BILL NUMBER: AB 2417 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Block
FEBRUARY 24, 2012
An act to amend Sections 44949 and 44955 of the Education Code,
relating to school employees, and declaring the urgency thereof, to
take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2417, as introduced, Block. San Diego Unified School District:
certificated school employees: layoff: notice.
Existing law requires specified school district officials to give
a preliminary notice to the governing board and certificated
employees when it is recommended that a notice be given to employees
that their services are to be terminated pursuant to a reduction in
the workforce for the next school year and the reasons for that
reduction. Existing law requires that this preliminary notice be
given by March 15. Existing law requires the final notice that an
employee's services will be terminated for the next year pursuant to
a reduction in the workforce to be given to the employee by May 15.
This bill would extend the deadlines for the notices described
above for the 2011-12 fiscal year for the San Diego Unified School
District to June 15 and August 15, respectively. The bill would also
make a conforming change and technical, nonsubstantive changes.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to
the necessity of a special statute for the San Diego Unified School
District.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated
local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) According to the San Diego Unified School District, the May
revision of the proposed budget and the annual Budget Act provide
more predictive information for purposes of the district's budgetary
and personnel decisions than the January budget proposed by the
Governor. The San Diego Unified School District expects this to be
the case again this year.
(b) Existing law requires school districts to issue preliminary
reduction in force notices by March 15 and final reduction in force
notices by May 15 of each year.
(c) As a result of this law and in order to guarantee that it will
remain fiscally solvent, for the past five years, the San Diego
Unified School District has relied on the January budget proposed by
the Governor to determine the number of layoff notices that it must
give to its employees. This results in hundreds of teachers receiving
notices that are later rescinded when more accurate information is
available in May when the proposed budget is revised and later when
the annual Budget Act is enacted.
(d) Given the evidence that the existing statutory deadlines hurt
its schools, the San Diego Unified School District and the bargaining
unit of its certificated employees have determined that for the
2011-12 fiscal year it will be more productive for the schools,
pupils, and teachers of the district if the deadlines for giving
notice to certificated employees that the school district may
terminate their services are extended by three months.
(e) Because of its particular circumstances, the San Diego Unified
School District and the bargaining unit of its certificated
employees anticipate that this act will result in fewer layoffs and
greater stability for the district's pupils and schools.
SEC. 2. Section 44949 of the Education Code is amended to read:
44949. (a) (1) (A) No
later than March 15 and before an employee is given notice by the
governing board that his or her services will not be required for the
ensuing next school year for the
reasons specified in Section 44955, the governing board and the
employee shall be given written notice by the superintendent of the
district or his or her designee, or in the case of a district
which that has no superintendent by the
clerk or secretary of the governing board, that it has been
recommended that the notice be given to the employee, and stating the
reasons therefor for that notice .
Until
(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), subdivision (c), and any
other law, for the 2011-12 fiscal year the deadline specified in
subparagraph (A) shall be extended to June 15 for the San Diego
Unified School District and the deadline specified in subdivision (c)
shall be extended to August 7.
(2) Until the employee has
requested a hearing as provided in subdivision (b) or has waived his
or her right to a hearing, the notice and the reasons therefor shall
be confidential and shall not be divulged by any person, except as
may be necessary in the performance of duties. However, the
The violation of this requirement of
confidentiality, in and of itself, shall not in any manner be
construed as affecting the validity of any hearing conducted pursuant
to this section.
(b) The employee may request a hearing to determine if there is
cause for not reemploying him or her for the ensuing
next school year. A request for a hearing shall
be in writing and shall be delivered to the person who sent the
notice pursuant to subdivision (a), on or before a date specified in
that subdivision, which shall not be less than seven days after the
date on which the notice is served upon the employee. If an employee
fails to request a hearing on or before the date specified, his or
her failure to do so shall constitute his or her waiver of his or her
right to a hearing. The notice provided for in subdivision (a) shall
advise the employee of the provisions of this subdivision.
(c) In the event If a hearing is
requested by the employee, the proceeding shall be conducted and a
decision made in accordance with Chapter 5 (commencing with Section
11500) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code
, and the governing board shall have all the power granted to
an agency therein in that chapter ,
except that all of the following shall apply:
(1) The respondent shall file his or her notice of defense, if
any, within five days after service upon him or her of the accusation
, and he or she shall be notified of this five-day period
for filing in the accusation.
(2) The discovery authorized by Section 11507.6 of the Government
Code shall be available only if request is made therefor within 15
days after service of the accusation, and the notice required by
Section 11505 of the Government Code shall so indicate.
(3) The hearing shall be conducted by an administrative law judge
who shall prepare a proposed decision, containing findings of fact
and a determination as to whether the charges sustained by the
evidence are related to the welfare of the schools and the pupils
thereof of the schools . The proposed
decision shall be prepared for the governing board and shall contain
a determination as to the sufficiency of the cause and a
recommendation as to disposition. However, the
The governing board shall make the final determination as
to the sufficiency of the cause and disposition. None of the
findings, recommendations, or determinations contained in the
proposed decision prepared by the administrative law judge shall be
binding on the governing board. Nonsubstantive procedural errors
committed by the school district or governing board of the school
district shall not constitute cause for dismissing the charges unless
the errors are prejudicial errors. Copies of the proposed decision
shall be submitted to the governing board and to the employee on or
before May 7 of the year in which the proceeding is commenced. All
expenses of the hearing, including the cost of the administrative law
judge, shall be paid by the governing board from the district funds.
The governing board may adopt from time to time such
rules and procedures not inconsistent with provisions of this section
as may be necessary to effectuate this section.
(d) Any notice or request shall be deemed sufficient when it is
delivered in person to the employee to whom it is directed, or when
it is deposited in the United States registered mail, postage prepaid
and addressed to the last known address of the employee.
(e) If after request for hearing pursuant to subdivision (b) any
continuance is granted pursuant to Section 11524 of the Government
Code, the dates prescribed in subdivision (c) which occur on or after
the date of granting the continuance and the date prescribed in
subdivision (c) of Section 44955 which occurs after the date of
granting the continuance shall be extended for a period of time equal
to the continuance.
SEC. 3. Section 44955 of the Education Code is amended to read:
44955. (a) No A permanent employee
shall not be deprived of his or her position for causes
other than those specified in Sections 44907 and 44923, and Sections
44932 to 44947, inclusive, and a probationary employee shall not be
deprived of his or her position for cause other than as specified in
Sections 44948 to 44949, inclusive.
(b) Whenever (1) If
in any school year the average daily attendance in all of the
schools of a district for the first six months in which school is in
session shall have declined below the corresponding period of either
of the previous two school years, whenever if
the governing board determines that attendance in a district
will decline in the following next school
year as a result of the termination of an interdistrict tuition
agreement as defined in Section 46304, whenever
if a particular kind of service is to be reduced or
discontinued not later than the beginning of the following
next school year, or whenever
if the amendment of state law requires the modification
of curriculum, and when if in the
opinion of the governing board of the district it shall have become
necessary by reason of any of these conditions to decrease the number
of permanent employees in the district, the governing board may
terminate the services of not more than a corresponding percentage of
the certificated employees of the district, permanent as well as
probationary, at the close of the school year. Except as otherwise
provided by statute law , the services
of no a permanent employee may
shall not be terminated under the
provisions of this section while any probationary employee,
or any other employee with less seniority, is retained to render a
service which said that the permanent
employee is certificated and competent to render.
In
(2) In computing a decline in
average daily attendance for purposes of this section for a newly
formed or reorganized school district, each school of the district
shall be deemed to have been a school of the newly formed or
reorganized district for both of the two previous school years.
As
(3) As between employees who first
rendered paid service to the district on the same date, the
governing board shall determine the order of termination solely on
the basis of needs of the district and the students thereof
pupils of the district . Upon the request of any
employee whose order of termination is so determined, the governing
board shall furnish in writing no later than five days prior
to before the commencement of the hearing held
in accordance with Section 44949, a statement of the specific
criteria used in determining the order of termination and the
application of the criteria in ranking each employee relative to the
other employees in the group. This requirement that the governing
board provide, on request, a written statement of reasons for
determining the order of termination shall not be interpreted to give
affected employees any legal right or interest that would not exist
without such a requirement.
(c) (1) (A) Notice of
such termination of services shall be given before
the 15th of May in the manner prescribed in Section 44949, and
services of such these employees shall
be terminated in the inverse of the order in which they were
employed, as determined by the governing board in
accordance with the provisions of Sections 44844 and 44845.
In the event that If a permanent or probationary
employee is not given the notices and a right to a hearing as
provided for in Section 44949, he or she shall be deemed reemployed
for the ensuing next school year.
The
(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A) and any other law, for the
2011-12 fiscal year, the San Diego Unified School District shall give
the notice of termination of services before August 15.
(2) The governing board shall
make assignments and reassignments in such a
manner that employees shall be retained to render any service
which that their seniority and
qualifications entitle them to render. However, prior to
Before assigning or reassigning any certificated
employee to teach a subject which that
he or she has not previously taught, and for which he or she does
not have a teaching credential or which that
is not within the employee's major area of postsecondary study
or the equivalent thereof, the governing board shall require the
employee to pass a subject matter competency test in the appropriate
subject.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), a school district may deviate
from terminating a certificated employee in order of seniority for
either of the following reasons:
(1) The district demonstrates a specific need for personnel to
teach a specific course or course of study, or to provide services
authorized by a services credential with a specialization in either
pupil personnel services or health for a school nurse, and that the
certificated employee has special training and experience necessary
to teach that course or course of study or to provide those services,
which others with more seniority do not possess.
(2) For purposes of maintaining or achieving compliance with
constitutional requirements related to equal protection of the laws.
SEC. 4. The Legislature finds and declares that a special law is
necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable within the
meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution
because of the unique situation of the San Diego Unified School
District, as described in Section 1 of this act.
SEC. 5. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to allow the San Diego Unified School District to make
more informed budgetary and personnel decisions by extending for the
2011-12 fiscal year the deadlines for the notice given by the San
Diego Unified School District to its certificated employees in
anticipation of the termination of employee services, it is necessary
that this act take effect immediately.