California Educator

June/July 2021

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Legislative Update AB 438: Fairness for Education Support Professionals A bill that would bring parity to the layoff process for certificated educators and education support professionals is one step closer to the governor 's desk after approval by the Assembly. Co-sponsored by CTA, AB 438 (Gómez Reyes) revises provisions relating to the layoff of classified school employees to require certain notices and opportunities for a hearing when a classified employee's services will not be required for the coming year due to lack of work or funds. This bill will establish parity between the layoff process for classified school employees and certificated school employees. The bill now heads to the state Senate. AB 1269: Part-Time Faculty Parity Bill Stalls in Committee A CTA-sponsored bill that would address a long-standing disparity in compensation for part-time community college faculty — AB 1269 (Garcia) — is being held under submission in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, as of press time. This is an action taken when a bill is heard in a committee and there is an indication that the author and committee members want to work on or discuss the bill further, but there is no motion for the bill to progress out of committee. Education Coalition Calls for Changes to Funding Calculations Despite a statutory requirement to include charter school average daily attendance (ADA) in the state's calcu- lation of excess Educational Revenue Augmentation Funds (ERAF) property tax revenues, the State Controller 's Office has continued to exclude charter school ADA. In doing so, Proposition 98 funding will be reduced by approxi- mately $900 million over the three-year budget period, effectively undoing the Budget Act of 2020. The Education Coalition, comprising CTA and eight other statewide K-12 public education associations, urges the Legislature to clarify the law to ensure charter school ADA is counted toward the excess ERAF calculations. Without this clarification, local school districts will see $60 to $75 less funding per ADA on a statewide basis. Assembly Members Reginald Jones-Sawyer, Wendy Carrillo and Ash Kalra helped usher AB 101 to the state Senate. AB 101: Ethnic Studies Bill Moves Forward The fight for ethnic studies for all California students is one step closer to reality after CTA-co-sponsored AB 101 was approved by the Assembly, sending it to the state Senate. The bill would require all school districts to offer ethnic studies courses by 2025-26 and make the completion of an ethnic studies course a requirement for high school graduation starting in the 2029-30 school year. "Our history should not be optional," says AB 101 author Assem- bly Member Jose Medina (D-Riverside). "It's time to make ethnic studies a requirement for all California high school students!" AB 101 is key to promoting respect and understanding among races, supporting student academic success, and teaching life- time critical thinking skills for the 21st century, and co-sponsoring the legislation strengthens CTA's long-standing commitment to provide student access to quality ethnic studies courses and to fight for racial justice and equity. 34 cta.org Advocacy

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