Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today signed the following bills to improve the quality of education in California.
• SB 1070 Senator Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) – Career Technical
Education Pathways Program. Extends an existing technical education
program at middle schools, high schools and community colleges until
2015.
• SB 1292 by Senator Carol Liu (D-Pasadena) – School employees:
principals: evaluation. Authorizes school districts to assess the
performance of school principals and establishes provision to guide that
evaluation process.
• AB 1663 by Assemblymember Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento) – Pupil
instruction: California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science.
Requests the Regents of the University of California to set a tuition
fee for the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science
program.
• AB 2367 by Assemblymember Susan Bonilla (D-Concord) – School gardens:
sale of produce. Allows schools to sell produce from their school
gardens as long as existing health and safety requirements are met.
• AB 2279 by Assemblymember Sandré Swanson (D-Oakland) – School
districts: emergency apportionments: trustees. Authorizes the State
Superintendent of Public Instruction to remove a state-appointed trustee
from a school district that received an emergency loan after three
years, provided the district has adequate fiscal systems in place and
the Superintendent determines the district's future compliance with its
fiscal plan is probable.
• AB 1521 by Assemblymember Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) –
Standardized Testing and Reporting Program: academic achievement:
assessment instrument. Allows English speaking pupils enrolled in a dual
immersion program to take the primary language assessment.
• AB 2193 by Assemblymember Ricardo Lara (D-South Gate) – Long-term
English learners. Creates standard definitions of “long-term English
learner” and “English learners at risk of becoming long-term English
learners,” to properly identify these students so they receive
appropriate assistance.
• SB 1108 by Senator Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) – English learners:
reclassification. Requires the California Department of Education to
analyze the way school districts reclassify English learners and
recommend to the Legislature and state board any changes necessary to
improve education in California.
• AB 2616 by Assemblymember Wilmer Carter (D-Rialto) – School districts:
truancy. Provides school administrators with more discretion when
determining if students are truant and in imposing consequences for
truant students to focus truancy reduction efforts away from law
enforcement and courts.
• AB 1668 by Assemblymember Wilmer Carter (D-Rialto) – School
accountability: academic performance: dropout recovery high schools.
Expands the current definition of a “dropout recovery high school” to
help better identify the schools that enroll pupils who have not been
enrolled for at least 180 days.
• AB 2171 by Assemblymember Paul Fong (D-Mountain View) – Public
postsecondary education: community college: expulsion hearing. Allows
California Community College districts to require student applicants to
disclose any prior expulsion from another community college and allows
denial of admission for specified serious or violent offenses.
• AB 1729 by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) – Pupil
rights: suspension or expulsion: alternatives and other means of
correction. Clarifies existing law to only allow suspension or expulsion
of a student only after other means of correction fail to bring about
proper conduct.
• AB 2537 by Assemblymember V. Manuel Perez (D-Coachella) – Pupil
discipline: suspensions and expulsions. Clarifies that possessing an
imitation firearm, over-the-counter medicine or student’s prescription
medicines are not “zero tolerance” offences that automatically require
expulsion. Eliminates an existing $500 fine imposed on a principal who
fail to notify law enforcement of certain crimes allegedly committed by
students.
• AB 2497 by Assemblymember Jose Solorio (D-Santa Ana) – California
State University: Early Start Program. Requires the Legislative
Analyst’s Office to report information measuring the effect of the
California State University’s Early Start Program on mathematics and
English proficiency.
The Governor also announced that he has vetoed the following bills:
• AB 1853 by Assemblymember Susan Bonilla (D-Concord) – Teacher
credentialing: recognition of study in transitional kindergarten. A veto
message can be found here.
• AB 2242 by Assemblymember Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento) – Pupils:
grounds for suspension and expulsion. A veto message can be found here.
