On Aug. 15, the Legislature’s respective Appropriations committees dispensed their suspense files. The suspense file compiles bills with a price tag of over $150,000 to be considered in bulk in order to consider their fiscal impact upon the state as a whole. Suspense hearings provide a singular opportunity to address bills with significant financial price tags and even some politically difficult measures. Ultimately, less fortunate legislation may be “held on suspense,” meaning the bill dies in the appropriations committee.
CSBA advocacy played a critical role in the defeat of significant labor bills that would have usurped the authority of local educational agencies and influenced the outcomes of other measures that would have further exacerbated the adoption of ethnic studies courses and delayed the ability of school boards to undergo governance trainings.
Two of CSBA’s remaining three sponsored bills were among those that passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee: Senate Bill 1244 (Newman, D-Fullerton) would create a process for school districts to initiate dual enrollment programs with a neighboring community college district when an agreement cannot be reached with a home community college district, and SB 1315 (Archuleta, D-Pico Rivera) would require the California Department of Education (CDE) to biannually report the total number of reports, scope of reports and costs associated with submitting each report to the Governor and Legislature.
Left behind was Assembly Bill 2831 (Hoover, R-Folsom), which would have helped small school districts meet the needs of their students, staff and school boards by establishing an Office of Small School District Facilities and Construction within the CDE. The office would have been required to provide direct notification and assistance to small school districts in being made aware of and how to apply for state school bond funds, should the statewide school facilities bond, Proposition 2 on this November’s General Election ballot be passed by voters.
A number of other notable education bills were also on the committees’ dockets. Below are key results from last week’s hearings:
Labor and human resources
AB 2088 (McCarty, D-Sacramento): Existing classified employees — preference of hiring
Status: Currently on the Senate Floor
CSBA Position: Opposed
- Provides right of first refusal to classified staff for open positions before that position is made available to public candidates. This is the reintroduction of AB 1699 from last year, which CSBA was successful in getting vetoed by the Governor.
- Amendments made do not improve the legislation; they make it worse. It remains highly problematic and is CSBA’s top opposition priority bill.
AB 2245 (Carrillo, D-Palmdale): Permanent status for career technical education (CTE) teachers
Status: Currently on the Senate Floor
CSBA Position: Opposed
- Provides permanency status for a regional occupational center or program (ROCP) CTE teacher after two years of consecutive service for an LEA.
- This will make it more difficult to meet the state’s goals of increasing access to CTE/ROCP programs and increase costs to LEAs.
AB 2421 (Low, D-Santa Clara): Employer-employee relations: confidential communications
Status: Held in suspense in Senate Appropriations; not moving forward
CSBA Position: Opposed
- Establishes labor union/member privilege similar to doctor/patient or marital privilege
- Amendments do not resolve the highly problematic HR and personnel issues this bill creates
- CSBA worked closely with its partners in local government statewide organizations, including the California Special Districts Association, League of Cities, the California State Association of Counties (CSAC) and others in opposition
AB 2557 (Ortega, D-San Leandro): Public contracting out requirements
Status: Held in suspense in Senate Appropriations; not moving forward
CSBA Position: Opposed
- Imposes a variety of reporting requirements on private companies and nonprofit entities that contract with local government entities to perform services that were, in the prior five years, performed by local government employees represented by an employee organization
- This is a big win for CSBA advocacy, which worked with CSAC, the League of Cities and numerous other organizations to prevent the bill from moving forward
School board governance
AB 1917 (Muratsuchi, D-Torrance): School board trainings
Status: Currently on the Senate Floor
CSBA Position: Oppose Unless Amended
- Requires all school board members to undergo K-12 education governance training at least once during each elected term, beginning in 2026
- CSBA advocacy was successful in getting amendments to address the implementation challenges with the bill and ensure that LEAs could implement its requirements in a timely fashion
AB 3216 (Hoover): Cellphones
Status: Currently on the Senate Floor
CSBA Position: Opposed
- The bill requires LEA governing boards to adopt a policy restricting or banning the use of cellphones in schools
- CSBA is respectfully opposed because it is a one-size-fits-all approach and an unfunded mandate
SB 897 (Newman): Districts of choice
Status: Currently on the Assembly Floor
CSBA Position: Tracking
- Removes the sunset on the Districts of Choice program, thus making it permanent
- Requires districts of residence and districts of choice to report to its county office of education the number of students moving from one district to the other and prohibits the district of choice LEA from accepting new student transfers if it fails to respond to a data request from the COE within 30 days
- Requires COEs to inform a District of Choice LEA of when it has reached its statutory enrollment cap and inform other districts that the cap has been reached and prohibit the further transfer of students to that district
- CSBA advocacy was successful in getting language removed that would have increased the transfer caps of students who can transfer into a District of Choice
SB 907 (Newman): Orange County Board of Education
Status: Currently on the Assembly Floor
CSBA Position: Oppose Unless Amended
- Moves board elections from the primary election to the general election in even numbered election years and increases the board’s size from five to seven
- Amendments made by the Assembly Appropriations Committee delay the implementation of the increase in the size of the board to 2026
Transitional kindergarten
AB 2226 (Muratsuchi): Mandatory kindergarten
Status: Held in suspense in Senate Appropriations; not moving forward
CSBA Position: Disapprove
- Would have effectively required students to successfully complete one year of kindergarten before being allowed to enroll in the first grade
Curriculum
AB 2918 (Zbur, D-Los Angeles): Ethnic studies curriculum adoption
Status: Held in suspense in Senate Appropriations; not moving forward
CSBA Position: Oppose Unless Amended
- Would have required LEAs, when adopting an ethnic studies curriculum, to do all of the following:
- Develop the curriculum in conjunction with teachers, staff, parents and community leaders
- Require the superintendent or governing board submit a signed certification to the CDE and the State Board of Education that the LEA complied with the additional engagement requirements
- CSBA was advocating for amendments to align the bill’s requirements with current law as required by AB 101 (Medina), Chapter 661, Statutes of 2021
What’s next?
The Legislature will recess for the remainder of the year on Aug. 31. Until then, both the Assembly and Senate will meet every day in floor sessions to consider all bills on their respective floors. Any bill that does not pass the Legislature will become a two-year bill and thus be considered next year when the Legislature reconvenes for the second year of the two-year 2023–24 legislative session.
All bills passed by the Legislature this year will then head to the Gov. Gavin Newsom for his consideration. Any bill that does not pass the Legislature will be dead as this is the second year of the two-year 2023–24 legislative session. The Governor will have until Sept. 30 to sign or veto bills that reach his desk.
