Senate Standing Committee on Rules

Afternoon. The Senate continues to welcome the public in person and also via teleconference service. We're holding our Committee hearing in the O Street Building in Room 2200. For individuals wishing to provide public comment via the teleconference service, the participant toll free number and access code is posted on our Committee website. It will be displayed on the screen now and several times throughout the Committee. Today's participant number is 8772-268216. The access code is 1717721.

And also, let me just ask on behalf of our Court Reporter, all speakers, colleagues, witnesses alike, to speak slowly and clearly. If we miss something, you'll see me stop you and ask you to slow down or repeat what you said, because we want to get it definitely for the record. So before we begin the agenda today, we need to establish a quorum. And a reminder to my colleagues, you'll need to turn on your microphones for the roll call. And every time that we vote. And with that, Madam Secretary, will you please call the roll.

Laird. Here. Laird, here. Ochoa Bogh. Here. Ochoa Bogh, here. Smallwood-Cuevas. Here. Smallwood-Cuevas, here. Wilk. Atkins. Here. Atkins, here.

And a quorum is present. And for members of the public, today Senator Wilk will be replacing our Vice Chair, Senator Grove, for the day. He is, however, at another informational hearing, so he will be here shortly. I just wanted to make sure you knew. I will go ahead and see if we can take up some items for the consent or to get through some items that don't need discussion. I'm going to start with Governor's appointees not required to appear. These are two appointments to the Water Quality Control Board for Central Valley region and for the North Coast region. So I would entertain a motion on two ENF.

So move.

Thank you, Senator Laird. Madam Secretary, will you call the roll?

Laird. Aye. Laird, aye. Ochoa Bogh. Aye. Ochoa Bogh, aye. Smallwood-Cuevas. Aye. Smallwood-Cuevas, aye. Wilk. Atkins. Atkins, aye.

That was Governor's appointees not required to appear ENF. You got an aye from our Senator Wilk and aye for me.

Wilk, aye. Atkins, aye. Five to zero.

Five to zero. Thank you. So we'll go to item three, reference of bills to Committee. I would entertain a motion. Thank you, Senator. It was Ochoa Bogh, right? Okay. Madam Secretary, will you please call the roll?

Laird. Aye. Laird, aye. Ochoa Bogh. Aye. Ochoa Bogh, aye. Smallwood-Cuevas. Aye. Smallwood-Cuevas, aye. Wilk. Aye. Wilk, aye. Atkins. Aye. Atkins, aye.

Thank you, colleagues. Five to zero. We now have floor acknowledgments, which are items four through nine. I would entertain a motion.

I would move them.

Thank you, Senator Laird. Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

Laird. Aye. Laird, aye. Ochoa Bogh. Aye. Ochoa Bogh, aye. Smallwood-Cuevas. Aye. Smallwood-Cuevas, aye. Wilk. Aye. Wilk, aye. Atkins. Aye. Atkins, aye. Five to zero.

Five to zero. Thank you so much. So we're going to go ahead and turn to Governor's appointees required to appear. And we're going to start with item one, A through C. And these are appointments of members to the State Board of Education. Our folks who can start to come up, and I think we have names already put out. Let me say welcome to everyone. We've got Dr. Brenda A. Lewis, Ms. Sharon M. Olken, and hopefully you'll correct me if I've said your name wrong, and Gabriela P. Orozco Gonzalez.

Welcome. As you're getting situated and set up, I want to welcome you. We will take up introductions in the order that I stated. Order of the agenda beginning with Dr. Lewis. And after each of you have given your introductions, acknowledgments to anyone you want to thank or acknowledge generally, we'll go through and let each of you do opening comments. And then we will go to Members of the Committee for questions and comments. So we'll start, Dr. Lewis, with you. And then, Ms. Olken, say your name for me.

Olken.

Olken. Okay, I apologize, I did say that wrong. And then we will go to Ms. Orozco Gonzalez. So, Dr. Lewis, go ahead.

Got it? Okay. Good afternoon, Madam pro tem, and all esteemed Members of the Senate Rules Committee. First, I want to thank Governor Newsom for appointing me to the State Board of Education. I felt very humbled and blessed to be when I received the appointment. I am also honored to appear before you today, and I thank you for your time in considering me for confirmation. Joining me today virtually, are my daughter Courtney, my son Adam, and my sister Shelly, and several friends. I want to share a little bit of my story and my why for being here today.

I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, number ten in a family of eleven children, with my mother who worked as the help and my father who worked as a custodian. My parents didn't have the opportunity to attend school beyond high school. But the two things that were stressed in my home, outside of family, were faith min education. I found my passion for education when working as a summer counselor with high school students in a program called Upward Bound.

I then changed my major after my freshman year to become a teacher, wanting to make a difference in the lives of students. I've served over 30 years as a teacher, a coach, a dean, assistant principal, director, and associate superintendent of instruction in what is the largest non-unified high school district in the state, serving over 40,000 students, grades nine through twelve.

I currently work in retirement as a consultant for the County Office of Education and serve as an advisor and mentor to a district program for African American female students. And I serve on the board for two nonprofits. Throughout my career, my responsibilities have include instruction, activities and athletics, student behavior and supports, instructional services, and testing and accountability.

Throughout my career, I learned the importance of collaboration, listening, and transparency. A good work ethic, honesty, and integrity goes without saying. I get emotional at times when I think of my story and what I've achieved in my life through education and the support from teachers, classified staff, administrators, parents, and students.

The 6 million students who walk into our classroom each day each also have a story. We have students who come to us with varying abilities, struggles, those that are gifted, and those who have language barriers. To be a member of the State Board of Education is an honor. And being a Member of the board is a way for me to continue serving all students and their families as well as our educators and support staff. I understand the importance of each decision that the board will make, and I will take the responsibility very seriously. Thank you for this moment to share a little, allowing me to share a little bit of my journey, and I am happy to answer your questions today. Thank you.

Thank you very much and welcome to your family who are with you today for joining us. Ms. Olken. Olken.

I've heard much worse, by the way.

You are very kind.

Good afternoon, Madam pro tem and distinguished Members of the Senate Rules Committee. Thank you for the chance to speak with you here today. I too am truly honored and humbled to have been appointed by Governor Newsom and to be in the room with you all today for this hearing. I'd like to start by introducing my wife and son, Nancy and Kevin, who are here with me. They're behind. Thank you both for being here and for your love and support. In preparation for today, I've been thinking about why I'm so excited and humbled to be a candidate for confirmation to the State Board of Education.

I thought about the thousands of students I have come to know and love during their time in my schools. I see their faces Dexter, Guadalupe, Ife, students who are the first in their families to go to college, students who struggle with learning but persevere. Students who serve as role models for younger siblings by defying stereotypes, stereotypes, and beating the odds. But I'm going to focus a little closer to home today. I am here today because of my fifth grade teacher, Mr. Chambers. By the time I started fourth grade, I had already attended four different schools and moved eight times.

In fifth grade, I went to a tiny school in a tiny town, Boulder Creek Elementary in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I bet you know that, that school. And Mr. Chambers was my teacher. In March of that year, my house burnt down. My mom and I found ourselves homeless, victims of arson, and scared for our safety. Here's the crazy part. That same year, fifth grade, is also when I came into my own as a student. School became the most consistent and recognizable part of my life. Mr. Chambers provided the stability and support I so desperately needed.

Academically, what I remember most clearly in fifth grade is math. Fifth grade was the year I learned to understand and love numbers. But even more important than academics, Mr. Chambers helped me feel safe. He made sure I had a quiet place to catch my breath and that I always had enough to eat. He helped me envision a future for myself, even in the hardest of times. I became a teacher because of Mr. Chambers. For more than 20 years, Gateway Public Schools in San Francisco has been my professional home. First as a teacher, then as a principal, and finally as Executive Director.

At Gateway, I've seen firsthand the life changing impact that schools can have on students when we pair high expectations with great teaching, respect for differences, engaging enrichments, and thoughtful supports. I've seen the importance of partnership and collaboration across schools, as well as the value and necessity of elevating diverse voices and perspectives. I've seen how much, as educators, we have in common, no matter the setting, and how much we can learn from each othe. There is crucial work to do to create a more equitable and sustainable world, and public education is one of the most important levers for change that we have.

We need strong advocates who put young people first, who understand the connections between theory, practice, and policy, and who are willing to step up with compassion and conviction to do what is right. In my brief time sitting on the State Board of Education, I have already seen this in action time after time. This is why I'm so honored and excited to be before you today, a candidate for confirmation to the California State Board of Education. I'm humbled by this opportunity to create change and opportunity at scale for our 6 million public school students across our state. Thank you for your time and your service, and I look forward to your questions.

Thank you very much. And let me also welcome your family here today. I don't know about my colleagues, but my teacher's name came to mind that made the first difference in my life. So thank you for sharing that. That's a common story that we hear. If only these teachers knew how much they had changed our lives forever. So thank you for that story and for being here. Last, but certainly not least, Ms. Orozco Gonzalez. Please go right ahead.

Good afternoon, everyone. Is this on?

I think so.

Okay.

Yes.

Thank you, Madam pro tem and Members of the Committee. My name is Gabriela Orozco Gonzalez, and thank you for providing this opportunity today to learn more about me. I would like to acknowledge my husband, an elementary school teacher, Jaime Gonzalez, who is here today back there, and my teenage sons, Joaquin and Benjamin, who are at home watching, my mother and brother, who are joining them live streaming this meeting today.

Also, a special greeting to my second grade students in Montebello Unified. Thank you so much for all your love and support. It truly means the world to me. I would also like to thank everyone who took the time to write the support, letters of support on my behalf. In addition, I'm humbled and grateful to Governor Newsom for this appointment to the State Board of Education. I'm a second grade teacher in Montebello Unified School District in Los Angeles County. I started teaching in 2000 and have taught K through 8th grade and have a passion for teaching and truly believe it is my calling.

Teaching gives me purpose and provides the opportunity for me to help shape, engage, and educate children. I am the child of two immigrant parents who came to this country for an education. My mother worked with preschool children and owned a daycare for over 35 years, an entrepreneur. My father had a strong passion for mathematics and science, earning several engineering degrees in his lifetime. As a native Angelino, growing up in the heart of East Los Angeles, who first attended school as an English language learner, I have always loved teaching and as far as I can remember, I wanted to be an educator.

I can recall being gifted a small chalkboard as a child and gathering the neighborhood kids and teaching lessons in the backyard of my house. It was as a high school tutor that I really knew it was a calling. During my junior and senior year in high school, I volunteered as a literacy tutor at the Downey City Library, teaching teenagers and adults to read. When I was in college, I worked as a bilingual instructional assistant. Being a paraprofessional was a true internship to what it meant to be a teacher, and it taught me patience, dedication and that teaching was really a remarkable career.

