Existing law prohibits a permanent school employee from being dismissed, except for one or more of certain enumerated causes, including egregious misconduct, as defined. Existing law prohibits school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools from entering into an agreement that would authorize expunging from a school employees personnel file credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct, unless the documents contain allegations that have been the subject of a hearing before an arbitrator, school board, personnel commission, Commission on Professional Competence, or administrative law judge, in which the employee prevailed, the allegations were determined to be false, not credible, or unsubstantiated, or a determination was made that the discipline was not warranted.

This bill would also prohibit school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools from directly expunging from an employees personnel file credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct, unless documents containing allegations that have been the subject of a hearing before an arbitrator, school board, personnel commission, Commission on Professional Competence, or administrative law judge, in which the employee prevailed, the allegations were determined to be false, not credible, or unsubstantiated, or a determination was made that the discipline was not warranted.

Existing law prohibits a permanent school employee from being dismissed, except for one or more of certain enumerated causes, including egregious misconduct, as defined. Existing law prohibits school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools from entering into an agreement that would authorize expunging from a school employees personnel file credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct, unless the documents contain allegations that have been the subject of a hearing before an arbitrator, school board, personnel commission, Commission on Professional Competence, or administrative law judge, in which the employee prevailed, the allegations were determined to be false, not credible, or unsubstantiated, or a determination was made that the discipline was not warranted.

This bill would also prohibit school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools from directly expunging from an employees personnel file credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct, unless documents containing allegations that have been the subject of a hearing before an arbitrator, school board, personnel commission, Commission on Professional Competence, or administrative law judge, in which the employee prevailed, the allegations were determined to be false, not credible, or unsubstantiated, or a determination was made that the discipline was not warranted.

Existing law prohibits a permanent school employee from being dismissed, except for one or more of certain enumerated causes, including egregious misconduct, as defined. Existing law prohibits school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools from entering into an agreement that would authorize expunging from a school employees personnel file credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct, unless the documents contain allegations that have been the subject of a hearing before an arbitrator, school board, personnel commission, Commission on Professional Competence, or administrative law judge, in which the employee prevailed, the allegations were determined to be false, not credible, or unsubstantiated, or a determination was made that the discipline was not warranted.

This bill would also prohibit school districts, county offices of education, and charters from directly expunging from an employees personnel file credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct, unless documents containing allegations that have been the subject of a hearing before an arbitrator, school board, personnel commission, Commission on Professional Competence, or administrative law judge, in which the employee prevailed, the allegations were determined to be false, not credible, or unsubstantiated, or a determination was made that the discipline was not warranted.

 CONSENT 

Bill No: AB 1452

Author: Hadley (R)

Introduced: 2/27/15

Vote: 21

SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 8-0, 6/17/15

AYES: Liu, Runner, Block, Hancock, Leyva, Monning, Pan, Vidak

NO VOTE RECORDED: Mendoza

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-0, 5/22/15 (Consent) - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Certificated employees: personnel files: expungement: egregious misconduct

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST: This bill prohibits school districts, county offices of education and charter schools from expunging from an employee's personnel file credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct.

ANALYSIS: Existing law specifies that school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools are prohibited from entering into an agreement that would authorize expunging from a school employee’s personnel file credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct. Egregious misconduct includes sex offenses, controlled substance offenses and child abuse and neglect offenses. However, this prohibition does not preclude any agreement to remove documents containing allegations that have been the subject of a hearing before an arbitrator, school board, personnel commission, Commission on Professional Competence, or administrative law judge, in which the employee prevailed, the allegations were determined to be false, not credible, or unsubstantiated, or a determination was made that the discipline was not warranted.

This bill prohibits school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools from expunging from an employee’s personnel file credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct, as defined in Education Code § 44932.

Comments

Need for the bill. According to the author’s office, this bill would prohibit a school district, administrator or charter school from purging credible substantiated cases of abuse or neglect where the district has made a decision not to discipline a teacher based on an accusation of egregious or immoral acts. This will preserve an important record for current and future administrators to determine if there is a pattern of behavior that suggests children may be at risk. This will also allow prosecutors to build a more solid case when a teacher is accused of new acts of egregious or immoral behavior. The author’s office indicates that the absence of such accusations in an employee’s personnel record would also be a more meaningful fact in establishing the possible innocence of an accused employee, if parents, administrators and courts can rely upon such records not to have been previously expunged.

Closing a loophole. Among other things, AB 215 (Buchanan, Chapter 55, Statutes of 2014) established the prohibition for school districts to enter into an agreement that would authorize expunging a teacher’s record of credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct. Egregious misconduct includes sex offenses, controlled substance offenses, and child abuse and neglect offenses, as specified. According to the author’s office, AB 215 did not expressly prohibit an administrator or school district from unilaterally expunging a teacher’s record and as a result, a school district could purge personnel files of egregious misconduct complaints as part of a district policy. This bill is intended to close that loophole.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No

SUPPORT: (Verified 6/18/15)

EdVoice

OPPOSITION: (Verified 6/18/15)

None received

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-0, 5/22/15

AYES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins

NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Jones, O'Donnell, Olsen, Waldron, Weber

Prepared by: Lenin Del Castillo / ED. / (916) 651-4105

6/18/15 19:06:54

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Senator Carol Liu, Chair

2015 - 2016 Regular

Bill No: AB 1452

Subject: Certificated employees: personnel files: expungement: egregious …………..misconduct

SUMMARY

This bill prohibits school districts, county offices of education and charter schools from expunging from an employee's personnel file credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct.

