BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1717
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 25, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 1717 (Dickinson) - As Amended: April 17, 2012
SUBJECT : Certificated school district employees.
SUMMARY : Requires increased communication between school
districts, the California Department of Social Services (DSS)
and the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) about adverse
actions taken against employees, licensees, and credential
holders. Specifically, this bill requires :
1)A school district to request that new applicants for a
classified, certificated, temporary or permanent position
provide written information about any current or previously
held license, registration or special permit for a community
care facility or current or prior employment in a community
care facility licensed by the DSS.
2)School district employees to notify the school district in
writing by July 1, 2013 if the employee currently holds or
previously held a license, registration, or special permit for
a community care facility or is currently or was previously
employed by a community care facility licensed by the DSS.
3)A school district to submit an applicant's or employee's name,
birthdate, and driver's license or department of motor
vehicles number to the DSS if the applicant or employee
currently holds or previously held a license, registration or
special permit for a community care facility or if the
applicant or employee is currently or was previously employed
by a community care facility licensed by the DSS.
4)The DSS to include the contact information for the employing
school district in the record of an individual holding a DSS
license, registration, or special permit to operate a
community care facility and in the record of an employee of a
community care facility.
5)The DSS to notify the employing school district and the CTC
within 10 days when the license, registration, or special
permit of an individual who is also employed by a school
AB 1717
Page 2
district is revoked, suspended, forfeited, canceled, or
surrendered on the grounds of conduct inimical to the health,
morals, welfare and safety of an individual in or receiving
services from the community care facility or has an exclusion
on those grounds.
6)A school district to notify the DSS if the employee of the
school district is dismissed on the basis of endangering the
safety of a pupil and the employee holds a license,
registration, or special permit for a community care facility
or is employed by a community care facility licensed by DSS.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides for the licensure and regulation of community care
facilities, under the Community Care Facilities Act, by the
DSS, Community Care Licensing Division.
2)Authorizes the DSS to take enforcement action, including, but
not limited to, actions to suspend, temporarily suspend, or
revoke a license and to impose civil penalties for violations
of rules and regulations established under licensing
provisions governing community care facilities.
3)Authorizes the DSS to prohibit (i.e., exclude) any person from
being a member of the board of directors, an executive
director, or an officer of a licensee, or a licensee from
employing, or continuing to employ, or of allowing in a
licensed facility, or allowing contact with clients of a
licensed community care facility by, any employee, prospective
employee, or person who is not a client who has, among other
things, engaged in conduct which is inimical to the health,
morals, welfare, or safety of either an individual in or
receiving services from the facility, or the people of the
State of California. (Health & Safety Code Section 1558(a))
4)Requires the DSS to provide written notice within 10 days to
the local director of social services and the local county
probation department whenever a license, registration, or
special permit issued to a community care facility is
AB 1717
Page 3
suspended, revoked, temporarily suspended, forfeited,
canceled, or expires.
5)Requires that school districts obtain criminal background
checks from the DOJ concerning applicants for employment in a
position requiring certification qualifications and to request
subsequent arrest service from the DOJ, as provided in the
Penal Code. (Education Code Section 44830.1)
6)Requires the DOJ to provide a school district with information
on convictions for a violent or serious felony, any sex
offense, or any controlled substance offence about an
applicant for employment by a school district.
7)Authorizes the DOJ to provide subsequent arrest notification
to any agency authorized to receive state summary criminal
history information to assist in fulfilling employment,
licensing, or certification duties upon the arrest of any
person whose fingerprints are maintained on file at the DOJ as
the result of an application for licensing, employment,
certification, or approval. (Penal Code Section 11105.2)
8)Prohibits school districts from hiring or retaining a person
who has been convicted of a violent or serious felony in a
position requiring certification qualifications, unless the
conviction is reversed, the person is acquitted in a new trial
or the charges are dismissed, or the person has obtained a
certificate of rehabilitation and pardon, as provided in the
Penal Code. (Education Code Section 44830.1)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Background. This bill is in response to a situation
that occurred at Sam Brannan Middle School in Sacramento City
Unified School District (SCUSD). On March 19, 2007, Preston
Lewis, a special education teacher at Sam Brannan Middle School,
had his foster care license revoked by the DSS under allegations
of misconduct with two children. Law enforcement continued with
a full investigation after his foster care license was revoked.
In May of 2007, SCUSD found out that Lewis was under
investigation by law enforcement and immediately placed the
individual on administrative leave with pay. SCUSD was not
notified of the revocation of the individual's foster care
license.
AB 1717
Page 4
While the DSS had enough evidence to revoke the individual's
foster care facility license, the County Sherriff eventually
cited insufficient evidence for criminal charges. When the
investigation concluded and criminal charges were not filed, the
district could not substantiate a dismissal case against Lewis
and allowed him to return to active teaching duty.
