BILL NUMBER: SB 355 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Huff
(Principal coauthor: Senator Emmerson)
FEBRUARY 15, 2011
An act to amend Sections 44662, 44955, and 44956 of, and to add
Sections 44955.1 and 44955.2 to, the Education Code, relating to
education employment.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 355, as introduced, Huff. Education employment: certificated
employees.
(1) Existing law requires each school district to evaluate and
assess certificated employee performance as it reasonably relates to
pupil academic progress, the instructional techniques and strategies
used by the employee, the employee's adherence to curricular
objectives, and the establishment and maintenance of a suitable
learning environment, within the scope of the employee's
responsibilities. Existing law prohibits the evaluation and
assessment of certificated employee performance from including the
use of publishers' norms established by standardized tests.
This bill would delete the prohibition relating to using
publishers' norms established by standardized tests in employee
evaluations and assessments. The bill would authorize the governing
board of a school district to evaluate and assess the performance of
certificated employees pursuant to a "multiple-measures evaluation
system," defined in the bill as a teacher and principal evaluation
system that uses multiple research-validated approaches to measuring
effectiveness, as specified. Any system developed pursuant to these
provisions would be required to meet specified criteria, including a
quantitative pupil academic achievement growth component that
constitutes at least 30% of the overall teacher and principal
effectiveness measure.
(2) Existing law provides that when employees are terminated
pursuant to a reduction in workforce, a school district is required
to terminate the employees in order of seniority. Existing law
further provides those employees with preferred right to
reappointment and opportunity for substitute service in order of
seniority. Existing law authorizes a school district to deviate from
the order of seniority for those purposes for specified reasons,
including compliance with constitutional requirements related to
equal protection of the laws.
This bill would provide additional reasons for which a school
district may deviate from terminating employees in order of
seniority, including basing a decision on performance evaluations, if
the governing board has implemented the provisions relating to a
multiple-measures evaluation system, as described, and on the basis
that the employee is assigned to a schoolsite that has been selected
by the governing board for exemption from certificated reductions in
force, based upon the needs of the educational program. The bill
would provide an exception to this authorization for an employee who
has 18 months or less from his or her date of retirement, or is on
medical leave. The bill also would authorize the governing board of a
school district to deviate from seniority when reappointing
employees or offering employees the opportunity for substitute
service on the basis of performance evaluations, as specified. The
bill would specify that the equal protection exception to the general
requirement that terminations and reappointments occur in order of
seniority applies to equal protection as it relates to pupils.
(3) Existing law generally requires school districts to adhere to
certain requirements with respect to teacher and administrator
employment, and requires charter school petitions to contain certain
information relating to employment.
This bill would authorize school districts, county offices of
education, and charter schools to assign, reassign, and transfer
teachers and administrators based on effectiveness and subject matter
needs, without regard to years of service.
(4) This bill would make various nonsubstantive and clarifying
changes.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 44662 of the Education Code is amended to read:
44662. (a) The governing board of each school district shall
establish standards of expected pupil achievement at each grade level
in each area of study.
(b) The governing board of each school district shall evaluate and
assess certificated employee performance as it reasonably relates
to:
(1) The progress of pupils toward the standards established
pursuant to subdivision (a) and, if applicable, the state adopted
academic content standards as measured by state adopted criterion
referenced assessments.
(2) The instructional techniques and strategies used by the
employee.
(3) The employee's adherence to curricular objectives.
(4) The establishment and maintenance of a suitable learning
environment, within the scope of the employee's responsibilities.
(c) The governing board of each school district shall establish
and define job responsibilities for certificated noninstructional
personnel, including, but not limited to, supervisory and
administrative personnel, whose responsibilities cannot be evaluated
appropriately under the provisions of subdivision (b) and shall
evaluate and assess the performance of those noninstructional
certificated employees as it reasonably relates to the fulfillment of
those responsibilities.
(d) Results of an employee's participation in the Peer Assistance
and Review Program for Teachers established by Article 4.5
(commencing with Section 44500) shall be made available as part of
the evaluation conducted pursuant to this section.
