On December 1, the California Legislature met for a single day before declaring itself in recess until January 5, 2015.  The activity in both chambers was largely ceremonial as the new, two-year legislative session was formally convened.  Newly elected members of the Assembly and Senate were duly sworn in, as were the officers of each chamber.  Various speeches exhorting lawmakers to transcend partisanship so as to render effective service to the people of the state were delivered amidst an atmosphere that blended pomp and partying.

With the 2014 mid-term elections finally in the rear-view mirror, the focus in Sacramento will rapidly shift from gaining office to governing.  Over the course of the next 11 weeks it is likely that some 2,000 bills will be introduced.  A considerable body of proposed legislation can be expected to be education related, and a number of bills will contain provisions directly affecting California's K-12 private schools. 
 
As was true for much of the rest of the nation, the Republican Party achieved gains in California.  And while the GOP's electoral performance in the Golden State was less impressive than elsewhere, a net gain of seats in both houses of the State Legislature was sufficient to end the super-majority enjoyed by Democrats since 2012.  Absent a 2/3 margin in each chamber, the majority party will now be unable to enact unilateral tax increases.  Democrats currently hold 52 of the State Assembly's 80 seats, and fill 25 of the State Senate's 40 desks.

While Governor Jerry Brown easily won re-election in a contest no one expected him to lose, the victory of State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson, proved to be one of the brighter outcomes for Democrats, nationally.  Even though the incumbent found himself pitted against a fellow Democrat in the person of charter school advocate Marshall Tuck, Mr. Torlakson was the chosen candidate of the teachers unions, which fared poorly elsewhere on election day.  Republican candidates prevailed in each of the other six states in which the State Superintendent position appeared on the ballot. 

According to EdSource, combined spending in the California Superintendent race exceeded $30 million.  While the State Superintendent does not create education policy, the California Department of Education, which Mr. Torlakson oversees, provides both an institutional source of legislative sponsorship, as well as a bully pulpit from which union-backed measures can be supported.  This combination is bound to come into play as the new legislative session ramps up.

How are the results of the recent elections likely to manifest themselves in the newly constituted Legislature, and what sort of legislation can private school stakeholders expect to see?  Among the education related measures likely to be introduced during the course of the new session, readers can expect to see proposed laws addressing the following areas:

Universal Pre-K

Last year, outgoing Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg invested considerable effort in authoring SB 837, a bill that would effectively have created a downward expansion of California's public education system to include early education.  Since the bill's provisions would have required all early education instructors to be considered public employees for purposes of collective bargaining, the unions would have been the major political beneficiaries of the proposed law.  But the bill stalled for apparent lack of support from Governor Brown, whose primary interest lies in assuring the successful implementation of the state's new Local Control Funding Formula. 
 
The Governor's reluctance won't deter supporters, and newly elected Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D. - Sacramento) has already introduced AB 47, a bill that will require the Department of Education to prepare "a plan for expanding the state preschool program to all eligible low-income children who do not have access to one year of state preschool or transitional kindergarten," along with "an analysis of the need for new facilities for the state preschool program in order to provide access to all eligible children" by June, 2016. Given that the bill was introduced the same day its author was sworn in, one might reasonably conjecture that it was written by others.  Of additional note is the fact that the measure's author has been appointed Chair of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education.  Clearly, the powers that be are putting their ducks in a row.

Tax-Credits

In the last legislative session several education tax-credit bills succeeded in attracting bipartisan support and winning passage out of their policy committees.  While each bill eventually stalled, a slate of new legislation designed to sustain consideration of the creative use of tax policy to support private investment in K-12 education is almost certain to appear in 2015-16.  In fact, Assemblymember Susan Bonilla (D. - Concord) has already introduced AB 17, a bill that would offer single taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes up to $100,000 and married taxpayers filing jointly with adjusted gross incomes up to $200,000 a tax credit equal to 20 percent of qualifying contributions to a Section 529 Education Savings Plan, to a maximum of $500.  

CAPSO's Action Center explains how tax-credits work and provides examples, here.

Pupil Protection

The safety and well-being of students is an absolute prerequisite for academic achievement in every school setting, and pupil protection bills are politically popular.  In the aftermath of the Miramonte Elementary School settlement, and in light of growing concerns about the rising incidence of mass violence on school campuses and fears of the possibility of terrorist attacks on the homeland, look for a fresh complement of bills addressing mandated reporter training and school safety plans.  The growing number of deaths suffered by high school football players may invite legislation requiring enhanced medical supervision of student athletes.