It allowed me to see the dynamics of a classroom and how the profession changed every year depending on my students. When I graduated, I actually didn't go directly into teaching. I worked as a corporate social responsibility consultant and was able to travel to 38 different countries and over 20 states in the United States. And during the course of those four years, it gave me an experience traveling around the world that I feel has given me a rich background in so many different cultures. As a teacher, I incorporate knowledge into, my knowledge into the curriculum by providing students with multicultural lessons that focus on diversity and acceptance of others.

I believe that my experience as a 22 year veteran classroom teacher in urban schools is an asset. I am prepared to represent the diverse population in our state and be an advocate that will ensure that others have a voice in making educational and administrative decisions. I sought the appointment to the board because educators in the classroom need the opportunity to offer advice and input in our school system. But most importantly, our students need their teachers to have a voice. We know their names and we see firsthand what they need in the classroom. I have found that keeping active in my profession has always been the most gratifying.

Being part of the Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium as an assessment writer and a reviewer in both language arts and mathematics gives me a unique perspective as an educator in the classroom. This invaluable experience has been just a huge asset for me in developing and differentiating my classroom instruction. It has given specific knowledge on how to guide my students successfully through formative and summative assessments. Further, I've shared this experience with thousands of educators throughout the United States. I have documented this journey through my personal blog, through a Common Core Standards blog that I also wrote for the National Educators Association for over six years.

I've been a master teacher, an experienced curriculum writer, and I have digitally documented and trained thousands of educators on the Common Core Standards, California Standards, assessments, instructional shifts, and teacher leadership. Further, as a member of the Instructional Leadership Corpse, I have led the way in supporting educator driven professional development throughout the state of California. For the purpose of building capacity of existing exemplary educators so that each child in the California Public Schools may reach their full potential and thrive. I'm excited to be here today as a classroom teacher. Thank you for this opportunity.

Thank you. Let me also welcome your husband as well to your parents and your kids who are watching or listening at home. This was a wonderful way to start, particularly looking at three educators. So appreciate your passion and your desire to be here, despite the fact you have full time jobs, and you're willing to do this. Let me start with the Chair of Budget Sub 1, in addition to Rules Committee Member, Senator Laird.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And it was really nice to hear all three of your stories. And I too flashback to teachers that made a difference. But I also had an added thing, which is both my parents were teachers, and three times since I've been in Sacramento in the last 20 years, somebody has walked up to me and said, your father changed my life. I'm just sorry he didn't live to see it so I could tell him because I think it's so important for people to know that that happened, that they could have gone on and done other things, but they chose education, and it's really important.

And let me start I have a question for each of you, and of course, if anybody else wants to comment, you can. But let me start with Board Member Olken. And let me say first, I'm sorry for the bad experience you had in Boulder Creek, but I'm sorry that it led to a good experience that you had in Boulder Creek. And I'm glad you hold on to the good experience.

You were, or are, or have been, an Executive Director of a charter school. And I was going to ask how's your interaction been with the board on charter school issues in your prior capacity, and has anything surprised you about the board's understanding of charter schools since you've arrived as a board member?

Thank you for the question, and I do think of Boulder Creek fondly and my mom still lives in Soquel, so I'm there a lot. So if I understand, your question is my interaction with the State Board in relation to charter schools, or my charter school, in advance of this role?

I guess, in essence, it's what was the interaction with the state board of charter schools before that involved you, and what have you felt about the understanding since you've been there?

To be completely honest, my experience with the State Board in relation to charter schools prior to this role was none. My school is authorized by San Francisco Unified, and we have a very strong and positive relationship with our district. There are a couple of schools in San Francisco, charter schools, that are authorized by the state, and so they've had relationships with the State Board, but I really hadn't. And so for me, coming to the State Board has been a really positive and exciting experience.

To see how much incredible work there is on behalf of our public schools at the State Board, on the State Board staff, in the Department of Education, in all the ways we support schools, traditional public schools, as well as charter public schools. So it's been really positive.

And I have always felt, just to add one last thing, that as an educator, as a public school educator, and specifically as somebody who works in a charter school, my responsibility is both to my own students but also, in the spirit of the original charter school law, to be a positive partner and part of the education landscape in public education more broadly. And there's no question in this role I have the opportunity to really live that important value in a way that feels very meaningful and like I'm making a difference.

And I was going to follow up with a question, but you just answered it, so I appreciate that. And I'm sorry your mom moved from one disaster prone area to another, as I went through the mudded out mobile home park and the completely destroyed childcare center and other things in Soquel, and I just hope she was out of harm's way in the storm.

Yeah, she was, luckily she's just about half a mile from downtown Soquel, but she was, thankfully, uphill. So she did okay. Yeah, thank you for asking.

And then let me ask Board Member Orozco Gonzalez a question, and that is, in your statement to the Committee, you talked about our students should have a qualified, appropriate credentialed and supported educator in the classroom. And there are certain issues about adequacy of teacher recruitment and retention, and you said that is your goal. So it means that you're going to have to address that issue. How as a Board Member are you going to deal with the issue of teacher recruitment and retention in a way to meet that goal?

Thank you for your question. I think that this is one of the things that I see come forward quite often enough, even in my own school district, struggling to recruit teachers and to find people who want to enter the profession. And I think as a Board Member, I think of allocating funding and supports across the state to the teacher credentialing departments, really starting with the high schools. I think looking at CTE Career Paths, where we get high school students excited about being teachers, about looking into not only para-professionals, but also programs that get us started early on.

I just actually had a conversation about this earlier about how we have them for police departments and fire departments. I actually have a friend who started early enough as a recruit in high school and did the program and now he's a fire captain. And I think about how we could have those programs at the high school level and support them through, whether a community college program, dual enrollment program, where we can really foster that love for teaching early on. Because I know for me that's where it was. Even as a tutor, that's where I knew that this was a calling and this was the importance of that.

So as a Board Member, as an educator in the classroom, as a master teacher working with teachers in induction, teachers need to feel supported in their field, need to know that they have the adequate resources. And I think the CDE provides a lot of great, remarkable toolboxes, or toolkits, for teachers to look onto for resources. But I just think it starts at the high school level. It starts with pathways where young adults get excited, or young teenagers, get excited about entering the profession and that they feel supported through pathways and programs that let them know early on what it is to be an educator.

And for me, back when ROP was one of those programs, I even volunteered at a preschool. And it was those because I had so many units. I remember in taking summer school when I didn't need to, it was more because I wanted to be able to be part of the ROP program and go to childcare services. My mother owned a daycare. But it was watching that preschool teacher and engaged with early childhood education, and I was a teenager, and that led a path for me. And so I say let's encourage that. Let's get kids excited about entering education and feel supported through programs.

Thank you. If there's any luck in the world, the next pro tem will appoint me to the Rules Committee, and I'll be here for your reappointment. And I'll ask you how that went.

And then let me, lastly, ask Board Member Lewis a question, and that is, in your questionnaire, you talked about the local control funding formula and the fact that, in many ways, it's a work in progress, and there need to be improvements. And what do you think should be improvements? Or what would you look for in assessing the local control funding formula? And if you discover things, would you be willing to talk to the Legislature about the changes that you might think are necessary?

Thank you, Senator Laird, for the question. I think the beauty of the LCFF process is its flexibility in giving districts the ability to target the funds where they need to go to support students. And so when I say that the LCFF is a work in progress, it's a continuous cycle of improvement with the local districts looking at where the greatest need is for their students and addressing those needs. At this level for the State Board of Education, I think there have been a lot of changes to the LCFF already over the last several years. I'm more in tune to them now as I sit at this level.

And having worked with the local control funding formula in the role of developing the LCAP, I now see that the bigger picture is starting to unfold. And because the LCFF has gone through improvements over the last years, making the data more clear for students on the local education agencies to use the information on the dashboard and improving the LCAP as concerns have come to the board. And I think that that's important because the real work in making progress with LCFF is at the district level.

And so by us helping to make data more transparent and giving them what they need, the information they need to make decisions about how to improve outcomes for kids. You're smiling, so I'm smiling. And will continue to help improve outcomes for students.

Well, maybe you just answered my follow up question. But I was going to ask, what did you learn by being on the other side of the local control funding formula as a Board Member than you saw when you were at the district level?

Yes. I think as a Board Member, we're always listening to concerns about the LCFF. And when we hear concerns, we have the ability to make those changes. And some of those changes that have been made, as I just said, is the display of data, making it more transparent and clear to districts so they really have what they need to make the right decisions for students. Also emphasizing that the development of what happens with students, in terms of interventions and supports, has to be a collaborative process and it has to be goal oriented.

So I think there are changes that have been made that I see from this level that it is a work in progress. But I think ultimately, the changes that have been made will make it better. And assisting districts and targeting funds where they need to be and helping them making the right decisions for students.

Okay, thank you, all three of you, for your thoughtful answers and your willingness to serve.

Thank you, Senator. A realization just came to me after I introduced Senator Laird. Every member of this Committee serves on Budget Sub One Education or Education. So I am the lone, probably disadvantaged, person here. I'm going to turn it over to my good colleague, Senator Wilk. With a reminder that you're filling in for Vice Chair Grove, who is from Bakersfield, and I dare say she's going to make a comment about Dr. Lewis being from Bakersfield. So I will just put that responsibility on you.

Well, as a former Kern County boy, I'd be happy to do that. Little known fact about me. I'm pitch here today as the pro tem shared, so I'm going to kind of keep it a way more generic. Again, appreciate all three of you sharing your story, and congratulations on your appointment and, I'm sure, confirmation. I was in the Assembly when Governor Brown came forward with the local control funding formula. I voted for it even though my district was a loser in that funding formula because my Assembly seat middle class, upper middle class.

But I voted for it because I think we need to lift everybody up. Now I'm in the Senate. I have a working class district. In fact, ten days ago, I went to the elementary school that I attended, which is now a Title One school, every child's a child of color. And I was there to give a $5,000 educational grant from the Barona tribe. So I want to thank the tribe for doing that for their robotics program. But they're struggling and they're hurting, and the whole point about education, right, is empowering the individual.

So, each of you, what is your vision to try to accelerate improvement for low income students and underperforming schools? I know it's kind of broad, but I'm going to be easy on you since we didn't have a chance to have a conversation.

And how about we start with Dr. Lewis from Bakersfield, and then we'll go right down the road. Go ahead, Dr. Lewis.

Please.