According to the author, if the school district had known that
the individual's DSS foster care license had been revoked, the
district would have had enough evidence and documentation to
take disciplinary action against this individual at an earlier
time. Instead, the teacher was not dismissed until he was
arrested in April of 2011 on six counts of lewd acts with
minors. The delay jeopardized student safety and cost the
district thousands of dollars. The author argues that having a
mechanism for sharing information about adverse actions taken by
the DSS or a school district would better protect students.
For this analysis, an individual who is "authorized" by the DSS
is someone who currently or previously held a license,
registration, or special permit for a community care facility or
who currently or previously was permitted to work in a community
care facility. Community care facilities include foster family
homes, transitional housing placements, group homes, crisis
nurseries, child care centers, family child care homes, adoption
centers, adult day care centers and others.
This bill creates a new statewide system for increasing
communication between the DSS and school districts across the
state. It requires school districts and the DSS to share
information about current and potential school district
employees who have ever been authorized by the DSS.
The new system requires school districts to obtain information
from job applicants and current employees about any
authorizations the person has obtained from the DSS. Upon
receipt of this information, the school district must provide
the person's name, birthdate, and driver's license number or
Department of Motor Vehicles number to the DSS. The DSS, in
turn, is required to include the contact information for the
employing school district in the individual's DSS record. If the
individual's license is revoked, suspended, forfeited, canceled,
or surrendered on the grounds that the holder engaged in conduct
AB 1717
Page 5
inimical to the health, morals, welfare or safety of individuals
in the community care facility or if the individual has an
exclusion on those grounds, this bill requires the DSS to notify
the employing school district and the CTC within 10 days. In
addition, in the event that a school district employee who is
also authorized by the DSS is dismissed on the basis of
endangering the safety of a pupil, the school district must
notify the DSS. Chart 1, below, visually depicts the proposed
new system.
Chart 1. Flow Chart of Proposed New System.
Identifying the exact problem - an information gap. This bill
presents an information gap problem. School districts are
currently unaware of authorizations that their employees may
hold from the DSS. Further, the DSS is unaware of which DSS
authorized individuals work in a school district.
This gap in information means that when the DSS or the school
district takes adverse action against an individual who is
employed by a school district and authorized by the DSS,
information about the adverse action is not necessarily shared
between the agencies. The author argues that both the school
district and the DSS should always be informed when the other
takes an adverse action against a school district employee who
is also authorized by the DSS.
When there is not an information gap between school districts
and the DSS. Under current law, the Department of Justice (DOJ)
notifies school districts of criminal reports on individuals who
are employed by the district. In addition, the DOJ notifies the
DSS when an individual authorized by the DSS is arrested with
criminal charges. For this to occur, the school district and the
DSS must provide certified fingerprint information about the
individual to the DOJ so that they can be added to the
fingerprint-based database used by the DOJ. If a school district
employee who is also authorized by the DSS is arrested, the DOJ
then automatically notifies the school district, DSS, and any
other agency that individual is affiliated with of the criminal
AB 1717
Page 6
arrest. The jurisdiction of the DOJ, however, is solely over
criminal cases. Thus, both the school district and the DSS are
notified when the school district employee and DSS authorized
individual is arrested on criminal charges.
When there is an information gap between school districts and
the DSS. In instances where the individual is not arrested, but
is disciplined administratively by the DSS or the school
district, the notification system breaks down. Instances like
these may result in license revocations, exclusions from
facility grounds, or dismissal from the classroom, but do not
become criminal cases. Since they are not criminal cases, they
do not fall under the jurisdiction of the DOJ. Without the law
enforcement protocols normally taken in criminal proceedings,
such as the certified fingerprint verification, the DOJ is
unable to facilitate the communication of this information.
Thus, there is no other mechanism in place to ensure that the
DSS and the school district are both informed of adverse action
taken by either agency.
This type of scenario can occur because the standard of proof
applied by the DSS in order to take adverse action against an
individual is lower than the standard required for criminal
prosecution and conviction. As a result, individuals can be
punished by adverse action without being faced with criminal
charges. This bill creates a new system to address these types
of instances when adverse action is taken without criminal
charges being pressed.
Many potential structural problems. The proposed new system is
complex with many potential structural pitfalls. It would not be
automated and would require multiple steps to be taken by
different individuals at several critical points in the process.
As a result, there are many potential instances in the process
when procedural flaws could inhibit the desired transmission of
information.
No way to verify self-reported information. Under the new
proposed system, all of the information obtained by a school
district or the DSS is entirely dependent on each individual to
provide such information. While in some instances it can be
expected that an individual would disclose such information in
good faith, this likely would not always be the case. If the
individual has a past offense that gives him or her greater
AB 1717
Page 7
incentive not to be truthful, the individual may simply not
provide the requested information. Without accurate information,
this process will not effectively protect students. The author
argues that the penalty of perjury is a strong enough incentive
for most individuals to provide factual information. The
proposed new system does not incorporate a mechanism or strategy
to address this concern.
