Teachers are hard at work to persuade legislators to kill educator-opposed SB 1530 (Padilla), which has cleared the California Senate and is scheduled for a hearing before the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday, June 27.
The bill would divert lawmakers’ and the public’s attention from the cascading failures of a school district’s management to use current law to protect children from an employee charged with improper conduct.
SB 1530 ignores the failures of the superintendent and officials of the Los Angeles Unified School District to report alleged misconduct to the state licensing agency, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. That credentialing body has the power to revoke an educator’s credential, preventing that employee from working in any public school in the state.
Instead, SB 1530 adopts the district’s justifications for its failures – justifications that include unsubstantiated assertions that current law prevented the reporting. In point of fact, current law requires the district to make the reports and holds the
superintendent personally liable for failing to comply.
superintendent personally liable for failing to comply.
The issue reflects allegations against two teachers at Miramonte Elementary in Los Angeles. The district failed to report the charges in a timely manner, allowing the individuals to
gain employment in another school district.
gain employment in another school district.
SB 1530 would make radical changes to current law and undermine an accused’s right to a fair hearing. It does nothing to add new penalties for administrators or districts that fail to comply with reporting laws.
For more information about the bill, view the letter embedded below.
For more information and ways to get in touch with your lawmakers, go to Contact Your Legislator.
For more information and ways to get in touch with your lawmakers, go to Contact Your Legislator.
Assembly Education Committee Members:
