Legislators who headed out of town on Friday for a month accept already decided the fate of many cardinal bills. Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a much debated kid vaccination law that eliminates the personal belief exemption to school-required vaccinations. All of the bills to rewrite the instructor evaluation law accept been defeated or appear, at least for now, delayed until adjacent year. Efforts to rescind last yr's limit on school districts' reserves have foundered.

Only when they render in mid-August, lawmakers will take concluding action on cardinal bills that remain very much alive: suspending the loftier schoolhouse exit examination; expanding preschool for low-income children; and creating new options for high school students to accept community college courses. Hither's an updated expect at legislation that EdSource has tracked.

Reforming instructor evaluations – Democrat version

SB 499, by Sen. Ballad Liu, D-La Cañada Flintridge, and Senate President pro Tem Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, would rewrite the Stull Act, the law outlining instructor evaluations, with a locally negotiated "best practices" organisation with at least three performance categories, instead of the current pass-neglect system. The Associates version is AB 575, past Assemblyman Patrick O'Donnell, D-Long Beach, and Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, D-San Diego.

Why it'southward important: Lawmakers, in the wake of the Vergara lawsuit ruling, are facing pressure to rewrite the instructor evaluation constabulary. This version would be more acceptable to teachers unions than Republicans' alternatives.

Status:  The Senate passed SB 499. Its Associates counterpart, AB 575, squeaked past with i vote to spare. But Liu and O'Donnell pulled their bills from further consideration amid substantial opposition from organizations representing schoolhouse boards and schoolhouse administrators, who oppose the provision giving local teachers unions the power to negotiate the content of a teacher'due south evaluation. With a waiver from the Rules Committee, either bill could be taken up again side by side month. Only unless there's a breakthrough in negotiations, it appears that both bills volition be taken up again next year.

Also of note: AB 1184, past Assemblywoman Nora Campos, D-San Jose, would allow a third twelvemonth of probation specifically for San Jose Unified. It too is at present a two-year beak; it will be reintroduced in the side by side legislative session. Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, presented AB 1495 every bit a compromise rewrite of the Stull Act, the constabulary outlining teacher evaluations. Although Democrats killed the pecker in committee, Weber's impassioned telephone call for fellow Democrats to support information technology went viral.

Reforming teacher evaluations – Republican version

AB 1078, by Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen, R-Modesto, also would have rewritten the Stull Act to require annual instructor reviews using four evaluation categories, instead of the current pass-neglect system, with incentives to include the use of standardized test scores as a factor.

Why it's important: Associates Republicans introduced a series of bills in response to the Vergara determination overturning teacher labor protection laws. They included AB 1044, by Assemblywoman Catharine Bakery, R-San Ramon, banning layoffs exclusively by seniority, and AB 1248, by Assemblyman Rocky Chavez, R-Oceanside, extending probation leading to tenure from the electric current 2 years to three years.

Status: All 3 Republican-authored bills were defeated in the Associates Education Committee on political party-line votes.

Funding First Teacher Back up and Cess program

AB 141, by Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, would require all districts and county offices of education to provide and pay for the Beginning Instructor Back up and Assessment (BTSA) programme. This would exist a country-mandated programme.

Why it's important: BTSA, once a national model for training new teachers, has withered with the finish of country funding of the programme under the new Local Control Funding Formula.

Status: AB 141 passed the Associates and the Senate Education Committee before the summer recess and now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee. The final state upkeep includes $500 one thousand thousand to improve teaching quality and effectiveness, which would include induction programs such as BTSA too as professional evolution in the Common Core and other new academic standards.

Also of annotation: SB 62, by Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, would modify a student loan forgiveness program, called APLE (Assumption Program of Loans for Education), for as many equally 1,000 instructor candidates annually willing to teach in low-income districts in subjects that are in high demand, such equally scientific discipline, math and special education. SB 62 passed the Senate and the Assembly Education Committee before the summer recess. This twelvemonth's state budget included no appropriation for what'due south projected to price tens of millions of dollars each twelvemonth.

Tackling dual enrollment

AB 288, past Assemblyman Chris Holden, D-Pasadena, would allow Thou-12 and community college districts to create partnerships to expand opportunities for dual enrollment, in which loftier school students concurrently take community higher courses.

Why it'south important: Enquiry indicates that dual enrollment reduces the need for remedial courses and increases the odds of higher graduation. Even so, several bills to aggrandize opportunities for high schoolhouse students to take higher courses take stalled over questions nearly funding and implementation.

