When Gov. Gavin Newsom released the 2021–22 budget proposal on Jan. 8, many in education celebrated the seemingly significant investments in school reopening and learning loss mitigation amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposal includes the paying down of most school funding deferrals and a Local Control Funding Formula cost-of-living adjustment, as well as additional investments in teacher preparation, pension relief and special education.
It also includes the Safe Schools for All plan — a $2 billion grant program that would make available on a per-pupil basis funds for schools that resume in-person instruction by specified dates. While state funding to help local educational agencies purchase personal protective equipment, enhance and expand COVID-19 testing for employees and students, and provide mental health support services is welcome, details of the plan left a lot to be desired.
For any member of a school board governance team, few situations are more sensitive than a district delivering March 15 layoff notices. It is essential for governing board members to be familiar with information about the March 15 notice, its implementation process and the strict legal requirements attached to the process.
The March 15 notice is a formal, written announcement from a school district informing its certificated employees — required by Education Code section 44949 — that their services may not be required for the following school year beginning July 1. Districts must adhere to the notice, hearing and layoff procedures in Education Code 44949, 44955 and other applicable provisions of law. Boards may reduce the number of probationary and permanent certificated employees for either declining average daily attendance or a reduction or discontinuation of a particular kind of service, described further in CSBA’s Model Board Policy 4117.3. The law requires that no later than March 15, the district board must adopt a resolution stating that services are to be reduced and/or discontinued and that it is necessary to reduce the staff, specifying the extent of the reduction. The resolution must also direct the superintendent to provide written notice to the affected employees.
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Suzanne Kitchens | Pleasant Valley SD
President-elect:
Susan Heredia | Natomas USD
Vice President:
Susan Markarian | Pacific Union ESD
Immediate Past President:
Xilonin Cruz-Gonzalez | Azusa USD
CEO & Executive Director:
Vernon M. Billy
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It’s encouraging to see these celebrations of African American history, but that enthusiasm is tempered by present day data on student progress. On Feb. 8, researchers with the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education released data that paints a sobering picture of student performance and the related opportunity and achievement gaps. Most disheartening was the finding that all of California’s student groups except African Americans made academic progress over the last decade, as measured by standardized test scores. Similarly, achievement gaps remained level or closed somewhat, except in the case of African American and white students where the gap widened. This is not the kind of history we want to be writing for our African American students, our schools or our state.
Even as Gov. Gavin Newsom’s January budget proposal rides better-than-expected revenues to provide a full cost-of-living adjustment of 3.84 percent, erase most apportionment deferrals and maintain an additional year of employer pension rate buydowns, school reopening remains top of mind in Sacramento. Gov. Newsom’s Safe Schools for All proposal is now under consideration for early action as the Senate and Assembly begin work on the 2021–22 budget process. CSBA and many stakeholders, as well as members of the Senate and Assembly, have pushed back on the Governor’s plan, which will require legislative approval before being put into action. Assembly Budget Chair Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) has also introduced Assembly Bill 10, which would require schools to publicly present a plan to resume in-person learning within two weeks of their county moving into red, orange or yellow tiers, beginning March 1, 2021. Districts would be able to choose whether to return to all in-person learning or use a hybrid model, and local educational agencies in non-purple counties would still maintain the authority to determine when to provide in-person learning during the 2020–21 school year, how that learning is provided and how long it is provided.
Research shows that regardless of family income or background, students whose parents are involved in their schooling are more likely to have higher grades and test scores, attend school regularly, have better social skills, show improved behavior and adapt well to school.1 Under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act and California’s Local Control Funding Formula, parent stakeholder engagement is required, but the ways in which parents are engaged is up to each district A 2017 academic paper “African American Parents and Effective Parent Involvement Programs” examines what effective parent involvement entails, particularly for the African American community.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced in a Jan. 8 press conference that his 2021–22 budget proposal provides approximately $90 billion total for K-14 schools, with the historic investment centering on equity as local educational agencies navigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A number of the Governor’s proposals will provide increased spending flexibility, said CSBA President Suzanne Kitchens during a CSBA webinar following the announcement. She noted, however, that the wide variety of student needs, extraordinary expenses during this time of crisis and local circumstances all stand in the way of ensuring equity in reopening schools throughout the state.
When county office of education or school district trustees cannot meet in person, boards must continue to connect and conduct business. During the global pandemic — and in other emergency circumstances — district and county boards are permitted to meet and make board decisions virtually. A virtual school board meeting can be held through a video-based platform or a conference call that allows for public access and comment.
CSBA resources for virtual board meetings
In a spring webinar and blog post, CSBA’s legal team joined with affiliate law partners to offer concrete ideas and examples to help board members answer the questions posed in this article.
CSBA webinar “Open Board Meetings in a World of School Closures”: https://bit.ly/3puXthG.
Read the webinar blog summary at http://blog.csba.org/csba-webinar-meetings/.
As school districts across the United States consider how to safely reopen schools, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has provided indicators to help local educational agencies evaluate the risks associated with reopening schools for in-person instruction, including the level of community transmission. Other determinate factors in assessing the risks associated with reopening schools are associated with how firmly an LEA adheres to the CDC’s five primary mitigation strategies: consistent and correct use of masks; social distancing to the extent possible; hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette; cleaning and disinfection; and contact tracing in collaboration with the local health department. Other mitigation strategies that can be used concurrently include forming cohorts of students and teachers and staggered scheduling. It is important to note that COVID-19 testing of students and staff was not included in this estimate.
In a pair of briefs released Oct. 29, CSBA policy experts explore not only the challenges that LEAs face in these areas, but also potential actions that governance teams can take to ensure that all students have access to rigorous STEM curriculum and educators capable of teaching it.
State Board President Linda Darling-Hammond opened the meeting addressing equity in distance learning and beyond, saying how California moves forward in developing the future of education will be crucial to improving student outcomes long term.
Operated by the Trinity County Office of Education, the R.I.S.E. Academy is this year’s winner of the CCBE Apple for Excellence Award. The award recognizes outstanding programs administered by county offices of education reflecting the depth and breadth of a county education program necessary to address students’ changing needs. The award is given to the top county office of education program that is a winner of the CSBA Golden Bell Award.
The training will be held virtually every Tuesday beginning March 9 through March 30 from 8:30 — 11:30 a.m., plus one session from 3:30 — 5:00 p.m. Live sessions will be recorded and available only for registered attendees to view asynchronously. Each session is 2.5 hours long.
MIG COE Course 2: Policy & Judicial Review / Student Learning & Achievement | SOLD OUT
CCBE County Board Governance Training
MIG Course 2: Student Learning & Achievement / Policy & Judicial Review
Board Presidents Workshop
MIG COE Course 3: Facilities & Finance / Charter Schools | SOLD OUT
MIG COE Course 4: Community Relations & Advocacy / Governance Integration, 2021 | SOLD OUT
MIG COE Course 2: Policy & Judicial Review / Student Learning & Achievement | SOLD OUT
Board Presidents Workshop
CCBE County Board Governance Training
MIG COE Course 3: Facilities & Finance / Charter Schools | SOLD OUT
MIG Course 2: Student Learning & Achievement / Policy & Judicial Review Workshop
MIG COE Course 4: Community Relations & Advocacy / Governance Integration, 2021 | SOLD OUT