Gov. Brown signs key budget bill, student board member measure
Published: September 30, 2015
Gov. Jerry Brown has signed Senate Bill 103, a 2015 education finance bill officially authorizing the use of $490 million in one-time funds for educator effectiveness training — a key provision for education in the Governor’s 2015-16 budget. These funds, distributed to LEAs statewide on a per-certificated personnel basis, can be used by teachers and administrators on professional development aligned to state standards, promotion of educator effectiveness and coaching and support services, as well as for beginning teacher support. A separate bill addressing costs for beginning teacher support, Assembly Bill 141 (Bonilla – D, Concord) is still awaiting action by the Governor, and would prohibit LEAs from charging a fee to beginning teachers for induction programs. CSBA opposes AB 141.
The Governor has also signed SB 532 (Leyva – D, Chino), which addresses nonvoting and preferential voting student school board members and encourages student engagement in the governance process. Whereas current law stipulates that boards act “upon receipt” of a qualified petition to appoint a student representative to the board, this law now specifically requires the board to take action on the request within 60 days. CSBA supports the bill.
Gov. Brown has until Oct. 11 to sign or veto additional legislation. CSBA will continue to report on the Governor’s actions on key education bills.