BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 1317 (Huff) - Charter Schools
Amended: May 7, 2014 Policy Vote: Education 9-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 19, 2014 Consultant: Jacqueline
Wong-Hernandez
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 1317 makes numerous changes to, and clarifies
existing law, regarding the operations of charter school boards
and conduct of board members.
Fiscal Impact:
Compliance: To the extent that charter school board
actions are currently inconsistent with its provisions,
there could be minor to significant local compliance costs
with no direct fiscal impact on the state.
Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC):
Approximately $780,000 - $990,000 (General Fund) in annual
FPPC costs, for the Commission to regulate charter schools.
See staff comments.
Background: Existing law, the Charter Schools Act of 1992,
provides for the establishment of charter schools in California
for the purpose, among other things, of improving student
learning and expanding learning experiences for pupils who are
identified as academically low achieving. Existing law declares
that charter schools are part of the public school system as
defined in Article IX of the California Constitution and are
"under the exclusive control of the officers of the public
schools." A charter school is required to comply with statutes
governing charter schools and all of the provisions set forth in
its charter, but is otherwise exempt from most laws governing
school districts except where specifically noted. (Education
Code � 47601 et.seq.)
The Brown Act requires meetings of a local agency's board of
directors to be open to the public. (Government Code � 54950
et. seq.)
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The Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act requires meetings of state
bodies to be open to the public. (GC � 11120)
The California Public Records Act (CPRA) declares that the
public has a right to access information that concerns the
people's business and provides that public records shall be
available for inspection, except as provided by an express
provision of law.
(GC � 6250 and � 6253)
Existing law prohibits members of the Legislature, state,
county, district, judicial district, and city officers or
employees from being financially interested in any contract made
by them in their official capacity, or by any body or board of
which they are members.
(GC � 1090 et seq.)
The Political Reform Act of 1974 (PRA), established by the
voters through Proposition 9 in June 1974, requires public
officials to carry out their duties in an unbiased manner, free
from influence by outside interests, and to follow regulations
during elections, as defined. The Act also requires government
agencies to adopt a conflict of interest code that requires
designated employees of the agency to file an annual statement
of economic interest disclosing any investments, business
positions, interests in real property, or sources of income that
may be affected materially by a decision made, or participated
in, by the designated employee by virtue of his or her position.
(Government Code � 81000 et seq.)
Proposed Law: This bill provides that the governing body of a
charter school is subject to all of the following:
a) The Ralph M. Brown Act, except that a charter school
operated by
an entity governed by the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act is
subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act regardless of
the authorizing entity.
b) The California Public Records Act.
c) Provisions of the Government Code that prohibit
government officers or
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employees from being financially interested in contracts
or purchases made by them in their official capacity,
unless the charter school is operated as, or is operated
by, a nonprofit public benefit corporation.
d) The Political Reform Act of 1974. For purposes of
Government Code � 81000, the bill provides that a charter
school is considered an agency and the Fair Political
Practices Commission is the charter school's code
reviewing body.
e) Prohibits a member of the governing body of a charter
school from providing a loan to the charter school or sign
a guarantor agreement relative to a line of credit for the
charter school unless specified conditions are met. A
violation is grounds for charter revocation.
f) Prohibits a member of the governing body of a charter
school from leasing real property or signing a guarantor
agreement relative to a lease of real property to be
occupied by the school unless specified conditions are
met. A violation is grounds for charter revocation.
g) Requires a member of the governing body of a charter
school to abstain from voting on, or influencing or
attempting to influence another member of the governing
body of the charter school regarding, personnel matters
that uniquely affect a relative of the member but may vote
on collective bargaining agreements and personnel matters
that affect a class of employees to which the relative
belongs, as specified.
h) Prohibits a person who is disqualified by the California
Constitution from holding a civil office from serving on
the governing body of a charter school.
i) Authorizes the governing body of a charter school to meet
anywhere within the physical boundaries of the state if
specified conditions are met.
j) Provides that a charter school may meet in a county
contiguous to the county where one or more of the school's
facilities are located if at least 10% of the pupils who
are enrolled in the school reside in that contiguous
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county, as specified.
aa) Provides that the Ralph M. Brown Act and the Bagley-Keene
Open Meeting Act shall not apply to committees of the
charter school, unless a committee is comprised of a
majority of the members of the governing body of the
charter school.
bb) Authorizes the governing body of a charter school to hold
closed sessions to consider matters regarding pupil
discipline.
cc) Requires a charter school, within 20 days of a request
for a copy of records, as specified, to determine whether
the request seeks copies of disclosable public records in
possession of the charter school and promptly notify the
person making the request of the determination and the
reasons therefor.
dd) Provides that a charter school may require payment of
actual costs from the person making the request before
producing the records.
ee) Provides that the governing board of a school district,
county board of education, or the State Board of Education
shall not impose any requirements that are inconsistent
with, or in addition to, the bill's provisions, as
specified.
ff) Provides that the bill's provisions shall not apply to
actions taken before the operative date of these
provisions.
gg) Provides that the provisions of this bill, as specified,
shall become operative on July 1, 2015.
Staff Comments: This bill largely provides direction to charter
school boards, with regard to the rights and responsibilities of
boards and individual members, under state transparency and
public accountability laws. Unlike local government entities,
charter schools are not eligible for state mandate
reimbursement. Thus, workload and costs related to compliance
with its requirements are not direct state costs (though charter
schools primarily receive state funding for their operations).
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Designating the FPPC as the "code reviewing body" for all of the
charter schools in the state, however, will result in direct
state costs. This designation would add approximately 1,100
charter schools to the 900 agencies under the FPPC's purview,
more than doubling the number of reviewed agencies. The FPPC has
indicated that it will incur annual costs of approximately
$780,000 to hire the following positions to handle the increased
workload: one Attorney III (supervising attorney), three
Attorney I positions, and three Political Reform Consultants.
The FPPC has further opined that if it were designated as the
charter schools' filing officer - collecting and processing Form
700s for employees from 1,100 charter schools - it would require
approximately $210,000 in additional costs for three Staff
Service Analysts to process those filings.