I'm just interested what your vision is for accelerating improvement for low income students and lower performing schools.

Okay, thank you.

Because obviously, money might not be the answer because these schools are pretty well funded, but we're still having challenges. So just wanted to hear your thoughts.

Right. Again, the local control funding formula, the LCAP, which falls under that, is really the district's plan for how they're going to improve outcomes for all students. And so when you look at the challenges that the students are facing, then that's how they come up with their goals and actions. And so for those schools that are constantly underperforming, in the Governor's proposal, there is what is called the Equity Multiplier, which will also target funds towards those schools that are continuously having low performing student outcomes.

And so I think the Governor's initiatives and all the supports that are coming in terms of that to help improve the performance of those low income students falls in a variety of areas. First of all, we also need quality teachers that are in those classrooms and addressing the needs of those students. So the teacher recruitment programs and enticing people to get into education, that's another need that we have, usually in those low income schools is we have a struggle in getting quality teachers.

And I think that's one way that the funding can help, and I think the other way is just making sure that the teachers, once they're hired, have all the support and professional development that they need to address the needs for those students. So I think the initiatives that are coming down with regards to the multiple ways that schools can use funding to help students will help those underperforming students as well.

Go ahead, Ms. Olken. You're a challenge. I know.

It doesn't recognize my fingerprint. Thank you for the question. And I think one of the things that I've seen already on the State Board is just that this question is at the center of all of our conversations and near and dear to our hearts, right? So it's really why we do what we do, because we believe, as I said in my opening comments, that education is one of the great levers for social change.

And so I'm going to take a slightly different approach, which is to talk about the importance, when we're working with students, to really think about them as whole people, and to recognize that any investment min their health and well being, their emotional supports, their meals, their after school program. Anything we do that supports kids as whole people will help move the needle in terms of overall success.

And I think, one of the things I'm most proud of in the way that we fund schools currently in our state and we think about our responsibility, is that in schools with high concentrations of students who are low income or who are English learners or who are part of the foster system, and there are a few others, we're really ensuring that there is funding to provide those wraparound services. And I think that's going to be as important as the types of work we do to transform literacy or math and science education. So it's kind of making sure we're looking at all of it.

Well, it looks like Ms. Olken and Ms. Lewis covered a lot of what I was thinking.

And I'm not going to hold you. That's okay.

But I want to actually build a little bit more on professional learning for teachers. And I think sometimes strengthening the teacher workforce and enhancing teacher preparation for serving in areas of the most need.

I work in Montebello Unified. We have, sometimes, students struggling to have meals. I know that during the pandemic that was one of the biggest differences is providing a meal every single day for those students. I was part of even distributing those meals on a daily basis to ensure that the students had food to eat. We also thought about maybe having some more wraparound services. I really commend the work with community schools and the community schools framework on prioritizing democratic decision making at the district and school levels.

I like the idea of having those wraparound services for students who are in the most in need. I think the allocation of funding in those in will be key. I've seen it, how it works in our school district when we have more parent involvement. And what I feel is building community and building bridges and partnerships with the community so that we can best serve our students. But as a teacher who's led a lot of professional learning in areas that have funding, like you said, but they need to know how to use their resources.

I think providing teachers with professional learning and engaging them in lesson study and modeling, what that looks like, doing some of the STEM sessions in my own classroom and being a master teacher for many years. Sometimes it's just cotton balls and paper cups and straws that really drive that higher order thinking skills and that tinkering that goes on in the classroom doesn't take a lot of funding, but it takes a lot of purposeful planning.

And I think teachers need to feel supported, and the more resources we provide for them and for our families. I know that I did a Parent Connection that I started in my school district, where we had parents coming in and tinkering with STEM and having robotic sessions, not just for the kids, but for the community. And I think the more we can support all stakeholders, I think that we'll see higher student achievement.

Great. Thank you. And I agree with you on the wraparound services. In fact, my elementary school, they just got a grant to start serving dinner as well. They already do breakfast and lunch. I used to be on Rules, and I had a policy. Never asked a question publicly that I hadn't already asked you privately.

And we haven't met. Because it just came up, and I'm just curious on your opinion. So when I was touring my elementary school, and with the principal, he had just gotten a new grant to train his teachers to teach phonics. What's your thought on phonics? That's how I learned. I was reading in kindergarten, actually, and I'm a big believer in phonics. But just curious on your opinion.

Could I take that one?

Yeah. Let me start with you, and we'll then go that way.

And I say that because I'm the second grade teacher and phonics is my thing. Right. And so key. And even with the achievement gap, can I say that in our California Standards Foundational Skills, where we teach phonics is Tk through second, deeply, and then it's not as much because now you're not learning to read, but reading to learn.

And I love the fact that we've allocated so much funding in phonics and early childhood education so that we can do pull out services, intervention, after school programs for those 4th, 5th, and 6th, and so beyond students. Because phonics, right now, is key everywhere. Because sometimes we have third and fourth grade students who are learning to read. And so foundationally teaching teachers what literacy is in the classroom, modeling, giving them tools to support their students, we can never have enough.

And the more discussions that we have around that, and even including, like I said, parents, I'm a big believer that the more that we teach, even parents how to teach their child to read. I remember doing, like I said, I was a tutor in my local city library, and having just sessions of how to teach your child how to read, and teaching phonics to parents too. So I would love to see your principal at school include parents in that early literacy journey. And I think that that will lee that students will begin to soar, because really the first teacher is the parents.

Thank you.

Say ditto If you agree.

Yeah, I will just add one thing.

She was taking advantage of the fact that she didn't get to talk last time. You should be a Senator because we love to talk. But that was a great answer. I loved it.

I think there's a lot of science and research around how to teach students to read, and phonics is a big part of it, so that's fantastic. And there are other parts too, right? Like understanding how sounds come together. But I'll just say, as a, I started my career and it was almost entirely high school until well, actually now it's been eleven years. We've had six through twelve at my schools. We see students in 9th grade who are reading at a first and second grade level. And so we have a very small, very targeted reading intervention class where we're teaching high schoolers how to sound out words, how sounds come together, how to use their hands, actually, as tools to be able to sort of understand the logic of words.

And these are kids who have made it to 9th grade without being able to read very well, which means they've never raised their hand to read out loud. And when that happens, they ask to go to the bathroom or they put their head down. They're completely misunderstood for the types of behaviors, typically, that they're exhibiting. So you think you put them all in a little room and say, we're going to teach you how to sound out words, it's going to be a disaster.

But what we find is these young people say it's the most transformative thing that's ever happened for them, and that it changed their life, and it enabled them to feel like they were part of the school community and to understand interesting texts and to learn. So I think, even at the high school level, we can never get past focusing on what actually works to teach reading.

Thank you, Dr. Lewis.

Okay, thank you. The problem with going last, my colleagues have already covered a lot of the information, so I will say ditto, but also that it is very important. And I know that that's the way that I learned to read many, many years ago. I remember phonics in elementary school. And we know that, as Sharon said, that there is a correlation between misbehavior and reading levels. And we see that a lot in our schools. And coming from a high school district where we saw students coming in reading at the elementary grade levels, and then we have minimal amount of time to get them up to grade level, even though we do everything we need to do. Yes, phonics is important and we need to do the things that work great.

Well, again, thank you for sharing and, again, congratulations on your appointment.

Thank you.

Thank you, Senator Wilk. Senator Ochoa Bogh.

Whew. Listening to your stories. Once again today. I have to do everything but not to tear up. Such inspirational stories. See, I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations the other day. I feel as if I found three new best friends in education, and I'm so grateful for the three of you being here. I think we expressed, and I expressed some of the concerns that I had. But let me just really quickly say with Dr. Lewis, thank you so much for talking about the importance of the values of faith and education. And I remember the remark that you made during our interview, and I thought a brave woman to come ahead and make those statements. So thank you so much.

Mrs. Olken, thank you so much for being part of a school and educational system that allows to identify those students that cannot read in 9th grade. The fact that you folks caught them and are able to address those needs. As I mentioned, one of the hardest thing for me was to meet those incarcerated men who were in that path because they could not read and quit school.

So thank you for catching those children because it is transformative in their lives. And of course, Ms. Gonzalez, thank you so much for just your life experience and putting back the importance of really giving those resources to our teachers so that they can be impassioned. Clarification, first comment before I move on, the unduplicated local funding formula. I know my colleagues have talked quite a bit about the funding that we have under that formula, and I think I mentioned this in our conversation.

The biggest concern that I had was that, we talk about equity, right now, and what does that look like, and giving those resources, giving them the tools of those children, wherever they're at to make sure that they're successful, and be able to achieve their highest. But with that, to talk about equity, local funding formula served that purpose was to make sure that these kids had those unduplicated children, which were children of poverty, children in the foster system, children that were English language learners. Now we're trying to put our children with disabilities within that, within that scope as well.

And I'm going to talk about and we're going to ask this later, but where we are, the status of implementing that. So my concern, and I've had this, and I've shared this with Senator Laird in our Sub One Committee, is the fact that, even though we've had these resources, extra resources, we still have not seen the results coming forth with the success rate when it comes to reading per se or math performances. And we've had this for almost ten years in place. So, in your position as members of the Board of Education, what do you think it is? I know what we have in place, but I'm talking about the results because we've started this from K-Twelve.

Now, as in these past two years, I've heard from our community colleges, I've heard from our CSU's leadership and our UC system, the additional funding that they need in order to give these students the wraparound services, once again, so that they can be successful within those different paths. So my question is, when do we start seeing the fruits of the investments and the labor of these children who we've allocating these fundings for ten years now. How much longer before we actually see the fruit of our labor on that?

What is it that we need to do differently? What's working and not working? And what are your plan and your vision moving forward as members of the board?

Let's start, Ms. Orozco Gonzalez, with you, and we'll work our way down.

Um oh, sorry, I forgot to turn it on. When I think of the when, right, I know that because my school district and I think of the schools that I've worked with across the state and teachers that work with the students that you mentioned. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that there's a lot of professional learning that needs to go around with the monies that were being allocated into these LEAs.

I think that we need to and I'm trying to think of more time and think tanks and as educators planning purposeful lessons that I think especially target the needs of our English language learners, I think that as my in experience professional learning facilitator, I think that teachers are other teachers, best teachers.

And sometimes when we take time with our administrators and we have a strong, I think, educational leader as a principal that we will start seeing a lot more growth. And I'm talking more nuclear because I know that even though my school is in an area of the most need, in Pico Rivera.

We're a California distinguished school, and we are a high-performing school because we're continuously having the child in mind and differentiating lessons and thinking of how we can best maximize the dollars that we receive through after school programs, through pull out services, through interventions, community involvement.