Teacher Protection

This coming spring, California will release the results of the assessments designed to accompany the implementation of the Common Core State Standards.  The test scores can be expected to be dismal.  In many cases, the poor test results will have less to do with teaching and learning than with technical snags in the online administration of the assessments.  Nevertheless, disappointing results may unleash renewed calls for teacher accountability and the inclusion of standardized test data as a component of teacher evaluation.  Look for union-backed authors to deliver "anticipatory legislation" protecting the state's public school teachers from Common Core "fallout."

Minimum Wage

On the first day of the new legislative session State Senator Mark Leno (D- San Francisco) introduced SB 3, a bill seeking to increase the state's minimum wage to $11 in 2016, $13 in 2017, and to initiate annual adjustments that correspond to the rate of inflation beginning in 2019. An increased minimum wage affects private schools in two ways: it increases upward wage pressure and it impacts the designation of teachers as exempt employees (not subject to overtime pay).  Among other requirements, private school teachers must be paid at least twice the minimum wage (calculated on a weekly or monthly basis) in order to qualify as exempt employees.
 
CAPSO will be monitoring all legislation of interest to California's private school community.  You can keep abreast of developments by bookmarking our new online "Action Center" (see article below).

With the state's new legislative session about to ramp up, the California Association of Private School Organizations is rolling out a new, online Action Center that will make it easy to follow developments of interest to California's K-12 private school community, and take action, as warranted.  E-Mailer readers are invited to bookmark the Action Center homepage, and to join our distribution list. By doing so, you'll keep yourself "in the loop" as key legislative, judicial and administrative developments impacting California's private schools unfold.
 
Please take a couple of minutes to familiarize yourself with the look of, and features that accompany the Action Center.  Note that the home page contains a "Latest Education News" section that streams current education-related news reports and selected blog feeds. Click on the title of a story to access its full content, or click the "Read More" button to expand the list of titles.  A compendium of CAPSO blog posts appears below the news window.

Scrolling down the right-hand column, viewers can join our distribution list, spot current legislation of interest, identify their state and federal elected officials, and see our latest entries on Twitter and Facebook.  Note that clicking on the title of a bill produces a CAPSO "briefing" on the measure together with links to the text of the proposed legislation, additional information about its author, and a listing of recent actions taken on the measure.

Clicking the "Take Action!" menu tab (located on the right-hand side of the top border) produces a page containing currently actionable, or pending items of interest.  At present, one item appears in the tab's drop-down menu.  If you hold your mouse pointer over the "Take Action!" menu tab and click on "CTF Fund," you can learn about a pending administrative action under consideration by the California Public Utilities Commission that, if adopted, would disqualify a substantial number of private schools from obtaining discounts on telecommunications services through participation in the California Teleconnect Fund program.

Click on the "Key Issues" menu tab, and you'll access an area that provides background information on legislative, judicial and policy items with significant implications for private K-12 education.  At present, you'll find a brief overview of education tax-credits.

Finally, clicking on the "CAPSO.org" menu tab will take you to the CAPSO website home page.  Speaking of which...it just so happens that our website - which has retained its "plain-wrap," all-HTML appearance since its debut in 2002 - will soon be undergoing a thorough makeover.  Please bear with us as we proceed to fashion a more attractive, user friendly and informative online presence!

Historically, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act has undergone reauthorization (i.e. rewriting) approximately every seven years.  Each time the major federal education law is revamped by Congress it acquires a new nickname, bestowed by the current administration.  Thus, when the law was reauthorized in 1996, President Clinton labeled it the "Improving America's Schools Act" (IASA).  When President George W. Bush signed the next iteration of the ESEA into law in January, 2002, he called it the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). 

It has now been nearly thirteen years since the strongly bipartisan NCLB legislation went into effect.  Because there has been no subsequent reauthorization of the law, the Obama Administration calls it by its generic name: ESEA. And because the current law required all public school students to have achieved proficiency in English and Math by 2014, the U.S. Department of Education has granted a spate of waivers exempting under-performing public schools from the sanctions to which NCLB would otherwise have exposed them.

With Republicans about to assume control of both houses of Congress, renewed talk of ESEA reauthorization has surfaced. A recent Politics K-12 article speculates on the substance of a Republican-led makeover of the law. Of particular interest to the private school community is speculation concerning the inclusion of school choice provisions, and the specific form any such provisions would take.  Unfortunately, the current consensus points to proposals limited to the expansion of charter schools.  In a post-election interview with Education Week, Representative John Kline (R. - MN), who will continue to serve as Chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, remarked: "Parents need more options, and choice, and public charter schools offer that without the controversy that comes with vouchers for private schools." 

