FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 31, 2012
Contact: Julie White, jwhite@acsa.org, (916) 329-3832
ACSA member advocacy helped ensure that AB 5 (Fuentes), a bill that would have changed the procedures for teacher evaluations, was withdrawn from legislative action this year.
“We had serious concerns that the legislation was not going to receive adequate and necessary input from school leaders in the last two days of the legislative session. We were concerned about the measure's language to eliminate local control, expand collective bargaining and impose unfunded mandates on schools and districts,” said Karen Stapf Walters, ACSA Interim Executive Director.
“Our student and schools deserve the Legislature’s best collaboration on an issue as significant as teacher evaluation. We're pleased that the author agreed with us about the need for a thoughtful and balanced resolution,” continued Stapf Walters.
ACSA’s concerns with AB 5 included the following:
• Local Control: AB 5 repeals the local governing board’s ability to assess student growth toward grade level expectations in evaluations. Governing boards could still develop the standards but eliminating the requirement places school districts in the position to negotiate whether this can be included or not. Student achievement must not be on the bargaining table.
• Teacher Evaluation Subject to Collective Bargaining: AB 5 would require that ALL elements of teacher evaluation be subjected to bargaining, including evaluation criteria and standards for satisfactory performance. This change significantly weakens a district’s ability to hold teachers accountable to locally developed standards. Additionally, this bill could link teacher evaluation criteria to financial actions local boards will need to make in coming years.
• Massive Unfunded Mandate: AB 5 would impose costly mandate on all school districts with funding for start-up costs only at schools that receive QEIA funds.
ACSA and dozens of other education associations and school districts were rallying their members in opposition to the bill. Other opponents to AB 5 included the California School Boards Association, Small School Districts Association, Central Valley Education Coalition, Los Angeles Unified School District, School Employers Association of California, Orange County Department of Education, San Francisco Unified School District and many others.
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