Additionally, there are several significant flaws that may
prevent the proposed new system from functioning effectively.
The following issues must be resolved.
Two directional approach. First, this bill attempts to
facilitate two-way communication between the school district and
the DSS. It requires that the school district notify the DSS and
the DSS notify the school district when disciplinary action is
taken. In the proposed system, this occurs at the end of the
process, when disciplinary action is taken. It does not happen,
however, in the gathering of information on the front end of the
process. Only school districts are required to initially obtain
this information about an employee's authorizations issued by
the DSS. This proposed new system would not take into account
individuals who might already be employed by a school district
and decide to apply for a foster care license. The current
system would also entirely miss an individual who was hired by a
district after July 1, 2013 and chose to obtain a DSS license
after joining the school district. This represents two flaws in
the proposed system. Staff recommends requiring the DSS to
notify a school district when a school district employee becomes
authorized by the DSS. This way, after having the entire
population of California educators provide this self-reported
information by July 1, 2013, individuals would be less likely to
slip through cracks in the system. Staff recommends requiring
school district employees to notify the district if they receive
an authorization from DSS within 30 days. Staff further
recommends that individuals authorized by DSS annually update
their employment information with the DSS Community Care
Licensing Division.
Notifying the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Second, for
certificated school district employees, this bill requires the
DSS to notify not just the school district, but also the CTC.
According to the CTC, however, because authorizations given by
the DSS are not always considered to be professional or
AB 1717
Page 8
vocational, investigations into an individual's work would
likely not be processed solely on the basis that the DSS has
taken adverse action against that individual. Only after a
district initiates a dismissal proceeding against an individual
can the CTC open an investigation into the revocation of a
credential. As a result, the notification to the CTC is an
unnecessary step in this process. Staff recommends eliminating
the notification of the CTC.
A more comprehensive approach. This bill specifically focuses
on the sharing of authorization information between the DSS and
local school districts. As the Assembly Human Services Committee
analysis on this bill points out, however, there are numerous
other types of licenses, such as physical therapy, nursing or
counseling licenses that could be revoked from an individual who
is regularly working with children in a school setting. A
broader policy goal that would likely be more effective would be
to increase the availability of information about an
individual's authorization history to school districts and state
agencies across California.
For example, in Oregon, individuals can enter a single database
that includes all statewide credentialing information. Perhaps a
more comprehensive solution to this issue would be to develop a
database that includes all state authorizations (including
licenses, certifications, credentials, permissions, etc.) that
an individual has ever obtained. School districts and state
agencies could be given access to the database to use in
specified and appropriate instances. Such a development would
eliminate the information gap and provide school districts and
agencies the ability to check on other adverse actions taken on
authorizations held by individuals under investigation whenever
an authorized individual is suspected of misconduct.
In this particular instance, the individual was licensed through
the DSS and employed by the SCUSD. It is possible that another
occurrence of this type of situation could occur with an
individual who is authorized by another state agency.
Additionally, a statewide database system like this would
eliminate the significant concern around self-reporting. All of
the information would be available in searchable format for the
state and would not rely on the individual to provide this
information in good faith.
AB 1717
Page 9
Committee Amendments:
1)Require DSS to notify a school district when one of the school
district's employees becomes authorized by DSS.
2)Require school district employees to notify the school
district when they receive an authorization by DSS within 30
days.
3)Require school district employees to update the school
district employer information they provide to the DSS on a
yearly basis.
4)Eliminate the notification of the CTC within 10 days of an
adverse action being taken by the DSS.
Related Legislation. AB 2028 (Knight), currently pending in the
Assembly Appropriations Committee, modifies the procedures for
the dismissal of a certificated employee charged with
misconduct.
SB 1059 (Huff), pending in the Senate Education Committee, also
modifies the procedures for the dismissal of a certificated
employee charged with misconduct.
SB 1530 (Padilla), currently pending in the Senate Education
Committee, also modifies the procedures for the dismissal of a
certificated employee charged with misconduct relating to sex
offenses, controlled substance offenses and offenses relating to
child abuse or neglect.
Prior Legislation. AB 2685 (De La Torre) in 2010, Chapter 129,
Statutes of 2010, requires the Commission on Teacher
Credentialing to make a listing of all credential holders who
have had final adverse action taken against their credential
available to all private schools.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Association of California School Administrators (previous
version)
Riverside County School Superintendents' Association (previous
AB 1717
Page 10
version)
Sacramento City Unified School District (previous version)
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Mark Murphy and Chelsea Kelley / ED. /
(916) 319-2087