BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 917|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 917
Author: Bradford (D)
Amended: 8/15/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 6-2, 6/5/13
AYES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Hueso, Monning, Torres
NOES: Wyland, Huff
NO VOTE RECORDED: Correa
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 53-23, 4/29/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Charter schools: authorization: petition:
signatures
SOURCE : Service Employees International Union
DIGEST : This bill requires a charter school petition to
include signatures from at least 50% of the total number of
nonsupervisorial certificated and classified employees the
petitioner estimates that will be employed by the charter school
in the first year of operation; requires a conversion charter
school petition to include at least 50% of the total number of
nonsupervisorial certificated and classified employees currently
employed at the school that is to be converted to a charter
school; and, requires the signature petition to prominently
display a statement that the classified employee has a
meaningful interest in working at the charter school.
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Senate Floor Amendments of 8/15/13 resolve chaptering conflicts
with AB 97 (Assembly Budget Committee, Chapter 47, Statutes of
2013).
ANALYSIS : Existing law authorizes anyone to develop,
circulate, and submit a petition to establish a charter school.
Existing 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/her children attend the school.
1. 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.
2. 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% of the permanent
status teachers at the school to be converted.
This bill:
1. Requires the charter school petition be 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 nonsuperviorial certificated staff and classified
employees that the charter school estimates will be employed
at the school during its first year of operation.
2. Requires the charter school 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 the charter school petition to include a prominent
statement that the signatures on the petition has one of the
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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/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.
Comments
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.
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 Education to authorize charter schools. The
specific goals and operating procedures for a charter school are
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detailed in the agreement (charter) between the authorizing
entity and the charter developer.
Related/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. The 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 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/20/13)
Service Employees International Union (source)
California Charter Schools Association Advocates
California Federation of Teachers
California Labor Federation
California School Employees Association
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/20/13)
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Charter Schools Development Center
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The sponsor of this bill, Service
Employees International Union, 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.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : In opposition the Charter Schools
Development Center writes, "The bill uses terms and concepts
that have no clear meaning in the charter school context.
Moreover, the changes proposed here would add unnecessary
complexity to what is already a complex charter petition
process.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 53-23, 4/29/13
AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla,
Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau,
Ch�vez, Chesbro, Cooley, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong,
Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gray, Hall, Roger
Hern�ndez, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal, Medina,
Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel
P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone,
Ting, Torres, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A.
P�rez
NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Conway, Dahle, Donnelly, Beth
Gaines, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones, Linder, Logue,
Maienschein, Mansoor, Melendez, Morrell, Nestande, Olsen,
Patterson, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Atkins, Fox, Gorell, Vacancy
PQ:d 8/20/13 Senate Floor Analyses
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SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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