I'm excited about the money being allocated to community schools. I think, like I said, those wraparound services will be key into getting parents and community stakeholders more involved.

It's an ongoing process, and I think that that would have been me as a child, and I think of myself and about how those services would have made a difference in a lot of my peers age. I was fortunate to have parents that knew where to look and knew that their voice was important.

And when I think of my mother participating in all those parent classes to learn how to teach me how to read when I was very young, how important that was, I think of the more money that we allocate as far as parent education. I know that we have great tools at our CDE website that are there for teachers.

I'm continuously talking about them at the state board meetings of how these toolboxes that we have for teachers of how to differentiate lessons and to have those higher-order thinking skill strategies flora them, it does make a difference for them. And I think we're in the step in the right direction.

But it's an ongoing process and I do see that at least where I've seen it allocated, students are learning and they're moving, but it is a slow process and I think that we need to think how we can better improve because there always is room for improvement.

Thank you. Ms. Olken, anything to add?

Honestly, you asked the hardest question because it's a big system to move and each kid is only in it now, right? This is their chance. And so patience is hard to have, I think, for all of us, right? And we see these intractable, predictable results in our schools and it's both heartbreaking and it's like a travesty of democracy.

It's big, right? So with that in mind, I would say I have some hope in that before the Pandemic, as the LCFF was just coming into full funding in 2018-2019, there were some measures that demonstrated we were making progress in closing achievement gaps, that equity-based funding was paying off.

We saw it in terms of high school graduation rates. We saw it in terms of readiness for A through G requirements. In some cases, we saw it in Math and ELA scores, but the progress was slower there. And then the Pandemic happened.

And I think I feel like we're all at a point where we want to say, we can't keep saying the Pandemic, the Pandemic. And yet we've never experienced anything like that before. And schools had to overnight completely change what it was we did and how we supported young people in a world that was uncertain for all of us.

And I think the fact that learning didn't maintain that that level of forward progress during the Pandemic and that it differentially impacted our most vulnerable students is not surprising. It's heartbreaking, but it's not surprising.

And so I'm afraid to go on the record to answer when because I think Senator Laird will hold me to it if I am ever back here again. But I think we do have some signs that the approach is the right approach. And I think we also see that because other states are starting to emulate what we're doing and we're being seen as a model.

So we will all keep working hard at every level to make the progress that kids deserve.

Thank you. Dr. Lewis.

Okay, thank you. And I totally agree with what my two colleagues have said and I've just made a few notes here. You know, I know Senator Ochoa about the big thing that people look at is the test scores. And the test scores are not moving.

I think if you ask districts, there are a lot of small gains that are being made that will eventually lead up to moving that target faster and in the direction that we want it to go. Some of the small gains that we look at are, you know. Are we removing barriers to learning?

And that's a big thing that we're trying to do. So a barrier could be a student who needs some academic support and tutoring is held after school and student lives far away from the school and not within a radius that they could walk home. So it's providing transportation for that student.

So that's an outcome that LCFF does. It helps take away barriers to learning for students. And there's numerous of those. And so that, coupled with some of the new initiatives that have come out, particularly the universal transitional kindergarten. I think it'll take time for that, but in the long-run we just talked a few moments ago about students who come to us at the high school level not being able to read.

Well, transitional kindergarten is going to give kids open up the access for more kids to be able to get in on early learning for literacy and numeracy. So it'll take time for that to trickle up to the junior high level and then trickle up to the high school level.

But I think we have to look at the small gains that we earn along the way. And eventually we as educators, we're all about keeping the cycle of improvement going. We're all about, okay, we're not succeeding here. Let's pull the experts together, let's pull our teachers, the community and find out what do we need to do to revamp our plan to start moving students forward.

So it's always a continuous cycle of improvement. And at the high school level, when you look at the English Language Arts and Math scores, you're really looking at a set of 11th graders and they test. And then the next year there's a different set of 11th graders and they test.

So students come to us, cohorts of students that you may have test scores shoot up one year because kids don't have as many issues, but then the next year the test scores may be low. So that's not the kind of information you want to go on to make sure that systemic change is taking place.

The systemic changes that are going to help make changes over the long-haul are these initiatives, I think, that we've started. And that's just another way of looking at what we're doing, is not pushing the needle fast enough. So let's see what additional initiatives we need.

And we've mentioned some the TK transitional kindergarten, providing those services for students that enable them to come and sit in the classroom and be ready to learn and also be there for the resources with the parents.

So I dare not go on the record either as saying when is it going to happen, but hope I learned is not a strategy, but I will say hope with strategic plans, targeted plans going forward as we've been doing and keeping revising those plans. I will hope and do hope and believe that eventually we're going to see the needle changing.

I believe that test scores may show increase this year based on we've been back in school from the Pandemic and there have been a lot of resources again targeted at school sites. So we hope that we see the scores improved through this cycle.

So it's just a matter of just continuing to talk and have those conversations and really paying attention to the small gains, removing barriers from student learning and providing the resources that we need to support them, whether that's targeting, tutoring, whatever it is.

And thank you. I completely understand and respect your perspective on it. I think for me it's just making sure that we have a level of accountability.

Absolutely.

In what we're doing because we have the local control funding formula which allowed us as school districts, as teachers, to hopefully have those extra funding for these particular students that have special needs to be able to have the resources that they are supposed to.

So I'm hoping that and I think assessments is incredibly important because you can say, well, they don't reflect everything. You're absolutely right, because there is a whole student that we have to take into consideration. But we need assessments in order to measure outcomes.

Going to with that notion of I understand it's going to be my follow-up question. So we understand that the funding allows for the extra resources to meet our unduplicated children's needs to provide more equity on that end. But with that also, we understand that we don't always have equal outcomes because of personal choice, our agency, our abilities, our capacities, there's a different array of things.

So with that in mind, having different needs for every different child, we know that not every school district or even every school has the ability to meet every single child's need.

So in your opinion, do we need the option for choice, for parents to find the specific schools or districts to be able to meet the needs of those particular children that as school districts we may not have the specialized skill sets or knowledge to be able to meet those needs?

Who do you want to start with? I'll let you direct.

Ms. Olken.

Thank you for the question. I think we talked about this in our meeting and I will say that without a doubt, I am a believer in options for families. I am also a very strong believer in the importance of a strong public system and for those options to be within that public system.

In San Francisco, as an example, we have an arts magnet school. We have a very strong academic school. We have a handful of charter schools with specific focuses. One of them, for example, is for students who have been part of the juvenile justice system.

In fact, one of them is for young people who aye in the juvenile justice system. So we have immersion, Spanish immersion programs and Mandarin immersion programs. When families are coming to look at my schools at Gateway, I say to them, to me, education should be about it's about opening doors for opportunity, and it's about ensuring that you feel valued, represented, included, supported, and challenged.

And not every school can do that for every student. Certainly my school can't, as much as we would like to try. And so I think choices are important. I think they help us build a strong system of public options for kids. And I think kids and families deserve that as long as they don't make the system less strong at which point we're hurting instead of helping.

Okay.

Thank you. Dr. Lewis. Go ahead.

Thank you.

We did discuss this in our session and I think I would just add to what Ms. Olken has said is that as a public school system, I think our schools realize that we have students with varying needs and parents that have visions of what they want their student to gain from their high school experience based on those needs.

And so I think that we have a variety of services and options among our traditional public schools, but also within our charter schools, our public charter schools, and our magnet schools. So I do think that choice is important, and I do think our public schools are doing the best that they can to meet the needs, the varying needs of our students.

But I also think that there are public charter schools doing that as well as our traditional schools. So I do believe that parents should have the opportunity to pick the school that best supports the needs of their students.

Thank you.

Well, your last note was, Ms. Lewis, exactly what I was going to say about. I think parents want programs that best support their child, and there's just so many different learning modalities and interests for our community. So I believe that school districts need to compete for that child right.

They need to ensure that the programs they provide is robust and challenging and exciting. I think even of the school district that I live in, I don't work there, but Downey Unified. They have these really great dual immersion programs.

And they just started an IV program, and they started them because they want to provide different services for families that have different interests. So I think our public schools need to provide a multitude of services and programs that will entice parents to say, I want my child to learn there.

I ting of the dual immersion programs that are in Mandarin and in Spanish and French. They just started a French program in the TK programs. And I think that if I had a child at that age would attract me to come to that school district. And it is about choice that meets the needs of the child.

There's so many different learning modalities and programs that I ting that we can offer, and I think public schools have a duty to our families to provide them.

Thank you very much. And just for the record, as a former public school teacher, I'm a huge advocate for public schools. I think, as we talked about in our meeting, California and our Constitution said, our California Constitution states that is our responsibility. So we should have a healthy and robust public school system.

But I do believe that, as you mentioned earlier, Ms. Orozco Gonzalez, was that we just sometimes don't have the skill sets or the teachers, the number of teachers or the training to be able to meet those needs. And that's why I think it's important to make sure that we do have options and choices for our parents to be able to meet that.

And it kind of incentivizes. I can talk from a firsthand perspective as a school board Member of a public school district, when one of our charter schools was coming up with a program, well, what do we have to compete with that? It motivated us and incentivized us for our superintendent to come in.

Well, we're looking at X, Y and Z. So it does create a somewhat healthy environment for people to be competitive, our school districts to be competitive. And I think our children deserve that as well as our parents.

I think one last question I had, and it had to do with this is a question that came in. It says, of the 333 districts I'm going to shift it a little bit to special needs. Of the 333 districts identified for technical assistance in the fall of 2019, 187, 56%, were flagged for poor performance of their students with disabilities. How should SBE interpret and respond to these results?

Who wants to start? Go ahead.

Well, I remember that you, through our conversation and some of the notes that I wrote about how the SBE is concerned about the performance of the student group and as such has focused on improving outcomes.

The state has created special education-focused leads in the system of support and is working with the CD at the integration of CD's updated compliance and improving monitoring process of LEAs under the federal IDA.

Sorry. Within the system of support. So I just think that better enable schools to grow the educator workforce and to increase budgetary transparency. It's a good beginning.

Okay.

Someone else want to add.

My I.

Already got mine on.

