Governor Newsom vetoed several controversial education bills in recent days, sparing schools from burdensome new kindergarten mandates while signing many other measures. Nearly 600 bills made it into the hands of Governor Gavin Newsom in the final days of the 2021-22 legislative session. By law, the Governor needed to sign or veto all bills in his possession by September 30. The approved bills will become law on January 1, 2023 (unless otherwise noted).
As recently noted, three “charter-killer” bills AB 2214 (Garcia, C), AB 2484 (Bonta), and SB 1343 (Leyva) died due to the relentless advocacy of the charter community. CSDC tagged these three measures as among the top threats to charter schools in the 2021-22 legislative session. A huge shout out to everyone who engaged in our advocacy campaigns to kill these bills.
In addition to the priority bills listed below, CSDC followed more than 150 bills of interest to the charter community. That list is available on our website.
For a much more robust discussion as well as more specific information on how these bills impact charter schools, be sure to attend the 2022 CSDC Conference on November 13-15 in Sacramento.
Assembly Bills
AB 58 Salas (D-Bakersfield) Pupil health: suicide prevention policies and training.
Last Amended: 8/26/2022
Status: Chapter 428
CSDC Position: Watch
Summary: Requires charter schools and other LEAs that serve pupils grades 7 to 12, on or before June 1, 2025, to review and update their policy on pupil suicide prevention, and revise their training materials, to incorporate best practices as identified in a model policy developed by the California Department of Education (CDE).
AB 452 Friedman (D-Glendale) Pupil safety: parental notification: firearm safety laws.
Last Amended: 1/3/2022
Status: Chapter 199
CSDC: Watch
Summary: Requires charter schools and other LEAs to inform parents and guardians of pupils of California’s child access prevention laws and laws relating to the safe storage of firearms several times a year.
AB 544 O'Donnell (D-Long Beach) School property: location and facility details.
Last Amended: 4/5/2021
Status: Died in Committee
CSDC Position: Watch
Summary: Would have, commencing with the 2023–24 school year, required charter schools and other LEAs to provide, and to update annually as needed, certain information to CDE for each school facility, schoolsite, or school property owned or leased by the local educational agency. The bill would have required the charter schools and other LEAs to report to CDE, when a natural disaster occurs, the status of school facilities during an emergency caused by the natural disaster.
AB 558 Nazarian (D-North Hollywood) School meals: Child Nutrition Act of 2022.
Last Amended: 8/24/2022
Status: Chapter 905
CSDC Position: Watch
Summary: Requires CDE to develop, and to post on its internet website by July 1, 2023, guidance for local educational agencies (including charter schools) participating in the federal School Breakfast Program that maintain kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 6, on how to serve eligible nonschool-aged children breakfast or a morning snack at a local educational agency schoolsite.
AB 762 Lee (D – San Jose) Hazardous emissions and substances: schoolsites: private and charter schools.
Last Amended: 6/29/2021
Status: Died
CSDC Position: Oppose
Summary: This bill would have prohibited a lead agency from certifying an environmental impact report or approving a negative declaration for a project involving the purchase of a schoolsite or the construction of a new elementary or secondary school by a charter school or a private school, unless specified conditions are met.
AB 1652 Medina (D-Riverside) County boards of education: members: charter school employees
Last Amended: 6/16/22
Status: Died
CSDC Position: Oppose
Summary: This bill would have made any charter school employee or executive director of a charter school ineligible to be a member of the county board of education in the county where their employing school is located. Would exempt members elected or appointed before January 1, 2023.
AB 1973 McCarty (D- Sacramento) Kindergarten: Minimum school day
Last Amended: 6/30/22
Status: Vetoed 9/25/22
CSDC: Watch
Summary: This bill would have required, from the 2027–28 to the 2029–30 school year, a school district or charter school that has an enrolled unduplicated pupil percentage of 50 percent or more and offers a kindergarten program, to provide, at each schoolsite, one full-day kindergarten class. The bill would have imposed the same requirement on all school districts and charter schools, commencing with the 2030–31 school year, regardless of the enrolled unduplicated pupil percentage.
AB 2158 Fong, M (D-Alhambra) Local educational agencies: ethics training
Last Amended: 3/17/22
Status: Chapter 279
CSDC: Watch
Summary: Requires each member of a governing board of a school district, a county board of education, or the governing body of a charter school, in service as of January 1, 2025, to receive ethics training before January 1, 2026, and at least once every two years thereafter.
AB 2214 Garcia, C (D-Bell Gardens) Charter School Site Acquisitions
Last Amended: 4/25/22
Status: Died in committee
CSDC: Oppose
Summary: This bill would have placed additional schoolsite acquisition requirements on charter schools, including siting requirements for potential hazardous substances, hazardous emissions, or hazardous waste and requiring city or county facility approval. CSDC labeled this a “charter killer” bill because we believe it will make it difficult, if not impossible, for charter schools to acquire facilities in many areas of the state because it is nearly impossible to navigate the proposed restrictions quickly enough to acquire desirable commercial properties in a competitive environment while also navigating the burdensome pre-review processes required by this bill.
AB 2484 Bonta (Alameda-D) Charter schools: school closures: apportionments: facility ownership.
Last Amended: 5/3/22
Status: Died in committee
CSDC: Oppose
Summary: This measure would have established new requirements when a charter school that has received lease aid funding closes, including imposing restrictions on the sale and use of the leased property, requiring return of lease aid to the state in arrears under some circumstances, and designating the school district in which the charter school is located as the designated entity for disposing of net assets. Further, this bill would have imposed other, mandated, non-reimbursable duties on charter schools. CSDC labeled this bill a “charter killer” bill because it would have severely restricted the use of leased facilities when schools close, might have required return of large sums to the state, thereby making it very difficult for charter schools to acquire and lease facilities using state lease aid.
