BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1292
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Date of Hearing: August 8, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 1292 (Liu) - As Amended: June 20, 2012
Policy Committee: Education Vote:7-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes school districts to evaluate principals
annually for the first and second year of employment as a new
principal in a district. Specifically, this bill:
1)Authorizes the governing board of a school district to
identify who will conduct the evaluation of each principal.
Further authorizes the governing board to determine the
frequency of evaluations, as specified.
2)Authorizes criteria for effective school principal evaluations
to be based upon the California Professional Standards for
Educational Leaders (CPSEL), as specified.
3)Authorizes a school principal evaluation to include specified
elements, including, but not limited to, pupil academic growth
on multiple measures, effective and comprehensive teacher
evaluations, instructional strategies, collaborative
professional practices, effective school management,
self-assessment, and consistent relationships with schoolsite
staff, pupils, and parents.
4)Authorizes federal No Child Left Behind Act Title I
(poor/needy pupils) and Title II (improving teacher and
principal quality) funds and any other state and federal funds
to be used to implement this measure.
FISCAL EFFECT
GF/98 cost pressure, likely between $5 million and $10 million,
to school districts to implement a principal evaluation system.
According to the State Department of Education, there are
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approximately 25,500 administrators in the state. This bill
does not require a principal evaluation system to be implemented
and therefore, it is not a state mandated reimbursable cost.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . Over the last several years, the nation has
engaged in a conversation regarding teacher effectiveness and
how to best determine and evaluate effectiveness. While the
conversation has centered on teachers, administrators (school
principals) are an integral part in developing a strong
teacher effectiveness system. School principals are not only
the direct supervisor of teachers (i.e., responsible for
evaluating a teacher's effectiveness), but they are also the
instructional leaders at each schoolsite.
According to the Association of California School
Administrators, sponsor of this bill, "SB 1292 reflects the
work that ACSA has undertaken to provide a 'best practices'
principal evaluation template based on the California
Professional Standards for Educational Leaders. These
standards are very comprehensive and delineate all of the
traits that an effective school leader should possess. We
believe SB 1292 is comprehensive enough and still allows
school districts to be free to choose who will evaluate their
principal(s) and the frequency of those evaluations. ACSA
recognizes that every student deserves an effective principal
who ensures high levels of learning. And principals should be
provided with the resources needed to be truly effective."
2)Existing law establishes the Stull Act, which expresses the
intent of the Legislature that governing boards establish a
uniform system of evaluation and assessment of the performance
of all certificated personnel within each school district. The
system must involve the development and adoption of objective
evaluation and assessment guidelines that may be uniform
throughout the district or, for compelling reasons, differ by
regions within the district, provided that all certificated
personnel of the district are subject to a system of
evaluation and assessment.
The Stull Act further requires governing boards to establish
and define job responsibilities for certificated
non-instructional employees, such as supervisory and
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administrative personnel (i.e., school principals), and
requires them to be evaluated appropriately with regard to the
fulfillment of those responsibilities.
This bill does not amend the Stull Act provisions related to
certificated non-instructional employees. The annual state
reimbursable mandated cost for the Stull Act is approximately
$19 million GF/98.
3)California Professional Standards for Educational Leaders
(CPSEL) . This bill identifies the six areas of these
standards, which outline the traits that an effective
principal should possess. The standards follow the 2008
Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC)
Standards for School Leaders that have changed little since
the original 1996 ISLLC standards.
In 2001, representatives from the California School Leadership
Academy at WestEd, the Association of California School
Administrators (sponsor of this bill), the California
Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the California Department
of Education, and various California colleges and universities
adapted the ISLLC standards to establish the current set of
six CPSELs. The CPSELS guide the practice of school
administrators and inform preparation programs that lead to
the administrative services credential.
4)Non-fiscal bill . This bill is keyed non-fiscal by legislative
counsel. This committee, however, requested this measure in
order to analyze any state and local costs associated with
implementing a principal evaluation system.
5)Related legislation . AB 5 (Fuentes), pending in the Senate
Appropriations Committee, requires school districts to
implement a best practices teacher evaluation system, as
specified, by July 1 of the first fiscal year following the
fiscal year in which the deficit factor is reduced to zero.
This bill does not require districts to implement a principal
evaluation system.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
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