In our, what month are we in? February. January State board meeting, we had an in depth presentation from Director Calomese, who's the head of the Special Ed division of CDE, sort of walking us through the data related to the progress and challenges of our students with disabilities. And this is one of those things back to being new on the board. I actually didn't realize the percentage of LEAs in the state who were being flagged. And certainly part of that is because students with disabilities, they challenge us to do right by them in our schools. But also I think the data demonstrates that we need to do better. And so I think as Member Orozco Gonzalez said, I think part of the ting that I've seen that I feel is going to be most effective is the statewide systems of support for LEAs who are flagged for low performance of students with disabilities. So that ends up looking like an organization that specializes in universal design for learning, partnering with the county Office of Education, partnering with a community group to provide training and assistance for districts across the state. And so for me, seeing those experts in the field, practitioners and researchers, come together once a school has been flagged because they need support and then offering it, that feels to me like the right approach and that's part of the work that we helped create at the state board level.

I think the only thing that I can add to my colleague's comments are this statewide systemic improvement plan for students with disabilities is going to be a plan where there are targeted strategic supports that are put in place to help improve the outcome of our students with disabilities. And that's where Ms.Olken was talking about that statewide system of supports that will come into play. So I think there is more of an intentional focus now with the requirement of that document that is going to place a higher emphasis on looking at strategically how to improve the outcomes for our students with disabilities. And not only within that plan, but they'll need to be included within that local control accountability plan as an addendum to be able to have schools, individual districts, really target support for students with disabilities along with making plans for improving the outcomes for the general students. And I think we need to remember that Special Ed students, students with disabilities, are our general students. So they have access to all of the the services that are provided in our local controlled accountability plan. But this plan, this statewide systemic improvement plan will really cause us to really target and focus on how to improve the outcome for students with disabilities.

Thank you. One last question, I promise one last question. And that has to do with the 2022-23 budget included several proposals related to special education, one of which was requiring an Individuals with Disability Education Act addendum to the local control and accountability plan. Do you happen to know what the status is on the ElCup template so we can start monitoring that?

It's my understanding that the template for that addendum is supposed to be adopted by the State Board of Education in January of 2025, I believe, and that the California Department of Education is working now with the educational partners and other stakeholders in developing that template. And I believe we should have something presented to us in the fall of 2024. That's my understanding.

That seems really far away. My last comment.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Senator. Senator Smallwood-Cuevas.

Thank you so much. And thank you so much for your in depth and comprehensive answers to the questions. I did get the opportunity to meet with you before today, but I've really appreciated what was said earlier. And I was thinking about Dr. King and he said that love plus action and strategy, I think you mentioned that, Ms. Lewis and Ms. Gonzalez, that equals power. And I want to say this is a powerful show of support for the public school system and for our students here today. I also just felt compelled, Madam Chair, to I don't think our educators min our school system have to holden the burden for how long. My mother grew up in a segregated school. She couldn't choose what high school she went to. And coming to California, just as I arrived, Prop 13 was passed in the state and we saw California drop from the fifth greatest school district in the country to 47th. Our pupil spending tumbled where we were 20 years later, not even getting at the levels that we were at before Prop 13 passed. And I think the work that you are doing on the front jones as teachers, as educators, the work that we are all doing to ensure funding and that we are bringing our education back online is critically important. I represent LA County, LA USD is my school district. I have two children who are part of the LACO County system who went to dual language program with Title One schools. And I have to say that it's important for us to understand that 80% of our students at LA USD are at and below the poverty line and black and brown and immigrant students. This is the new majority of California, and these are communities that aye climbing out of historical marginalization, historical policies that created these barriers. And it is going to take time for our communities who now black and brown representing the majority, who have lived through generations of barriers. Now, as the majority of our school district, it is going to take time for us to work through this. And I think this conversation is about us getting there. And I'm excited in the hope that was lifted up today, so I just wanted to share that. We talked about community schools and I know the Governor recently said that his goal is to have one third of our public schools be community schools. I think that's critically important, particularly for school districts like mine, where we have to recognize all of the barriers and challenges to education before the kids even get to the classroom. Partnering with CBOs, partnering with local government, aligning resources and a shared vision for success that starts with the family. And I wanted to get a sense from you, and I wanted to start with Ms. Lewis. What technical assistance do you think the board can provide to grantees to assist them in transforming their schools and programs to achieve the desired outcomes and to replicate this model?

Thank you for the question. I think sometimes all of us were educators on the ground, or still are, and we want to get in and we want to do the work. We wish we could do the work, but I think as our role as a board, we would be able to approve those agencies that have been recommended for providing technical assistance in implementing community schools. But I believe that's as far as our jurisdiction would go, because we're not on the ground, it's pretty much up to the districts at that point in which those community schools are located to partner with whatever regional agency is providing that technical assistance for the implementation and development of those community schools. So that pretty much limits where our limit lies as a State Board of Education.

And just to follow up with that, do you see a role of the state actually supporting putting more resources into the technical assistance, and then what are some of the things you're looking for when approving those types of grants?

I think anytime you are going to provide a service or assistance, you really need to listen to the people who are in the field and actually doing the work and finding out where the assistance is needed. And I think just like we approved the over $600 million in the Community School Partnership grants for the implementation and development. When those Any Program initiatives come to us for approval to provide additional assistance or if we have the Purview to approve additional funding, then as a board, we would do that because we really believe that community schools in the future are really going to be beneficial for our students and for our families.

Thank you for that. My next question has to do with teacher pool and supply. How are we recruiting our teachers? And I know that the Teacher Supply Report that was done by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing made it clear that diversity in the teaching field is not reflective of the student population. The amount of white teachers is almost three times greater than white students, while Latino teachers are about half the student population and black teachers are about a quarter less than that. So while the state board may not have a direct role, and I recognize that it's the local jurisdiction in teacher selection. The board authorized the study and looked at the educational conditions and the needs and helped to sort of set up an improvement plan for administration and efficiency of the public schools. Do you think the state board should and could play a role in ensuring that our education workforce represents the students they serve?

Would you direct the question to.

Will direct that question to Ms. Gonzalez.

Thank you for your question, Ms. Smallwood-Cuevas. I think that I hear what you're saying about representation, and I know how important it is for my students to have a bi literate teacher in front of them that can support them with their English language learning. And it's interesting, a few months before the pandemic hit, my husband, who'd been a researcher for a long time and has a master's in education, decided to do a credential. And I share this story because the process has changed since I became credentialed over 20 years ago. And he enrolled in a teacher education program, and there's a lot of cost with that, and I think of limited resources. And then it's a two year process, and then you have to do student teaching. So I think recruitment and enticing them in the younger ages. I mentioned earlier about having CTE programs and getting students who of all diverse backgrounds involved maybe doing a recruitment. And I'd like Ms. Lewis to kind of expand on this. And I call on you because I know your school district had a program for African American educators. Because when she was sharing that with me, I was so excited about that. It was males, I believe, right to enter the profession.

Thank you for the question, Senator Orosco Gonzalez.

I share this only because when she was sharing with me, I thought, wow, I love these programs. I think that even though we don't have the authority, but I ting that we can allocate definitely support and guidance. And I don't want to just pass my question over to you, but what I thought when she so eloquently described it, I said, this is exactly the programs that we need to have more diversity in the education field and in front of our students. And I know what a blessing it is when I am able to transition from English to Spanish in my classroom and for little girls and little boys to see me and to say I can also achieve. But when she shared about this program, I was so excited about it. And I said, how can we get this at the state level? Right?

Thank you again for the question. The program that I was sharing is a program in our district that's existed for about 30 years now, and it's called Project

I'm sorry, 13 or 30.

About 30 years now. Yeah. We celebrated the 25th anniversary a few years ago. So I think we're about a year 30. But it's a program called Project Best. And the best stands for Black Excellence in Scholarship and Teaching. And when this program was initiated, there was a community member that was concerned about the dropout rate and the graduation rate of the African American males within the district. And so she went to the superintendent, had a conversation, and really wanted to do something about that. And the thought was if maybe if more of those young males saw people who look like them in the classroom, then maybe it could turn things around. And so the program is really designed to mentor African American male students when they come into high school and hopefully try to entice them in going into the field of education. And most recently, over the last few years, we've partnered with California State University, Bakersfield, and they've kind of expanded and partnered with Project BEST min a program called Black Men Teach. And so in January of each year, they have a program at the university where we bring all of the Project BEST students males to Cal State, and then they have males who are in the field of education come in and talk to those students. So that's just one way we have a district that's trying to recruit more teachers of color. I think, if I could continue with the question Senator Orozco Gonzalez, we also have a teacher residency program within the district and we partner with the California State University, Bakersfield. And so their education candidates come and they work alongside of a veteran teacher within the district, and there's a little stipend that is paid to them. And when they finish their educational program, then if we hire them, then they're committed to stay within our school district for two years. So there's also one high school that has a teacher pathway trying to entice students to go in. And each year our human resources department goes out all over the country, and of late we have really targeted historically black colleges and universities to really try to attract more teachers. So we are constantly looking for teachers of color. And if I can expand on the question you asked to her, what is our role as the State Board of Education? I know, as she mentioned, there are initiatives out and funding to help recruit and hire and retain teachers. I think what is our role is to continue to support those initiatives, because the work really goes on at the district level and the commitment that districts make to go out and really find teachers that are representative of the students that are within the classroom.

Thank you for that. And I would love to see the results and to see how that's working. It sounds like a model that we should look at in a number of industries and sectors. So I would love to see the outcomes of that and along those lines, this question is for all of you, because it seems like everyone has a piece of this diversity question. But there's been some analysis of late about black teachers in the classroom and the environment in which they are working and this whole notion of retention in that space. And analysis showing that black teachers often face microaggressions in schools where they teach. There is something called the invisible tax, meaning black teachers are often stereotyped by coworkers and can be assigned to handle disciplinary issues with black students or assume that they want to be involved in athletics. And teachers have been organizing around some of these challenges and trying to ensure that this is a sector where black teachers have opportunity. Do you think the state ward could help develop guidelines, I know you mentioned guidance, so just wondering guidelines around unconscious bias and ways that we can address that in training for schools and to improve the barriers for black teacher retention?