(e) The evaluation and assessment of certificated employee
performance pursuant to this section shall not include the use of
publishers' norms established by standardized tests.
(f) Nothing in this
(e) This section shall
be construed as in any way limiting does not limit
the authority of the governing board of a school
district governing boards to develop and adopt
additional evaluation and assessment guidelines or criteria.
(f) (1) The governing board of each school district may
additionally evaluate and assess the performance of all certificated
employees pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision. If the
governing board of a school district establishes a system of
evaluation pursuant to this subdivision, the system shall meet all of
the following criteria:
(A) The system shall define a rigorous, transparent, and fair
multiple-measures evaluation system for both teachers and principals
and shall involve the development and adoption by the governing board
of objective evaluation and assessment guidelines.
(B) All certificated employees of the school district shall be
subject to a system of evaluation and assessment adopted pursuant to
this article, except that this article does not apply to certificated
employees who are employed on an hourly basis in adult education
classes.
(C) For purposes of this subdivision, a "multiple-measures
evaluation system" is a teacher and principal evaluation system that
uses multiple research-validated approaches to measuring
effectiveness, including the measures specified in this section. A
school district evaluation system developed pursuant to this
subdivision also shall include a quantitative pupil academic
achievement growth component that shall constitute at least 30
percent of the overall teacher and principal effectiveness measure.
(2) This subdivision applies to the county superintendent of
schools and the employees of schools conducted or maintained by the
county superintendent of schools.
SEC. 2. Section 44955 of the Education Code is amended to read:
44955. (a) No A permanent employee
shall not be deprived of his or her position for causes
other than those specified in Sections 44907 and 44923, and Sections
44932 to 44947, inclusive, and no a
probationary employee shall not be deprived of his or her
position for cause other than as specified in Sections 44948 to
44949, inclusive.
(b) (1) Whenever in any school year the
average daily attendance in all of the schools of a school
district for the first six months in which school is in session
shall have declined below the corresponding period of either of the
previous two school years, whenever the governing board determines
that attendance in a school district will decline in the
following year as a result of the termination of an interdistrict
tuition agreement as defined in Section 46304, whenever a particular
kind of service is to be reduced or discontinued not later than the
beginning of the following school year, or whenever the amendment of
state law requires the modification of curriculum, and when
if in the opinion of the governing board of the
school district it shall have become necessary by reason
of any of these conditions to decrease the number of permanent
employees in the school district, the governing board may
terminate the services of not more than a corresponding percentage of
the certificated employees of the school district,
permanent as well as probationary, at the close of the school year.
Except as otherwise provided by statute, the services of no
a permanent employee may
shall not be terminated under the provisions of this section
while any probationary employee, or any other employee with less
seniority, is retained to render a service which said
that the permanent employee is certificated and
competent to render.
In
(2) In computing a decline in
average daily attendance for purposes of this section for a newly
formed or reorganized school district, each school of the district
shall be deemed to have been a school of the newly formed or
reorganized district for both of the two previous school years.
As
(3) As between employees who
first rendered paid service to the school district on the
same date, the governing board shall determine the order of
termination solely on the basis of needs of the school
district and the students thereof pupils of
the district . Upon the request of any employee whose order of
termination is so determined, the governing board shall furnish in
writing no later than five days prior to the commencement of the
hearing held in accordance with Section 44949, a statement of the
specific criteria used in determining the order of termination and
the application of the criteria in ranking each employee relative to
the other employees in the group. This requirement that the governing
board provide, on request, a written statement of reasons for
determining the order of termination shall not be interpreted to give
affected employees any legal right or interest that would not exist
without such a requirement.
(c) Notice of such the termination
of services shall be given before the 15th of May in the manner
prescribed in Section 44949, and services of such
these employees shall be terminated in the inverse of the
order in which they were employed, as determined by the
governing board in accordance with the provisions of Sections
44844 and 44845. In the event that a permanent or probationary
employee is not given the notices and a right to a hearing as
provided for in Section 44949, he or she shall be deemed reemployed
for the ensuing school year.
