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Legislation & Advocacy: Legislative Articles

11.04.11: 2012 Kids Education Plan

The following article is referencing a possible initiative for school funding. Because it has not yet been sent to the Attorney General for Title and Summary, the first step for an initiative before being able to collect signatures to place . . . read more

11.04.11: Kindergarten Promotion/Acceleration/Retention

Following is an example of board policy and form for Kindergarten Promotion/Acceleration/Retention. Click here for a pdf version.   Board Policy Students . . . read more

10.27.11: Governor's Twelve Point Pension Reform Proposal

SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today proposed 12 major reforms for state and local pension systems that would end system-wide abuses and reduce taxpayer costs by billions of dollars over the long term. “It’s time to fix . . . read more

10.20.11: GASB Hearing Update

By Walrath, David

On October 13, 2011, the GASB met in San Francisco to discuss how public pensions should account for their assets and liabilities.  CalSTRS presented their issues with the GASB proposal as did many other public pension systems.  The . . . read more

10.14.11: AB 47 - Open Enrollment Act Reform

By Walrath, David

Because Governor Brown vetoed AB 47, the Open Enrollment Act reform legislation, SSDA suggests that any district that is currently subject to the Open Enrollment Act and that would have qualified for exemption from AB 47 consider requesting . . . read more

10.14.11: School Construction Project Retention

By Walrath, David

Because Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 293, school districts will be able to retain no more than five percent (current law has no cap but current practice is 10% retention) of a contract to ensure that a General Contractor (GC) or . . . read more

10.11.11: Legislative Update

Please click here to view the status of significant legislation.     read more

09.08.11: Legislature Establishing Public Employees Pension Conference Committee

By Walrath, David

Senate Bill 827 and Assembly Bill 340 have been amended and will be put into conference committee as vehicles for comprehensive public employee pension reform. The only language in the bills is the conference committee intent to reform . . . read more

03.21.11: SB 27 Passes Senate Committee

By Walrath, David

On March 21 Dave Walrath, SSDA's lobbyist,  testified to the Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee in opposition to SB 27 (Simitian) which would limit administrator salaries that can be used for the CalSTRS defined benefit . . . read more

12.22.10: Legislative Update

By Walrath, David

The Legislature returned to Sacramento for a one-day session on December 6, 2010. Since then, they have started introducing new legislation. This is a brief update on some of the more interesting bills affecting education and small school . . . read more

12.16.10: Speaker Pérez Appoints Members to Assembly Education Committee

Speaker John Pérez has appointed membership to the Education Committee for the 2011-12 Regular Session:   Assembly Member Julia Brownley, Chair Assembly Member Chris Norby, Vice-Chair Assembly . . . read more

06.28.10: Legislative Update

By David Walrath

School Facilities Program Oversight Hearing The Assembly Education Committee held an oversight hearing last week on the School Facilities Program (SFP).  The hearing was intended to determine how best to improve that . . . read more

04.22.10: Sponsored Legislation Update

SB 898 Ashburn (R ) relates to the After School Education and Safety Program to serve pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 9 at participating public elementary, middle, junior high and charter schools. The bill would establish a . . . read more

03.30.10: Developers Fight to Continue School Funding Cuts

By David Walrath

State grants for new construction and modernization were cut for 2010 projects based on a flawed cost index proposed by the Office of School Construction (OPSC) and supported by representatives from the California Building Industry . . . read more

01.04.10: SSDA Update

By David Walrath

The Governor’s budget will be released on January 8.  The Assembly Education Committee will meet this week to hear Senate Bill 4 of the 5 th Extraordinary Session which is the Senate/Administration’s proposal for the statutory . . . read more

09.16.09: Assembly Announces Education Special Session Committee

by Aileen Dalen

Bass Names Special Education Committee to Put California in Lead in President’s Race to the Top Program   SACRAMENTO – Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly Education Committee . . . read more

07.01.09: Qualified School Construction Bond Update

By David Walrath

I encourage all small school districts that are looking for funding for energy conservation and energy generation projects (solar, etc.) to consider these almost interest free bonds as a method to pay for the energy efficiency and new . . . read more

06.23.09: Supreme Court Expands Access to Public School Funding for Private School Placements

By David Walrath

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court held that school districts could be subject to reimbursing parents for placements in private schools even if the child had never been in a public school special education program. While the decision does . . . read more

05.01.09: An Interesting Week in Sacramento

By David Walrath

Quiet Deadline Week   The past week was the deadline for passing fiscal bills from their first policy committees. If a bill with costs did not pass the first policy committee by today it is effectively dead. . . . read more

08.23.09: AB 844 Background Information

By David Walrath

  Summary   Assembly Bill 844 (Villines) would provide school districts with limited flexibility for existing state mandated programs and would create a streamlined reimbursement process for new mandates. . . . read more

12.01.08: Legislature Convenes for Next Session

By David Walrath

California Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg announced his priorities for the first half of the new legislative session. He outlined an aggressive agenda for the first 120-days of this session and for the budget adoption . . . read more

10.01.08: Governor Acts on Legislation

Governor Schwarzenegger has completed his signs and vetoes on the legislation awaiting his action: Click Here for Signed Legislation Click Here for Vetoed Legislation Click Here for Failed Legislation read more

August 19, 2008: Proposition 1B School Bus Replacement

By David Walrath

The Air Resources Board (ARB) has released the final guidelines for the Proposition 1B school bus replacement funds.  The following are excerpts from the guidelines.  For the complete guidelines, please visit . . . read more

August 8, 2008: Legislative Update

By David Walrath

Click here for an update on the status of significant legislation. read more

March 17, 2008 - Assembly Republicans Defeat Oil Tax For Schools

By David Walrath

On March 12, the Assembly Republicans did not vote in support of legislation that would have imposed an oil severance tax and a windfall profits tax on oil companies operating and extracting oil in California.   The legislative . . . read more

March 17, 2008 - Assembly School Finance Working Group

By David Walrath

  The Assembly Education Committee has established a School Finance Working Group that will look at categorical program consolidation, the revenue limit and general purpose school funding mechanism, as well as other school . . . read more

March 17, 2008 - Governor’s Commission on School Funding to Report

By David Walrath

Staff from the Governor’s Commission on School Funding have indicated that they intend to present the Commission’s report to the Governor and the Legislature on Friday, March 14.    This will be a response to the Stanford . . . read more

March 17, 2008 - Legislature Goes On Break

By David Walrath

Legislature Goes On Break The Legislature started its spring recess on Thursday, March 13.   They will return to Sacramento on March 24 to continue hearings on legislation and the State Budget. read more

 
 

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