Can I go ahead? I feel like I've been well supported by my colleagues on either side of me. So I'll go first to answer your question. So first I just want to give a little bit of context for what I see at my schools. So Gateway, my school, we are just about to celebrate our 25th anniversary. We were founded by a group of moms who had kids coming up through the school system, most of whom had a learning disability. And so the school was founded around this idea of difference is actually a source of strength and schools need to be responsive. It took a while for us to realize that difference in schools, there are lots of types of difference and that ensuring we were a place where we understood the role of difference, the strength of difference and diversity, amongst our students, that was about race and language learning and home culture, that that was equally as important. And then the next thing we learned was the importance of having teachers who reflected all those types of difference in our schools. And in the same way that we had to develop a student culture that was not dominated by the most prevalent group in the school, we had to do the same thing with our adults because education is a predominantly, as you mentioned, white space. And so some of the things that we've seen to be very important are developing affinity group spaces, like a BIPOC affinity group that gives the administration lots of good feedback on what they're experiencing. And part of what we've heard is exactly what you're describing. I mean, I think that that is, in every school, something that educators have to consciously and consistently fight against. I think that's true in life as well. So in terms of guidelines. And then the other one last thing is that we partner at Gateway with an organization called Urban Ed Academy that is working to ensure there's at least one black male teacher in every school in San Francisco, which seems like should be a slam dunk, but the data does not suggest that it is. At Gateway we have, I don't know the statistics, but let's say four teachers out of 25 at both of our schools are black teachers. They're working with Urban Ed Academy so that they have an opportunity to be leaders and also to not be alone. It's about affinity for them as well, even though they're not brand new teachers. So all of these things I just am echoing how important all that you're saying is. In terms of what really your question is, which is the state board, I know that one of the state superintendents priorities is around antibias training for educators, particularly looking at black experience in schools. And so that's something that I'm certain will come to us at some point for us to think about and talk about. And I think if we're really serious about equity and achievement, it's important that this is part of the conversation.

I totally agree with what Ms. Olkin said, that if we're going to make a difference, sometimes these are hard conversations to have. And if we're going to make a difference, then I think there has to be some explicit guidelines and direction to districts. The thing about mandates is sometimes there's a fine line between mandating and guidance. Because what I've learned in my district and we've gone through implicit bias training, we had to do implicit bias training for all of our staff, all of our administrators, classified staff, even our police force, with implicit bias training. And we had a lot of resistance, we had a lot of resistance. And it's hard to change mindset if the original intent is not really explained to people. And so if it comes before us as a board, I haney no problem with supporting guidelines and helping districts figure out how to implement such training within their districts. And so I agree that we got to have the conversations or we're going to keep repeating some of the same behaviors.

Anything to add, Ms.. Gonzalez?

I think they covered all of it. I say ditto to all that and having, like I said, conversations that are difficult because I think sometimes it's through those conversations and collaboration that we really, truly, find what would be at the root best for our students. So as a board member, I know that I'm open to continuously having improvement in this area and how we can best build capacity for all teachers in our levels.

Thank you. You have one final question, and earlier there was conversation about options. Coming out of working in low wage working communities where our school districts are struggling because of the economic pressures on our families. It's my opinion that anything that takes away from the ADA of our schools, the money to invest in our teachers and our teachers retirement and pension, that has inconsistent worker protections to me is a fiscal impact on our district. And I'm curious on the new role of the state board as it relates to hearing charter school appeals. And I wanted to hear from Ms. Lewis and Ms. Gonzalez. What is your approach to making your decision and what factors do you weigh before casting your vote on those decisions? And if a local entity does not want to authorize a charter, do you think the state should overturn their choice?

Who would you like to start?

Ms. Lewis can start.

Well, when charter school appeals come before us, I, as a board member, read all of the evidence and documentation that's presented to me. We also listen to any testimony that's given through call ins. While we're in the state board meeting, we look at the presentations that are presented by the Department of Education, by the State Board of Education, by the charter petitioning school, and by the local district, as well as the County Office of Education. And so we listen to all of that information and basically make our decision based on individual decisions, based on hearing all of that information. And so when an appeal comes to us, what we decide as a board is simply whether there was an abuse of discretion at the local level, meaning at the county level or at the district level. And that's the extent of our role as the state board is making a decision as to whether or not there was.

Okay. So I think I agree with Ms. Lewis. Our decision must be based entirely on the documentary record with the charter school appeal that comes before the board. I believe, using data and research, and also believe decisions made closest to the students, the classrooms, and to the school communities, give, in most cases, our students the best chance for success. An important factor is to listen to locally elected officials in our decision making and to ensure that the decisions are made and supported by evidence. And I believe that we should base purely on that and for sure not to devastate in any way the funding, like you said, of our public schools.

Thank you for that. And I had another question for Ms. Olken, because I feel like you have a unique position, having run a successful charter school that really does sound like a model. I feel that in your voting on the state board, there has been a tendency to lean towards some charter schools. How do you approach objectivity and how do you weigh it, given your experience in San Francisco at this very unique school? How do you decide your consideration and metrics for your decision making?

Honestly, I would say that I echo what Brenda said. I ting that AB 1505 is very clear in terms of what our role is and what our role isn't. That's not necessarily to say. Yeah, so AB 1505 is very clear what our role is and what it isn't. And so our our job is simply to ensure that the charter school petitioners got a fair and unbiased process and there was an abuse of discretion. I fundamentally believe that good schools, that they are part of the whether they're charter or traditional public, they are hart of the portfolio of options for families. But my role as a state board member is very clear that my job is simply to ensure that the process was fair. And I read the record super carefully. I listen to the public comment and the CDE staff and make my decision based on that.

Thank you. And my one follow up question.

I have colleagues that have to go to a 04:00 meeting so I'm going to now ask us to be very brief. I'm not talking it will brief in your responses but brief in the question.

This is my absolute last question and it was just a follow up because we talked a little bit about fiscal distress and how that fiscal impact has a determination on whether you approve or don't approve the appeal petition. So I was just wondering what level of fiscal distress would you think is sufficient to reject a petition on appeal?

I'm not certain that the law clarifies that, and so I would look to the guidance of the CDE staff we've heard from folks at Figma. I would look to existing sources of guidance related to the fiscal health and distress of a district.

Thank you so much. I really appreciated all of your answers. Thank you and congratulations.

Thank you Senator. Well, I'm not sure I can add much to the thoughtful and thorough questions and responses. Again, my colleagues are the ones who sit on policy and budget related to education. So I appreciate this. This is one of the most important issues in our state, how we educate our kids and what the access and opportunity and abilities are to do that. So I agree with comments and questions in your quote from Dr. King in particular. Clearly your experience and your passion you may come from different perspectives. We all do. We're all different. That is the reflection of diversity. I just want to say how much I appreciated this dialogue and each of you for being willing to meet with my colleagues and to respond to these very in depth questions because you see the reflection of people who represent policy and budget committees and their constituents. So I want to thank you. I'm going to go to members of the public and I'm going to suggest to our members of the public who are here you have now been through almost 2 hours of a hearing so I recognize you really want your opportunity to speak but my colleagues have done that for you I think, and as have I. So I want you to have the chance to either support or oppose these conferees. I'm going to start right here in room 2200 for those who are physically present, and wishing to speak in support. And what I would like is your name, organization, if any, that you represent. And I support all three. I support one, two, hoover, you support or oppose when we get to that. And just yes or no, support or oppose. But we're starting with support first. So anyone who's here physically that would like to come speak in support of any of these conference, please come forward. Name, organization, if any, and your position.

Hi. Dina Vu on behalf of the association. Of California School Administrators in strong support of Ms. Oroszo Gonzalez and Dr. Brenda Lewis.

Thank you very much. Thank you so much for being here.

Carlos Machado with California School Board Association. We'd like to express our support for board Members Orozco Gonzalez and Dr. Lewis. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much. Yes, next witness.

Good afternoon. My name is Efrain Mercado from the California Teacher Association. I'm in strong support of Orozco Gonzalez and Dr. Lewis.

Thank you very much. Other people in support. Okay, I'm going to go to opposition, but I'm going to ask staff to put up on the screen and remind folks that we're going to go to teleconference next. And that participant toll free number is 8772-2682. The access code is 171-7721 so you can be ready to make your call in support or opposition. We're going to take support and opposition at the same time. For the teleconference calls, you will need to identify what your position is. Anyone here today in opposition that would like to speak min room 2200. Okay. Seeing no one approach the microphone. I'm going to welcome our moderator to this dialogue and ask you to tee up anyone who wishes to speak min opposition or in support of the applicants today.

Ladies and gentlemen, on the phone, jones if you would like to testify in support or opposition, please go ahead and hit 1-0 at this time. An AT&T operator will quickly give you your line number and place you back into the queue. Again, for opposition or support, please press one followed by zero at this time. Thank you.

Thank you. And as they're queing up your name, your organization if any, and your position of support or opposition for an individual conferee, that would be what is expected.

And we do have a couple queuing up. They'll be with us in one moment. Thank you for your patience. Our first participant is line 15. Please go ahead.

My name is Mindy Fadig, and I'm a senior advisor for the statewide system of support with California Collaborative for Educational Excellence. Strong support of Sharon Olken.

Thank you so much. Next witness.

And again, one followed by zero. If you would like to testify in support or opposition and line twelve, please go ahead.

Good. Afternoon. My name is Paige Clark on behalf of the California Alliance of Child and Family Services. In strong support of board Member Sharon Olken.

Thank you very much. Next witness.

We have no other participants queued up at this time.

Moderator thank you so much for your assistance. Okay, I'm going to bring it back. And I think low I would like to do this just to make it clear and simple, is I will take one conferee, I said applicant earlier. Sorry, that was a misspeak. I would take a motion for governor's appointees item A, and that would be Dr. Brenda Lewis. A motion. Thank you. Senator Ochoa Bogh. A motion has been made. Madam Secretary, will you please call the role?

Laird. Laird, aye. Ochoa Bogh. Ochoa Bogh, aye. Smallwood-Cuevas. Smallwod-Cuevas, aye. Wilk. Wilk, aye. Atkins. Atkins, aye. Five to zero.

Five to zero. Congratulations. I would entertain a motion for Ms. Sharon Olken.

So moved.

Thank you so much, Senator. That was Senator Wilk. Madam Secretary, call the roll.

Laird. Laird, aye. Ochoa Bogh. Ochoa Bogh, aye. Smallwood-Cuevas. Smallwood-Cuevas, aye. Wilk. Wilk, aye. Atkins. Atkins, aye. Five to zero.

Thank you. That was unanimous. I will entertain a motion on Ms. Gabriella Orozco Gonzalez.

So moved.

Thank you, Ms. Ochoa Bogh, Senator. Madam Secretary, call the roll.

Laird. Laird, aye. Ochoa Bogh. Ochoa Bogh, aye. Smallwood-Cuevas. Smallwood-Cuevas, aye. Wilk. Wilk, aye. Atkins. Atkins, aye. Five to zero.

Let me say congratulations again. Thank you for your time. We will move this forward to the full Senate for confirmation and to your family and friends, thank you for your indulgence today. Okay, I think we need to take. That doesn't go on the record. We're going to take a five minute break for the benefit of all of us. And we will back in five minutes for the next appointment.

One of the things I would say education is probably one of the top issues in our state. Again and again we hear that from our constituents. And the State Board of Education is something that as these conference are forwarded to the Senate as a whole, it takes a two thirds vote.