The governing board shall make assignments and reassignments in
such a manner that employees shall be retained to render any service
which their seniority and qualifications entitle them to render.
However, prior to assigning or reassigning any certificated employee
to teach a subject which he or she has not previously taught, and for
which he or she does not have a teaching credential or which is not
within the employee's major area of postsecondary study or the
equivalent thereof, the governing board shall require the employee to
pass a subject matter competency test in the appropriate subject.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), and except as specified
in subdivision (e), a school district may deviate from
terminating a certificated employee in order of seniority for
either any of the following reasons:
(1) The school district demonstrates a specific need
for personnel to teach a specific course or course of study, or to
provide services authorized by a services credential with a
specialization in either pupil personnel services or health for a
school nurse, and that the certificated employee has special training
and experience necessary to teach that course or course of study or
to provide those services, which others with more seniority do not
possess.
(2) For purposes of maintaining or achieving compliance with
constitutional requirements related to equal protection of the laws
as it applies to pupils .
(3) On the basis of performance evaluations, if both of the
following are met:
(A) The school district has implemented an evaluation and
assessment process that contains all of the elements described in
subdivision (f) of Section 44662.
(B) Employees with superior evaluations are retained over those
with inferior evaluations.
(4) On the basis that the employee is assigned to a schoolsite
that has been selected by the governing board for exemption from
certificated reductions in force, based upon the needs of the
educational program.
(e) A school district shall not deviate from terminating a
certificated employee in order of seniority if the employee has 18
months or less from his or her date of retirement, or is on medical
leave.
SEC. 3. Section 44955.1 is added to the Education Code, to read:
44955.1. Notwithstanding any other law, a school district, county
office of education, or charter school may assign, reassign, and
transfer teachers and administrators based on effectiveness and
subject matter needs without regard to years of service.
SEC. 4. Section 44955.2 is added to the Education Code, to read:
44955.2. A school district that deviates from the order of
seniority for purposes of terminating a certificated employee under
any provision of this chapter shall do so on the basis of one or more
of the items specified in subdivision (d) of Section 44955 and shall
not take into consideration whether an employee has exercised any of
the rights guaranteed under Chapter 10.7 (commencing with Section
3540) of Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code.
SEC. 5. Section 44956 of the Education Code is amended to read:
44956. (a) Any
A permanent employee whose services have been
terminated as provided in Section 44955 shall have the following
rights:
(1)
(a) For the period of 39 months from the date of
such the termination, any employee who
in the meantime has not attained the age of 65 years shall have the
preferred right to reappointment, in the order of original employment
as determined by the board in accordance with the provisions of
Sections 44831 to 44855, inclusive, if the number of employees is
increased or the discontinued service is reestablished, with no
requirements that were not imposed upon other employees who continued
in service; provided, that no probationary or other employee with
less seniority shall be employed to render a service which
said that the employee is certificated and
competent to render. However, prior to reappointing any employee to
teach a subject which he or she has not previously taught, and for
which he or she does not have a teaching credential or which is not
within the employee's major area of postsecondary study or the
equivalent thereof, the governing board shall require the employee to
pass a subject matter competency test in the appropriate subject.
(2)
(b) The aforesaid right to reappointment may be waived
by the employee, without prejudice, for not more than one school
year, unless the governing board extends this right, but
such the waiver shall not deprive the
employee of his or her right to subsequent offers of
reappointment.
(3)
(c) Notwithstanding paragraph (1)
subdivision (a) , a school district may deviate from
reappointing a certificated employee in order of seniority for
either any of the following reasons:
(A)
(1) The school district demonstrates a
specific need for personnel to teach a specific course or course of
study, or to provide services authorized by a services credential
with a specialization in either pupil personnel services or health
for a school nurse, and that the employee has special training and
experience necessary to teach that course or course of study, or to
provide those services, which others with more seniority do not
possess.