Status: AB 288 was passed by the Senate Education Committee July nine. Information technology had passed in the Assembly previously. It next goes to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Also of note: AB 889, by Assemblywoman Ling-Ling Chang, R-Diamond Bar, would aggrandize dual enrollment in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (Stalk) courses. AB 889 died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Expanding preschool for low-income kids

AB 47, by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, would require the Department of Education to report to the Legislature and Department of Finance, by June 1, 2016, a programme for expanding the country preschool plan to all eligible low-income children who do not accept access to one twelvemonth of country preschool or transitional kindergarten. The nib would require the written report to contain an analysis of the need for new facilities for the preschool program.

Why it's of import: Last yr, land lawmakers, led by then-Sen. Darrell Steinberg, said they would brand good on their promise to aggrandize state preschool programs past 31,500 slots to adapt all low-income four-year-olds in California. This bill nudges lawmakers and Gov. Brown to discuss the issue, which is probable to be resolved through the upkeep bill.

Status: AB 47 passed the Assembly and is in the Senate. On July viii, the Senate Education Committee passed the bill, which is going next to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The final state budget agreement includes seven,000 full-day preschool slots plus 2,500 part-twenty-four hours slots, with priority given to children with special needs.

More money for Common Core

AB 631, by Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, would crave that $900 million in a one-fourth dimension allocation from Proposition 98, which finances 1000-14 educational activity, be used to increase funding to implement the Common Core State Standards.

Why it's important: The switch to new academic standards in math and English language linguistic communication arts requires the purchase of textbooks and technology to implement new online tests and extensive teacher training – an expensive undertaking. This neb would require that districts spend dollars implementing the Common Core that otherwise they could spend however they want.

Status: AB 631 failed to movement out of the Associates Appropriations Committee only the intent made its way into the final land budget. The upkeep includes $3 billion in 1-fourth dimension expenditures that Gov. Brownish encourages – merely does not require – be spent on implementing the new bookish standards. An additional $500 million must exist spent on improving teacher quality and effectiveness, which districts can use for professional development in the Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards.

Expanding foster youth services

AB 854, by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, would aggrandize Foster Youth Services to include foster youth who live with relatives.

Why it'due south important: Estimates say that from i-third to two-thirds of foster youth live with relatives, who often cannot beget the counseling and tutoring services the young people need. The foster programme does not pay for those services if the youths are living with relatives.

Status: AB 854 passed the Associates and the Senate Education Committee. It is now in the Senate Appropriations Committee. If it passes that committee, it will go for a vote earlier the full Senate. At that place was some opposition to a change in the funding mechanism. Half-dozen schoolhouse districts that historically have received funding for Foster Youth Services directly from the state volition now have to become through their canton offices of teaching. The concluding state budget allocated $10 meg more beginning in 2015-16 for Foster Youth Services, which currently receives about $15.four million.

Suspending high school get out exam

SB 172, by Sen. Carol Liu, D-La Cañada Flintridge, would suspend the land high schoolhouse exit exam, a requirement for a loftier school diploma, for iii years, starting in 2015-16, while the panel investigates creating a new examination or other ways to satisfy graduation requirements.

Why it'due south important: The electric current high school exit test, which tests skills at the equivalent of ninth-grade English and centre school math, is not aligned with the new Common Core State Standards. Every bit a outcome, students are beingness tested on standards they aren't taught.

Status: On July ane, the Assembly Teaching Committee passed the bill with a major change — the exit exam would be suspended starting in 2014-xv, meaning it would be halted immediately. The bill goes on to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Addressing costs of home-to-school transportation

SB 191, by Sen. Marty Cake, D-San Diego, would establish a compatible funding formula providing districts with 50 percent of the cost of dwelling-to-schoolhouse transportation over the adjacent vii years.

Why it's of import: The adoption of the Local Control Funding Formula in 2022 froze the existing level of passenger vehicle transportation funding under an caitiff formula with widely disparate rates of reimbursement. This beak would right the inequities.

Condition: The final state upkeep includes no new money for school transportation.
SB 191 passed the Senate but Block suspended the nib from further consideration until adjacent yr.

Eliminating vaccine opt-outs

SB 277, past Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, and Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, would eliminate the personal belief and religious exemptions that let parents to opt out of childhood vaccinations required for school enrollment. Only a medical exemption would alibi a student from being vaccinated as required by state constabulary.

Why it's of import: In some areas of the state, only 30 pct of kindergartners are fully vaccinated. This low rate puts unvaccinated individuals, including infants and those who are allowed-compromised, at risk of contracting potentially fatal contagious diseases, including measles and polio.

Status: The pecker passed the Assembly and the Senate. On June xxx, Gov. Brown signed the bill into law.

More flexibility for subsequently-school programs

SB 645, past Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, would allow after-school programs to close for up to five days without whatsoever reduction in funding. The beak would also brand some technical changes, requested by the California Section of Education, to forestall increases in costs to the programs.