So I think it is more than appropriate that my colleague leagues and I take the time we need in this setting. We don't often go as long as we might have min dialogue as we just did.

So I do recognize that fact. But I also recognize that it's a critically important issue and it is the job that we need to do. And with that, that's hart of my explanation.

But part of my apologies to our next conferee, the Chief Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Mr. Jeffrey T. And I hope I'm going to say it right. Killup thank you. I want to thank you for your patience as you come forward and we will invite you to introduce yourself.

Recognize anyone, thank anyone you would like to make some opening comments. And then we will go right to Members for question and comments from the senators. And so let me welcome you this afternoon.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Members of the Senate Rules Committee. That was really a very powerful session that preceded me. My name is Jeff Killup, chief of Cal OSHA, and I am honored to be here today before you for my confirmation hearing.

I'm grateful to Governor Newsom for choosing to appoint me to this position. And I would also like to recognize my family, who's watching virtually right now. My wife is juggling her work remotely from Alameda and our sons Riley and Corey are watching remotely.

Riley from the University of Pacific and Stockton, and Corey from University of San Diego. My passion for workplace safety and health berman early in high school and I worked for several jobs that opened my ayes to workplace safety and health challenges.

In high school, I worked at a manufacturing facility in the South Bronx with no safety training or machine guarding and wound up putting a drill bit deep into my finger.

And I also worked in a boat ward and potato processing warehouse and observed numerous near misses.

And in college, I worked on a commercial fishing salmon processor in Alaska and was exposed to many dangerous workplace hazards, including a disturbing incident of workplace violence.

Since then, I've gained significant professional experience min occupational safety and health, public health, along with 20 years of law practice experience, primarily in enforcement and prosecution at the federal, state, and local levels.

Prior to my appointment, I spent nine and a half years with Washington State in our counterpart, the WA Dosh, in various leadership positions, including as the number two executive and as the managerial lead for their education, outreach, industrial hygiene, laboratory and rulemaking teams.

Washington State, even though it's much smaller, it shares many of the same workplace safety and health challenges that we face, including outdoor heat and wildfire smoke and a sizable farm worker population.

Our team was on the front line for COVID-19 and I bring many of those lessons learned with me to Cal OSHA. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kalosha was stretched and tested to meet the needs of the moment. In 2020, Kalosha received over 18,000 workplace complaints which was 50% more than the 11,000 complaints that we typically receive every year.

The division's been on the front line in the last three years crafting comprehensive safety regulations, reaching out to workers and employers on new protections and engaging in robust enforcement efforts.

Within these challenges are lessons we learned that I want to make sure that we carry forward for the years and decades to come.

One big lesson is we cannot provide workplace safety and health alone. Collaboration is essential.

As chief of CalOHSA, I want to lead the division into a chapter that streamlines its rulemaking efforts, embraces technology and automation, engages in strategic enforcement, expands its outreach and resources for workers and employers, and lastly, is built on the foundation of Professional Development and Wellness for the hardworking and dedicated Kellshat team that I've had the honor to lead over the last eleven months.

I'm honored to bring these lessons and my passion for workplace safety and health, along with my relevant background and experience to the great state of California.

With more than 18 million workers and one and a half million employers in the world's fourth largest economy, as we know, California is a leader in so many areas and the rest of the country looks to us for direction, in occupational safety and health.

I'm honored to have this opportunity to make a difference on behalf of so many. Finally, I'd like to take a moment to thank the Legislature for its continued support of our mission of workplace safety and health.

I also want to thank my impressive Calosha team for their dedication and hard work to promote workplace safety and health for our California workers which serves as an inspiration to me every day.

And that's not an understatement. I want to thank everyone who's helped me to get to this moment, including my family and especially my amazing wife, Bennett.

Thank you again for this humbling opportunity to serve as callous in chief and I'm happy to take your questions. Thank you very much.

And to your family who's watching, it's a good thing we have remote abilities capabilities these days. I'm going to go ahead and hart with you this time, Senator Smallwood Cuevos and to get us started.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for being with us here today. I am going to keep my questions brief. I have many questions and if I can't get them to them today, I'll make sure that we get them to you in writing.

And aye, you can respond.

Sure, absolutely.

In writing after the hearing.

But the question I wanted to prioritize is that there was a recent poll that found that 38% of California workers had experienced a violation of their workplace rights here in the state of California, including unsafe working conditions.

But only 10% of those workers actually reported the violation to a government agency. More than half of the workers feared that reporting the violation would draw retaliation from their employer, and that made them remain silent in the workplace.

And we know that silence stifles whistleblowing and the protection of other workers.

Given these recent reports, and this was done by the National Employment Law Project, do you feel that Cal OSHA's mission is fundamentally undermined if workers are afraid to report health and safety threats? And what is Cal OSHA doing to address this issue or threat to its mission? Fundamentally, yes.

Thank you for that question, Madam Senator Ayes, I'm familiar with that statistic that you just cited, and obviously it's a big concern to Cal OSHA.

And we had a discussion about that at UC Merced when they released their Farm Worker Health Study, and there was similar information that we discussed, which is obviously a big concern for us.

So what we're trying to do is we work with our sister agencies like Division of Labor Enforcement Standards and the Labor Commissioner's Office is what I'm trying to say.

Lilia Garcia Brower is the labor commissioner, and we partner with her team.

And we do caravans around the state with bilingual staff that's on our outreach team in order to meet vulnerable workers where they are in a language that they can communicate with us.

Because we also have translation services available to translate for workers that want to express a concern or have a conversation with us and learn more about their rights.

And Lilia Garcia's, Garcia Brower's team, they focus mostly on wage theft and retaliation, this very issue of retaliation.

So if we show up on an inspection and we have information about a possible concern for retaliation, then we report that to Lilia's team and they take it from there.

But this is obviously it's a big concern for us. I think foundational to that concern is building trust with the vulnerable worker community.

And we're really trying to be as strategic and proactive as possible to improve that trust with conversations with going to them and meeting with worker groups, worker advocate groups, and hearing their concerns and having a meaningful conversation so that we can collaborate better in order to improve workplace safety and health conditions for them.

Thank you.

Senator Ochoa Bogh.

Hello.

Good afternoon, Mr. Hillips.

It's a great pleasure to see you again, and thank you so much for meeting with me.

We had a great conversation, I thought, and hopefully some food for thought.

So I just wanted to follow up on a question that we really didn't get into very much with regards to the status of the new indoor heat regulations, specifically as it pertained to warehousing.

As warehousing is a huge industry in my region in the Inland Empire. Do you happen to know, were you able to follow up on that or on the status of the indoor heat regulations? Yes, we have a draft rule and I can give you the let me just take a step back.

So rulemaking has been initiated on an indoor heat standard and we do share a concern about indoor heat and warehouses and the health and safety of warehouse workers.

And so what we've done is we've incorporated our indoor heat enforcement within our we have what's known as a special emphasis program for outdoor heat which is in collaboration with well, let me just take us back.

It has to do with during the heat season, we have heightened enforcement, consultation and outreach in order to address high heat in an outdoor heat situation.

So because of climate change, we're seeing more of these challenges. We've incorporated indoor heat as hart of our special emphasis program for outdoor heat. But right now we're enforcing indoor heat under the Injury and Illness Prevention Program, the IPP.

So we enforce indoor heat concerns under the IIPP right now while we're moving forward with our indoor heat draft rule to the Standards Board.

So that's where we are right now with indoor heat. It's part of our special emphasis program for outdoor heat and we are intending to create a targeted inspections for warehouse workers to make sure that they're safe within this indoor heat concern.

So here's a follow up question.

Maybe we could give you a little more a different angle to come at the question.

Wahab have you done in order to educate the industry of the warehouse industry with regards to the regulations, the expectations, the safety, so that they are able to implement and get feedback at the same time to move towards balanced regulations within that scope?

Our consultation program jones outreach to businesses and on a regular proactive basis.

And so we have conversations with business and we let them know about proposed regulations in order so they can provide their input for us for rulemaking purposes.

Are you saying that folks have proactively reached out to the manufacturing warehouses to get their input and feedback as well as educate them on what you currently have in place?

Yeah, part of the rulemaking process involves giving notice of the proposed rulemaking to the stakeholders that might be impacted by the rule.

So to give them an opportunity to weigh in and provide input to the proposed rule.

And we consider that input in making a draft rule, a formal draft rule that we present to the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board for their consideration.

I'm sorry, the short answer is yes.

I'm sorry, the short answer is yes.

But pursuant to our conversation yesterday, just kind of pick up where we left off. Sure.

It's very important as Cal OSHA Chief to reinforce collaboration with stakeholders, including business.

That is something that I feel very strongly about and creating more trust with businesses, especially with programs that we have, like the voluntary Protection program that I mentioned yesterday, which is kind of an Dahle Scout program for businesses that have exemplary worker safety and health demonstrated.

And also our business or alliance agreements that we have with our education and outreach program to formalize agreements with businesses in order to promote workplace safety and health.

And we all in if that happens.

And so it's something that I believe very strongly in. I'm passionate about it. We had five events around the state since I've been in this position for VPP and also for the alliance agreement.

And I didn't want to miss any of those events and I was at all of those because it's so important to get that partnership, that buy in, that collaboration with business about worker safety and health.

And I think we can do a better job of selling the business case for why everybody wins if you make worker safety and health a priority.

So my final question is, for the record, moving forward with your model as far as the outreach goes, to make sure that you have the stakeholders and educate different industries and agencies with regards to OSHA regulations and expectations and new and upcoming regulations, what would that look like for the record? What is something that you feel based on our conversations, hopefully?

Sure. Yeah.

Well, I think it would involve. What we usually do, which we haney resources on our web page and toolboxes that are available on our web page in order for employers to get information about a certain topic, for example, indoor heat.

We have outreach with businesses and last year.

Did you hear that? Okay? Yeah.

What does outreach look like?

What does the outreach remember we were talking about what does that model going to look, even if it's not in place right now based on the conversation, what do you ting it's going to look like moving forward, the outreach program, because we know that people don't know what they don't know unless they become aware of it.

So as a state agency, we have the opportunity in any state agency, we have to do much of the outreach because they're not going to know to come to us necessarily, especially our small mom and pops that don't necessarily have a human resources agent advocating or helping companies follow through.

So what can you do min your position as the head of OSHA in order to make sure that we have the most competent and optimal means by which we can do outreach for education purposes to different industries and agencies? Yeah,

well, I think it's kind of a comprehensive approach that I would support.

We would have website resources that I mentioned.

We would go to business organizations and continue conversation and build on conversations with that community so that there's trust there and we get input from them.