(B)
(2) For purposes of maintaining or achieving compliance
with constitutional requirements related to equal protection of the
laws as it applies to pupils .
(4) As to any such
(3) On the basis of performance evaluations, if both of the
following are met:
(A) The school district has implemented an evaluation and
assessment process that contains all of the elements described in
subdivision (f) of Section 44662.
(B) Employees with superior evaluations are given priority for
reappointment over those with inferior evaluations.
(d) For an employee who is
reappointed, the period of his or her absence shall be
treated as a leave of absence and shall not be considered as a break
in the continuity of his or her service, he or she
shall retain the classification and order of employment he
or she had when his or her services were
terminated, and credit for prior service under any state or district
retirement system shall not be affected by such
the termination, but the period of his or her
absence shall not count as a part of the service required for
retirement.
(5)
(e) During the period of his an
employee's preferred right to reappointment, any such
the employee shall , in the
order of original employment, shall be offered prior
opportunity for substitute service during the absence of any other
employee who has been granted a leave of absence or who is
temporarily absent from duty; provided, that his or her
services may be terminated upon the return to duty of said
the other employee and that said
the substitute service shall not affect the
retention of his or her previous classification and
rights. If, in any school year the employee serves as a substitute in
any position requiring certification for any 21
days or more within a period of 60 schooldays, the compensation the
employee receives for substitute service in that 60-day period,
including his or her first 20 days of substitute service, shall
not be not less than the amount the employee
would receive if he or she were being reappointed.
(f) Notwithstanding subdivision (e), a school district may deviate
from the order of seniority in offering the opportunity for
substitute service for any of the following reasons:
(1) The school district demonstrates a specific need for personnel
to teach a specific course or course of study, or to provide
services authorized by a services credential with a specialization in
either pupil personnel services or health for a school nurse, and
the employee has special training and experience, and has
demonstrated the competency necessary to teach in a specified grade
level or course of study, or to provide those services, that others
with more seniority do not possess or are not able to provide.
(2) For purposes of maintaining or achieving compliance with
constitutional requirements related to equal protection of the laws
as it applies to pupils.
(3) On the basis of performance evaluations, if both of the
following are met:
(A) The school district has implemented an evaluation and
assessment process that contains all of the elements described in
subdivision (f) of Section 44662.
(B) Employees with superior evaluations are offered the
opportunity for substitute service over those with inferior
evaluations.
(6)
(g) During the period of the employee's preferred right
to reappointment, the governing board of the school
district, if it is also the governing board of one or more other
school districts, may assign him the
employee to service , which that
he or she is certificated and competent to render, in
said one of the other district
or districts; provided, that the school districts.
The compensation he the employee
receives therefor may , in the
discretion of the governing board , may be the same as
he the employee would have received had
he or she been serving in the school district
from which his the employee's services
were terminated, that his terminated. The
employee's service in the said other
school district or school districts shall be counted
toward the period required for both state and local retirement
, as defined by Section 22102, as though rendered
in the school district from which his
the employee's services were terminated, and that
no permanent terminated. The employee
in said shall not displace any other permanent
employee in the other school district or school
districts shall be displaced by him .
It is the intent of this subsection
subdivision that the employees of a school district, the
governing board of which is also the governing board of one or more
other school districts, shall not be at a disadvantage as compared
with employees of a unified school district.
(7)
(h) At any time prior to the completion of one year
after his the employee's return to
service, he the employee may continue
or make up, with interest, his or her own contributions to
any state or school district retirement system ,
for the period of his or her absence, but it
shall not be obligatory on the state or school
district to match such the
contributions.
(8) Should he become
(i) If the em ployee becomes
disabled or reach reaches
retirement age at any time before his or her return to
service, he the employee shall receive,
in any state or school district retirement system of
which he the employee was a member, all
benefits to which he or she would have been entitled
had such event if the disability or
retirement occurred at the time of his or her
termination of service, plus any benefits he
the employee may have qualified for thereafter, as though still
employed.