Legislative Update: Reserve cap bill signed, other key K-12 bills signed and vetoed as deadline looms
Published: October 11, 2017
Today, Gov. Jerry Brown signed CSBA-sponsored Senate Bill 751 (Hill & Glazer), to provide relief from the school district reserve cap for every California school district.
Click here to read the message sent earlier today from CSBA CEO & Executive Director Vernon M. Billy and President Susan Henry regarding the signing of SB 751.
Gov. Jerry Brown has until Sunday, Oct. 15, to sign or veto all 2017 bills passed by the Legislature. While a number of key K-12 bills still await his action as of this writing — including CSBA’s sponsored transportation COLA bill — several others have been signed, and a highly concerning bill pertaining to classified employee earnings contributions has been vetoed.
View all 2017–18 bills with CSBA positions.
The Governor vetoed Assembly Bill 621 (Bocanegra, D-Pacoima) on Oct. 8. Had it been signed, this bill would have created a fund to allow classified school employees to voluntarily contribute earnings for the purposes of providing income during times when these employees are not receiving a salary, with employee contributions matched two-to-one by the state. The most recent Assembly analysis estimates that state Proposition 98 costs for this program could have reached $200 million annually, not including local administrative costs.
Key bills signed:
AB 699 (O’Donnell, D-Long Beach) emphasizes that discrimination based on immigration status is prohibited within California’s K-12 public schools and requires schools to take additional affirmative steps to eliminate such discrimination. The bill, signed on Oct. 5, directs the Attorney General to publish and schools to adopt policies for limiting immigration enforcement at public schools to the minimum consistent with federal and state law. CSBA Position: Support
Senate Bill 54 (de León, D-Los Angeles), known as the “California Values Act,” was also signed on Oct. 5. The bill, which applies to all school resource officers, limits communication and sharing of data between state/local law enforcement agencies (this includes police departments of county offices of education and school districts) and federal law enforcement on issues related to the enforcement of immigration law. The state Attorney General is tasked, by October 2018, with developing model policies “limiting assistance with immigration enforcement to the fullest extent possible consistent with federal and state law at public schools” and other such sensitive sites. Local educational agencies will be required to adopt either the model standards or an equivalent policy. Those LEAs that maintain their own police departments will have one new reporting requirement, for which they can submit a reimbursement claim to the Commission on State Mandates. CSBA Position: Support
Note: CSBA has reached out to the Attorney General’s office regarding the development of model policies for AB 699 and SB 54, and will review the policies when they are made available.
AB 830 (Kalra, D-San Jose), signed on Oct. 10, officially removes the California High School Exit Examination as a requirement for high school graduation, pursuant to the recommendation issued in 2016 by the Superintendent of Public Instruction to remove the test requirement. CSBA Position: Support
AB 643 (Frazier, D-Discovery Bay) and AB 1227 (Bonta, D-Oakland) were both signed on Oct. 9, adjusting provisions of the California Healthy Youth Act. AB 643 adds instruction and materials on early warning signs of adolescent relationship abuse and intimate partner violence to existing sexual health education programs, while AB 1227 establishes the Human Trafficking Prevention Education and Training Act, adding education on human trafficking and sex trafficking. CSBA supports both bills.
AB 81 (Gonzalez Fletcher, D-San Diego), signed on Oct. 9, directs the California Department of Education to revise and expand the information in the letter provided to the parents of students who take the home language survey, helping LEAs inform and engage parents by providing them with more detailed information about the educational needs of their student. Specifically, the bill would inform parents if their child is identified as a long-term English learner or at-risk of becoming a long-term English learner. CSBA Position: Support
AB 670 (Thurmond, D-Richmond) extends a broad array of bargaining unit rights and employee benefits to part-time employees who are working in playground supervisory roles. CSBA Position: Oppose
Bills vetoed:
AB 189 (Low, D-Campbell) and AB 858 (Dababneh, D-Encino) were both vetoed on Oct. 9. AB 189 would have directed the Instructional Quality Commission to adopt model curriculum on student service learning, while AB 858 would have established the California Financial Literacy Initiative. In his veto messages (here and here), Gov. Brown opined that both bills were unnecessary, as both topics are covered in the History-Social Science Framework.