ow that 2024 has come to a close it is time to look back at how legislators voted on measures important to school district and county boards of education. An indicator of how individual legislators protect or impact the ability and authority of school district and county board member authority, CSBA’s Legislative Scorecard reflects on how legislators voted on critical public education measures that came before them in 2024. This last year saw over 2,124 bills proposed and 990 make it to the Governor’s desk for his consideration.

Of course, only a fraction of these bills will affect education — and with that in mind, it’s time now for CSBA’s annual look at how your Senators and Assemblymembers voted on key legislation impacting public schools.

To evaluate each Senator and Assemblymember’s vote records, CSBA scored their favorable vote percentage on a total of 54 bills. Each of these bills are measures that CSBA sponsored, actively supported or actively opposed in 2024 and that received a full floor vote in both the Senate and the Assembly.

Important notes about the scorecard:

• The favorable vote percentage is relative to how many total opportunities each legislator had to vote on these 54 bills.
• Each of the 54 bills were heard on both the Senate and Assembly floors, giving each legislator at least one opportunity to vote.
• Education and Appropriations committee members had more opportunities to cast votes on these 54 bills than other legislators. Members of those committees are noted in the scorecard for context.
• Instances where a member did not record a vote, either due to an abstention or an absence at the time of the vote, do not count as a favorable or unfavorable vote.

Among the 54 bills your legislators are scored on, CSBA is recognizing specific votes on two CSBA-sponsored bills and three additional critical measures for schools:

Senate Bill 1315 | LEA reporting requirements
Sen. Bob Archuleta (D–Pico Rivera)
Co-sponsored with the California Association of School Business Officials, SB 1315 was the direct product of school board member input. Signed into law by the Governor, it is a “report on reports” bill, which requires the California Department of Education, by March 1, 2025, to assess and report on the number and types of reports that school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools are required to annually submit. It also requires the report to include, among other things, the purpose of each report and recommendations for which reports can be consolidated, eliminated, or truncated.

SB 1374 | Net energy metering
Sen. Josh Becker (D–San Mateo)
This measure would have revised the rate structure LEAs receive for excess solar energy production, thereby increasing the energy rates utilities would have been required to pay to LEAs. This measure was vetoed by Gov. Newsom.

SB 937 Developer fees
Sen. Scott Wiener (D–San Francisco)
Amended during the last few weeks of the 2023–24 Legislative Session, this bill delays the ability of a local agency, including an LEA to collect developer fees for residential developments until the project is completed and the resident takes occupancy. Signed into law by the Governor, this bill will significantly interfere with and increase the costs LEAs face in building and modernizing school facilities.

Assembly Bill 247 | State School Facilities Bond
Assemblymembers Al Muratsuchi (D–Torrance) and Mike Fong (D–Alhambra)
The originating legislation that placed Proposition 2 on the November 2024 General Election Ballot, AB 247 was critical to ensuring that state school facilities continue to receive funding.

AB 2088 | Preferential hiring of internal classified staff
Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D–Sacramento)
Adamantly opposed by CSBA, AB 2088 would have fundamentally undermined the authority and important duty LEAs have to hire well-qualified staff who meet the needs of our students and schools. Vetoed by the Governor, it would have required LEAs to hire internal classified staff for open positions solely based upon seniority before considering outside candidates, even from other LEAs.