BACKGROUND

Existing law specifies that school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools are prohibited from entering into an agreement that would authorize expunging from a school employee’s personnel file credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct. Egregious misconduct includes sex offenses, controlled substance offenses and child abuse and neglect offenses. However, this prohibition does not preclude any agreement to remove documents containing allegations that have been the subject of a hearing before an arbitrator, school board, personnel commission, Commission on Professional Competence, or administrative law judge, in which the employee prevailed, the allegations were determined to be false, not credible, or unsubstantiated, or a determination was made that the discipline was not warranted.

(Education Code § 44939.5)

ANALYSIS

This bill prohibits school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools from expunging from an employee’s personnel file credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct, as defined in Education Code § 44932.

STAFF COMMENTS

1. Need for the bill. According to the author’s office, this bill would prohibit a school district, administrator or charter school from purging credible substantiated cases of abuse or neglect where the district has made a decision not to discipline a teacher based on an accusation of egregious or immoral acts. This will preserve an important record for current and future administrators to determine if there is a pattern of behavior that suggests children may be at risk. This will also allow prosecutors to build a more solid case when a teacher is accused of new acts of egregious or immoral behavior. By the same token, the absence of such accusations in an employee’s personnel record would also be a more meaningful fact in establishing the possible innocence of an accused employee, if parents, administrators and courts can rely upon such records not to have been previously expunged.

2. Closing a loophole. Among other things, AB 215 (Buchanan, Chapter 55, Statutes of 2014) established the prohibition for school districts to enter into an agreement that would authorize expunging a teacher’s record of credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct. Egregious misconduct includes sex offenses, controlled substance offenses, and child abuse and neglect offenses, as specified. According to the author’s office, AB 215 did not expressly prohibit an administrator or school district from unilaterally expunging a teacher’s record and as a result, a school district could purge personnel files of egregious misconduct complaints as part of a district policy. This bill is intended to close that loophole.

3. Prior and related legislation. AB 215 (Buchanan, Chapter 55, Statutes of 2014) made various changes to the dismissal process for certificated employees.

SUPPORT

EdVoice

OPPOSITION

None received.

-- END --

Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Patrick O'Donnell, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1452

Author:(Hadley) – As Introduced Ver:February 27, 2015

SUBJECT: Certificated employees: personnel files: expungement: egregious misconduct

SUMMARY: Prohibits school districts, county offices of education and charter schools from expunging from an employee's personnel file, credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or disciple for, egregious misconduct, as defined in Education Code Section 44932.

EXISTING LAW specifies school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools are prohibited from entering into an agreement that would authorize expunging from a school employee’s personnel file credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or discipline for, egregious misconduct (sex offenses; controlled substance offenses; and, child abuse and neglect offenses, as specified). This prohibition does not preclude any agreement to remove documents containing allegations that have been the subject of a hearing before an arbitrator, school board, personnel commission, Commission on Professional Competence, or administrative law judge, in which the employee prevailed, the allegations were determined to be false, not credible, or unsubstantiated, or a determination was made that the discipline was not warranted. (Education Code 44939.5)

FISCAL EFFECT: This bill is keyed non-fiscal.

COMMENTS: Existing law specifies that school districts, county offices of education (COEs), and charter schools are prohibited from entering an agreement that would authorize expunging complaints of egregious misconduct from a personnel file. Egregious misconduct is defined as sex offenses; controlled substance offenses; and, child abuse and neglect offenses, as specified. This bill expressly prohibits expunging complaints of egregious misconduct from a personnel file.

AB 215 (Buchanan), Chapter 55 from 2014 created the prohibition in existing law with the understanding that some school districts had collective bargaining agreements that contained language requiring the removal of all complaints from an employee's personnel file, regardless of the nature, after a specified amount of time. This bill closes a small loophole, that could allow a district to purge personnel files of egregious misconduct complaints as a district policy, without such a collective bargaining agreement. While Legislative intent appears to be clear in this area, prohibiting employers from purging personnel files of egregious misconduct complaints is consistent with Legislative intent to prohibit an employer from entering an agreement that would require the purging of those same documents.

According to author, this bill would prohibit a school district, administrator or charter school from purging credible substantiated cases of abuse or neglect where the district has made a decision not to discipline a teacher based on an accusation of egregious or immoral acts. This will preserve an important record for current and future administrators to determine if there is a pattern of behavior that suggests children may be at risk. This will also allow prosecutors to build a more solid case when a teacher is accused of new acts of egregious or immoral behavior. By the same token, the absence of such accusations in an employee’s personnel record would also be a more meaningful fact in establishing the possible innocence of an accused employee, if parents, administrators and courts can rely upon such records not to have been previously expunged.

Related Legislation: AB 215 (Buchanan), Chapter 55 from 2014, made various changes to the dismissal process for certificated employees.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

EdVoice

Opposition

None on file

Analysis Prepared by: Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087