And the conversation is both ways in order to improve workplace safety and health in California.

And one thing that we did up in Washington State that I've been wanting to put some energy into is selling the business case, Flora, workplace safety and health with businesses and have business, prominent businesses that other businesses will pay attention to, including smaller businesses that don't have the resources that we talked about yesterday.

To know about a lot of these tools, to actually say, hey, we're so glad that we allowed Kalosha's consultation program, which is free and confidential, to help us be a better and safer workplace because it's improved our bottom line. It's improved our Bryan. We attract better employees. They want to stay with us.

We got a competitive advantage. As a result, we all win in that scenario. That's the type of message that gets me excited with the business community.

Thank you very much, Mr. Phillips.

Thank you, Senator.

Senator Wilk.

Thank you, madam. Pro tempore. Of course.

As you know, I'm pitch hitting here today, so we didn't get a chance to speak, which would haney been nice because it's a very important position. So congratulations on your appointment.

Just going through my reading material, and that's all I'm working off of. It appears that we have about a 30% vacancy rate in the enforcement unit.

So I'm just wondering what's your approach to ensuring workforce safety since you have limited inspection resources? So are you looking to focus more on training and outreach versus enforcement? What's your approach? Considering the situation we're in currently?

Yeah. Senator Wilk, you bring up a huge challenge for us, which is the vacancy rate.

And hiring is probably our biggest priority. We want to get as many people on our team helping with the work as possible, for obvious reasons.

Meantime, we triage the complaints that come in based on the urgency, the level of hazard involved, and then we disperse our resources as best we can while we're continuing to hire more people for our team.

And I'm happy to report that within the last year last year, we hired 113 people for our team, which was 57% higher rate than we did the year before.

So we're continuing to make progress there, which is obviously good news. We wish it could go faster than it is, but we're encouraged by the progress that we're making and we're also trying to bring on more people who are bilingual.

Bilingual for our ability to reach non-English speaking employers and workers, especially the vulnerable workers.

I appreciate that answer. Thank you, madam, protemp

Are you good? Me?

Okay.

Well, aye.

You done asking questions? It may be the question.

Okay, I might defer to Senator Swallow Cuevos, but no, I'm good.

Senator.

Thank you.

Senator Laird.

Thank you very much, madam Chair.

I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to meet, and I just had a couple of questions, and the first one is in reading your resume.

You went to college min another state and your entire work history was in two other states.

What's your work program been getting appointed to a major position min this state with never having worked here before in terms of the regulations, the laws, the locations, just how to take hold of an agency in a state where you haven't worked before.

Senator Laird, I appreciate that question, and I might ask the same question.

I think that coming from Washington State most recently min the last nine and a half years with our counterpart at Washington, Dosh.

Like I said, it's a smaller version of a lot of similar challenges.

Washington State is by no means identical to California.

No.

They elect their resources secretary there rather than let the Governor appoint them.

So I appreciate some of the differences.

Yeah.

But in my view, at least right now, I think that there are probably more similarities than there are dissimilarities. I feel like the experience is very similar to Washington.

I'm keeping an open mind, of course, but it's kind of on steroids.

It's so much bigger down here, five times the size of Washington State.

One of the challenges that we have here that I'm finding is like the per capita team that we have down here is significantly smaller than Washington State.

And so we have to do more with less, which in my view means we need to have that makes the collaboration with stakeholders that much more important.

And that's something that I strongly believe in and that's my comfort zone too.

And I think that that's where the synergy lies. One plus one can equal three.

And so I welcome that challenge of trying to do a lot more with less down here.

And I feel like I bring a lot of the skills and the tools that I learned up in Washington State for successful collaboration from all stakeholders to get to the table.

We may not agree on how to get from A to B, but I think we can all agree that we all win when workers go home safe and healthy.

Well, let me just follow up briefly, and that is because you talked about the similarities.

As you get to know just the laws in California about worker safety and the regulations, are they the same or aye, you really having to do a lot of learning about what is in law here, right?

Yeah, I think I understand your question.

Yeah, the regulations, the laws aye, not identical.

I think the premises aye very similar.

When I was up in Washington, we would have a continued conversation with CalOSHA about certain laws that were under development, for example, process safety management.

So and we're allen trying to learn from each other.

And that's one of the things that I want to pursue more in this position, is kind of having more of a neighborhood conversation with Washington and Oregon and California because we're all sister Pacific Coast Federal OSHA State plan states and we share some similar challenges that are unique to where we are in the country.

I think at the same time, California is out in front on some of those issues, whether it's heat and workers min extreme heat and other ting, and I just didn't know if that was totally new to you and you are having to learn new things to enforce in your position.

No, I think I was kind of using the analogy before with a colleague earlier today, but it almost feels like I learned how to be a chef at a pretty high end restaurant.

And now I'm going to a bigger restaurant that's maybe a little bit more high end.

But the toolbox is very similar, just haney to learn a little bit different, more ingredients or whatever.

But the approach is very similar.

California is definitely a national leader in so many areas. And we were the first state to have an emergency COVID regulation. And up in Washington State, we were watching what was going on down here.

Okay.

Normally I get a chance to meet with you and we talk about a lot of things and then I ask the one or two questions in the hearing where you take from the meetings and you want to put it on the record.

And I think if I'd have had a chance to meet with you, I was intrigued by your questionnaire about fire smoke and some of the impacts of climate change and how you're having to enforce against them.

And the hour is late and I will just leave it to a future conversation. I look forward to that, but I appreciate your response. Thank you.

Thank you, Senator.

Senator, thank you.

Actually, you hit the area that I was going to hit.

So one last question from Senator Smallwood-Cuevas.

One last question and then we'll go to the public.

Sure.

Thank you.

This is somewhat of a follow up on the earlier question about retaliation.

You mentioned partnering with DIR and that and working closely with the Labor Commissioner.

Min in a recent meeting, it was stated you actually mentioned that Cal OSHA could have as much impact as almost 300 civil citations if it were to actually prosecute a notorious employer who is violating the law.

And so that to me is profound, right? Because we can issue citations, we can deal with retaliation, we can do all of those things.

But at the end of the day, how do you see your role and ability to commit to really prosecuting the worst employers who are illegally putting California's health and wellbeing at risk? And I have attended a number of worker Memorial Day events from workers who have died on the job in many cases due to not following proper safety precautions.

And so how would you commit to making sure that that highest accountability is in place for those kinds of repeat offenders? That's a powerful question, Madam Senator.

That statistic that you shared was actually something that I shared from the Federal OSHA assistant Secretary Doug Parker, and he shared it with us at a recent training for our industrial hygienist and definitely made me sit up and pay attention.

So having said that, what we're trying to do is change behavior on a population level, which is kind of a public health approach.

And how do you do that and in my view? It's a comprehensive approach.

It's a full core press. I like sports analogies, if you will. So you have a carrot, you have a stick, you have other incentives, you have disincentives.

You try and include as many people into the conversation that aye going to be impacted by whatever you're talking about as possible min a meaningful way.

So that statistic really caught my attention, and it came from a study from Duke University.

And having said that, we don't have the authority to prosecute cases criminally, but we can work with a local DA in order for the local DA to consider pursuing a criminal prosecution in a particular egregious situation.

And that is something that I'm definitely interested in learning more about and supporting, if it makes sense.

Because, again, we want to we want to take a comprehensive approach and we're talking about bad actors.

That's what we're talking about here. We're not talking about responsible business. We're talking about a bad actor situation.

And the study from Duke, as I understand it, Laird, that if you strategically show a spotlight on a situation like that, it will have the impact of I forget exactly the number of inspections from Federal OSHA or Cal OSHA, but hypothetically, it's a lot.

And from a resources standpoint, with our limited resources, that's a big consideration. So it's another tool in the toolbox, and it's part of the collaboration that I'm talking about.

And this one would be with a partner of local law enforcement to pursue that criminal situation if the circumstances justified it.

Senator, thank you.

Thank you so much.

We're going to go to Members of the public, and we're going to start with Members of the public here in room 2200.

If there's anyone that would like to speak in support, please make your way forward.

Min support.

Okay, let me go ahead and see if there's anyone in opposition.

Okay.

Let me invite our moderator back and welcome you and ask you to lee up anyone that would like to speak in support or opposition.

And they would give their name, organization, if any, and their position.

Thank you.

If you aye min support or opposition like to testify, please press one followed by zero.

At this time, one followed by zero.

Operator will quickly give you your line number and place you back into the queue.

Line 17, please go ahead.

Good afternoon, chair and committee Members.

My name is Jesse Greywell, here on behalf of the 108 workers of UFCW Western States Council who express our support for the appointment of jeff Killup.

As Chief Apollo chef, UFCW is appreciative of the open line of communication Mr. Killup has established with us to be able to share the most pressing health and safety issues that are affecting our essential workers, like workplace violence, indoor heat and COVID-19.

We look forward to continuing to work with Mr. Killup in swiftly and urgently passing General industry standards on these issues and continuing to staff up the agency with a focus on bilingual staff during time.

As Acting Chief, Mr. Killup has worked to ensure that workers continue to be protected from COVID-19 exposures and spread in the workplace.

It is for these reasons the UFCW supports the appointment of Mr. Killup as Chief of College.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And to speakers who are in the queue to speak, let me just ask for you to give your name, organization of any and your position of support or opposition only without a statement.

I wood appreciate that.

Moderator next witness.

We'll go give one final reminder.

Please press one followed by zero.

If you would like to testify in support or opposition to this Bill, Madam Chair, nobody else is queuing up.

Thank you very much again, thank you for your help today and appreciate it very much.

Always with that let me see if we have a motion.

Senator Laird.

Thank you.

Madam Secretary, will you please call the Grove? Laird aye.

Laird, aye. Ochoa Bog. Aye. Ochoa Bogh? Aye. Smallwood-Cuavas? Aye. Smallwood-Cuevas? Aye. Wilk? Aye. Wilk? Aye. Atkins aye. Atkins aye.

Five to zero.

Congratulations.

We will forward this confirmation on to the full Senate and thank you for your patience today and congratulations.

Thank you very much, madam chair.

Thank you.

This concludes the public.

We do allow clapping here today, unlike the Senate Chamber.

Thank you all for being here.

This concludes today's public portion of the agenda.

We want to say thank you to all the individuals who participated in public testimony today.

If you weren't able to testify, please submit your comments or suggestions in writing to the Rules Committee or visit our website for instructions.

Your comments and suggestions are important to us and we want to include it in our official testimony or the testimony for our official record.

Thank you.

And with that, the Senate Committee on Rules, we'll now move to Executive session.

Thank you.