or other takeaways from
current staff.
Volunteers should meet specified criteria, relating to
safety and security of students and school property.
Furthermore, we contend that unfettered authority to perform
capital projects using volunteers is not good policy. We have
experienced numerous problems in the past relating to the use of
volunteers, including:
Volunteers in San Juan Unified improperly installing a
$5000 air conditioning unit, causing total loss to the
district.
Volunteers mowing lawns without resetting blades and
cutting off all sprinkler heads.
Volunteers painting buildings without appropriate prep
work, causing paint to peel and costing the district
thousands of dollars to repair.
Previous Legislation : AB 940 (Campbell) from 1999, which was
held in the Senate Committee on Industrial Relations, would have
allowed any school district to use unpaid parent volunteers to
perform specified jobs around the school if the school board
first adopts a resolution setting out certain conditions.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
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Opposition
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
AFL-CIO
California Federation of Teachers
California School Employees Association
Laborers' International Union of North America
Service Employees International Union California
Analysis Prepared by : Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087