BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-14 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 917
AUTHOR: Bradford
INTRODUCED: February 22, 2013
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 5, 2013
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lenin Del Castillo
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) Adds the following condition that a petition proposing
to establish a new charter school can meet: the
petition is signed by a number of nonsupervisorial
certificated staff and classified employees that
combined is equivalent to at least one-half of the total
number of nonsupervisorial certificated staff 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 be signed by a number of permanent
status nonsupervisorial certificated staff and permanent
classified employees that combined is equivalent to at
least one-half of the total number of permanent status
nonsupervisorial certificated staff and permanent
classified employees currently employed at the public
school to be converted to a charter school.
3) Requires a petition to include a prominent statement
that the signatures on the petition has one of the
following meanings:
a) In the case of a parent's or legal guardian's
signature, that the parent or legal guardian is
meaningfully interested in having his or her child
or ward attend the charter school.
b) In the case of a teacher's signature, that the
teacher is meaningfully interested in teaching at
the charter school.
c) In the case of a classified employee's
signature, that the classified employee is
meaningfully interested in working at the charter
school.
4) Requires the proposed charter to be attached to the
petition.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill : The sponsor of this measure, Service
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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
years due to the fiscal constraints and layoffs many
districts have experienced. The stated intent of this
bill 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), clerical staff and those that have
administrative support duties, 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.
3) Charter schools . Charter schools are public schools
that provide instruction in any combination of grades,
kindergarten through grade 12. Except where
specifically noted otherwise, California law exempts
charter schools from many of the statutes and
regulations that apply to schools and school districts.
There are over 900 charter schools operating in the
state.
Parents, teachers, or community members may initiate a
charter petition, which is typically presented to and
approved by a local school district governing board.
The law also allows, under certain circumstances, for
county boards of education and the State Board of
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Education to authorize charter schools. The specific
goals and operating procedures for a charter school are
detailed in the agreement (charter) between the
authorizing entity and the charter developer.
4) New barriers ? In recent years, state and federal
policies have supported the expansion of charter
schools. The federal Race to the Top incentive grant
program (RTTP), for which California submitted a second
application on June 1, 2010, awards points to states
that ensure successful conditions for high-performing
charter schools, specifically, the extent to which the
state's charter school laws do not prohibit or
effectively inhibit increasing the number of
high-performing charter schools. By expanding signature
requirements for charter school petitions, this bill
could potentially inhibit efforts to increase the number
of charter schools.
Notwithstanding the importance of classified staff to a
learning community and the operation of a school site,
it could be argued that the required signatures should
remain limited to those who have a meaningful interest
in the educational outcome of a school, such as parents
who want their children to attend the school or the
teaching staff who will be responsible for implementing
the programmatic reforms and accountable for student
success. Is there any empirical evidence to suggest
that requiring petitions to include half of the
classified staff at a school will improve charter school
quality?
5) Related and prior legislation .
AB 86 (Mendoza, 2011), similar to this bill, would have
expanded existing signature requirements for charter
school petitions to include classified employees and
required the signature petitions to prominently display
a statement that classified employees signing the
petition have a meaningful interest in working at the
charter school. This bill was vetoed by Governor Brown
in October 2011, whose veto message read:
Charter schools are a small but important part of
the California public school system. They vary by
size, mission, governing structure and educational
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philosophy. Their purpose is to allow parents,
teachers and other interested citizens to form
public schools outside the more detailed regulatory
framework of the regular school system.
They are profoundly difficult to establish and even
more difficult to maintain and grow in excellence.
Having started two myself, I know whereof I speak.
Notwithstanding the important contributions
classified staff make to the operation of a school,
this bill would unnecessarily complicate an already
difficult charter school petition process.
I believe the existing law is tough enough.
SUPPORT
California Charter Schools Association Advocates
California Federation of Teachers
California School Employees Association
Service Employees International Union (sponsor)
OPPOSITION
Charter Schools Development Center