Why it'due south important: Stagnant funding is making it hard for after-school programs to attract loftier-quality staff and provide enrichment activities. Studies have shown that the programs reduce the achievement and opportunity gaps between low-income students and their higher-income peers. The pecker originally proposed increasing funding to the country programme — which has received $550 one thousand thousand a year since 2006 — by $54 million in 2015-16 and $72 million annually thereafter, with price-of-living adjustments. But the final upkeep agreed to by legislators and Gov. Brown eliminated whatsoever increase in funding.

Status: The amended bill has passed the Assembly Education Committee and volition next be considered by the Assembly Appropriations Committee. If the committee passes the bill, it will go to a vote before the full Assembly.

Removing cap on school district reserves

SB 774, by Sen. Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield, would repeal the limit on the size of budget reserves that districts could maintain in the twelvemonth post-obit a contribution by the state to a new state education rainy day fund under Proffer 2. The Legislature imposed the cap in 2014, although it would not take effect for at least several years. The ceiling on reserves would exist no larger than 10 percent, depending on the size of a commune'due south upkeep.

Why it's important: The repeal of the cap is the California School Boards Association's acme priority for 2015. It argues that the cap would jeopardize districts' financial stability by limiting how much they could relieve, and lead to lower bond ratings.

Condition: Fuller withdrew her beak, and a counterpart in the Assembly, AB 1048, by Catharine Baker, R-Dublin, was defeated in the Assembly Education Committee. Democrats and the California Teachers Clan are promoting instead AB 531, past Assemblyman Patrick O'Donnell, D-Long Beach, which the schoolhouse boards association characterizes equally a distraction. AB 531 confirms that school boards already can vote to steer money for specific purposes, similar buying a school bus, in a special "committed fund" business relationship without exceeding the cap. The neb awaits final approval in the Senate. The schoolhouse boards association has been running radio ads in some areas pressing for the reserve cap'south rescission and is still holding out hope.

Additional bills

The post-obit were not on our original list of important bills, just also deserve attending:

SB 359, authored by Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, is the California Mathematics Placement Human action. It would require all districts to establish and publicize objective criteria for placing students in math courses in eighth and 9th grades. Pushed by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and civil rights groups, information technology responds to testimony and 2010 research past the Noyce Foundation that constitute capable minority students were held dorsum from Algebra courses in 9th grade, taking them off the trajectory for access to UC schools. Status: Passed the  Senate and the Associates Education Committee earlier summer recess.

AB 252, authored by Assemblyman Chris Holden, D-Pasadena, would create the Avant-garde Placement STEM Admission Grant Plan, which would provide upwards to $8,000 in grants to eligible loftier schools to help cover the costs of creating or expanding AP courses in science, technology, engineering and math. The bill aims to heave the number of female, African-American and Latino students, who accept traditionally enrolled in AP courses in biology, chemistry, calculus, physics, computer science, and statistics at lower rates than other student groups.Status: The state Associates passed AB 252 on June half dozen. The Senate Instruction Committee passed the nib on July 8. It side by side heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

SB 548, authored past Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, would allow dwelling house-based childcare providers in state-subsidized programs to unionize so they tin need higher payments from the state and more timely paychecks from land-contracted agencies that distribute their money. Service Employees International Wedlock, or SEIU, which wants to organize the providers, says it would bear upon tens of thousands of more often than not women who oftentimes work below the state's minimum wage.Status: The bill has passed the Senate and the Associates Labor Committee. It is now in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. If the committee passes the bill, it will go for a vote before the total Assembly.

AB 1012, authored by Assemblyman Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer Sr., D-South Los Angeles, would forbid districts from assigning students in 7th through 12th grades to courses with no educational content for more than one week a semester. The bill also forbids assigning students to courses they already take taken and passed with a satisfactory grade, unless specific conditions are met. The neb is related to a lawsuit, Cruz 5. California, filed in 2022 by Public Counsel and the ACLU of Southern California, on behalf of a grouping of students who said they had been assigned to multiple contentless classes during which they were told to go home, sit idly in classrooms or perform menial authoritative tasks. In April, an Alameda estimate denied a request for land intervention at six high schools named in the suit where students said they were beingness kept from receiving country-mandated instructional time. Status: The bill passed the Associates on a vote of 79-0. It passed the Senate Instruction Commission and was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

SB 322, authored by Sen. Marking Leno, D-San Francisco, would brand it harder for charter schools to suspend and miscarry students by requiring the schools to comply with disciplinary policies and procedures that are similar to those used in district schools. The neb besides would forbid charter schools from establishing mandatory parental volunteer hours as a condition for enrolling in the school or staying enrolled. Status: The bill passed the Senate and passed the Assembly Educational activity Commission. The bill has been referred to the Associates Appropriations Committee.

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