AB 2774 Weber (D-San Diego) Education finance: local control funding formula: supplemental grants: lowest performing pupil subgroup or subgroups.
Last Amended: 8/26/22
Status: Died
CSDC: Watch
Summary: Beginning with the 2023-24 fiscal year, this measure would have expanded the definition of “unduplicated pupil” for purposes of computing the LCFF to add students who are members of the lowest performing subgroups on state CASPP assessments.
Senate Bills
SB 70 Rubio (D- Baldwin Park) Elementary Education: Kindergarten
Last Amended: 8/15/22
Status: Vetoed 9/26/22
CSDC: Watch
Summary: Would have required, beginning with the 2024-25 school year, a student to have completed one year of kindergarten before being admitted to the first grade of a public elementary school (including a charter school).
AB 185 Committee on Budget
Last Amended: 8/26/22
Status: Chapter 571
CSDC Position: Watch
Summary: This measure is the public education and early education omnibus trailer “clean-up” bill. Among other things it increases the base increase for the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) above COLA from 6.2% to 6.7% and make clean-up and technical changes to the state budget. See CSDC’s Charter Currents article for more details.
SB 328 Portantino (D- La Canada Flintridge) Before and after-school programs: middle school and high school start time
Last Amended: 4/27/21
Status: Died
CSDC: Watch
Summary: This bill would have required CDE and the DSS to review all after-school program funding and provide flexibility to school districts to use up to 20 percent of funds provided for after school programs for before school programs. It also would have defined “rural” for purposes of the rural school district exemptions from the provisions regarding school start times and extended those exemptions to rural charter schools.
SB 490 Caballero (D- Salinas) The Buy American Food Act: public institutions: purchase of nondomestic agricultural food products.
Last Amended: 8/25/22
Status: Chapter 602
CSDC: Watch
Summary: Requires California Public Institutions including Local Education Agencies to purchase agricultural products grown, packed, or processed domestically beginning January 1, 2024, or when a current contract with a food supplier is renewed. CSDC is concerned that this bill could significantly increase food costs during and had anticipated that Governor Newsom would veto this bill. Unfortunately, he did not. Fortunately, its key provisions apply only to those agencies that receive $1 million or more per year in federal meal reimbursements, presumably exempting most charter schools.
SB 579 Allen (D-Santa Monica) Education finance: local control funding formula “hold harmless”
Last Amended: 1/20/2022
Status: Died
CSDC: Support
Summary: This bill would have, for the 2021-22 (current) year, based ADA on the greater of actual (2021-22) or 2019-20 data for all LEAs, including charter schools, and for 2022-23, the bill would have based ADA on the greater of 2019-20, 2021-22, or (actual) 2022-23, for all LEAs, including charter schools. The budget “trailer” bill enacted similar provisions.
SB 593 Glazer (D- Orinda) School accountability: independent study, educational enrichment activities, oversight, and audit requirements.
Last Amended: 5/20/2021
Status: Died
CSDC: Watch
Summary: This bill would have required the Controller to also consult with the California Charter Schools Association and the Charter Schools Development Center to recommend the statements and other information to be included in the audit reports filed with the state by local educational agencies, and to propose the content of the Audit Guide regulations that govern how auditors conduct audits of charter schools and other local education agencies.
SB 830 Portantino (D- La Canada Flintridge) Education finance: enrollment-based funding
Last Amended: 5/19/2022
Status: Died
CSDC: Support
Summary: This bill would have, starting in the 2022-23 school year, allowed for the use of enrollment or average daily attendance (ADA), whichever is greater, to compute LCFF funding to local school districts and charter schools.
SB 878 Skinner (D-Berkley) School transportation.
Last Amended: 8/15/2022
Status: Died
CSDC: Watch
Summary: The contents of this bill were gutted, and new language inserted, but prior to that legislative sleight of hand the measure would have required LEAs to offer home-to-school transportation to all students beginning in the 2027-28 school year, and also would have established the Transportation Access to Public Schools Fund to reimburse LEAs for their transportation costs. The bill explicitly excluded charter schools from the requirement and the ability to receive funding.
However, the final state budget provided $637 million in ongoing finding to the Home to School Transportation program local control funding formula add-on. This allows education agencies, excluding charter schools, to receive 60 percent reimbursement of their transportation costs, or their current add-on, plus ongoing cost of living adjustments.
SB 955 Leyva (D- Chino) Pupil attendance: excused absences: civic or political events.
Last amended: 8/24/22
Status: Chapter 921
CSDC: Watch
Summary: Expands the statutory definition of “excused absence” to include, an absence
of a middle school or high school pupil participating in a civic or political event. The bill requires a middle school or high school pupil who is absent from school to engage in a civic or political event to be excused for only one schoolday-long absence per school year.
SB 1100 Cortese (D-San Jose) Open meetings: orderly conduct.
Last Amended: 6/29/2021
Status: Chapter 171
CSDC Position: Watch
Summary: Authorizes the presiding member of the legislative body (including a charter school governing board) to remove an individual for disrupting the board meeting.
SB 1343 Leyva (D-Chino) Public employees’ retirement: charter schools.
Last Amended: 8/15/22
Status: Died
CSDC: Oppose
This bill would have required all charter schools authorized on or after January 1, 2025 to participate in the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS). This bill also would have authorized county offices of education requisition up to three months of advance payments to CalSTRS and CalPERS for charter schools in their geographical boundaries when a charter’s education funding dollars are disbursed from the state. CSDC deemed this a “charter killer” bill because of the huge and increasing costs of participating in the public retirement systems and due to the negative impact that it could have on charter schools’ cash flow.