Senator Lamar Alexander (R. - TN) who will shortly chair the Senate Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions - the Senate's principal education committee - might prove to be more committed to the school choice provisions that include private schools. Earlier this year, Senator Alexander, a former U.S. Secretary of Education, proposed legislation that would have consolidated some 80 federal education programs and permitted states to use the funds to enable low-income parents to send their children to private schools.

One area that is ripe for bipartisan agreement entails an easing back on the testing and accountability requirements that many saw as the heart and soul of No Child Left Behind.  The consensus view appears to be that a Republican reauthorization would take the reins of accountability out of the hands of the federal government and leave states responsible for establishing performance standards, should they so choose.

Another point of speculative agreement is that a refurbished ESEA will contain no requirement that states adopt the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and accompanying assessments.  While the Politics K-12 author failed to say so, the Obama Administration's response - particularly after test scores for a broad array of states will become available later this year - will prove critical to the viability of the the standards.  To date, the Administration has made the adoption of the CCSS a virtual requirement for states' successful competitive grant applications when pursuing federal dollars offered through programs such as the Race to the Top Fund.  If neither Congress nor the White House should prove willing to push for their adoption and retention, the Common Core State Standards will have enjoyed an unusually short shelf life.

Stay Tuned!

This month's publication of the CAPE Outlook newsletter marks the 400th edition of the popular newsletter produced by the Council for American Private Education.  When the Outlook premiered, Richard Nixon resided in the White House, the price of a first-class U.S. postage stamp was raised from 8¢ to 10¢, Paul McCartney and Wings released Band on the Run, and the organization that was CAPSO's precursor, the California Executive Council for Non-Public Education, conducted its first meeting.  From then until now, the CAPE Outlook has remained true to the purpose announced in its charter edition, "by regularly presenting information on significant issues and activities in private education."

Be sure to read the Outlook's retrospective on its four decades of reporting, informing, analyzing and entertaining, which appears on page 3 of the current issue.  You'll also find a cover article on the 2014 National Summit on Education Reform, an analysis of the national mid-term election results viewed from a parent choice perspective,  information about participation in this year's National School Choice Week activities - schools have until December 12 to register - and more.

CAPSO congratulates CAPE, and its outstanding Executive Director (and Outlook author/editor), Joe McTighe, on achieving this wonderful milestone!


A new book titled, Welcoming Children with Special Needs: Empowering Christian Special Education through Purpose, Policies, and Procedures, endeavors to provide both a religion-based conceptual foundation and practical tools to help "develop a successful and sustainable special needs program in a Christian school."  The volume's table of contents can be viewed, here (- scroll down a couple of pages after you've clicked on the link).

Cognizant of the many challenges attendant to creating and sustaining policies, practices, and a school environment that effectively embrace and serve children with special needs, authors Julie M. Lane, Ed.D. and Quentin P. Kinnison, Ph.D. note that those who "may have attempted and failed, or continue to struggle with developing their programs - will find this text an oasis for frustrated spirits."  Additional information about the book can be found, here.


The school choice movement lost a giant with the passing, last month, of Polly Williams, a woman who rose from humble origins in the Jim Crow south to become a 10-term member of the Wisconsin Legislature, where she served from 1980 through 2010.  A longtime resident of Milwaukee, Ms. Williams played what is widely considered to have been the pivotal role in establishing the nation's first school voucher program.  Her contributions to that effort are prominently featured in Joe Williams' Cheating Our Kids (2005).

A recent edition of the Wall Street Journal contained a letter in which former U.S. Department of Education Office of Non-Public Education Director Jack Klenk said the following of Ms. Williams:

CAPSO joins countless others in mourning the loss of Polly Williams and remembering her remarkable life and contributions.


Friend-of-CAPSO Bob Tyra has produced a website and Facebook page that offer a variety of informative resources for college-bound students, parents and educators.  These include a PDF version of Going to College in California, a user-friendly reference that can help simplify the process of identifying, selecting and applying to a "best fit" college.  Interested schools can license and personalize the volume, making it available as a value-added benefit of enrollment.  If the book seems familiar, it may be because it's the college-oriented online successor to the popular "Life after High School" guide, formerly published by the Los Angeles County Office of Education under Mr. Tyra's supervision.  That resource enjoyed a ten-year run and sold more than 2.5 million copies to California public and private schools.  So be sure to check out the new version!

Every private school is unique, each possessing a distinctive history, culture, and character.  Indeed, it is the rich diversity of philosophical and religious orientations, the multiplicity of theories regarding human development and learning, the varying approaches to structure, and the inexhaustible variability of school cultures that make private education so exciting, and infuse the term 'school choice' with such depth of meaning.

The most successful schools, whether private or public, do more than find opportunities to tell their stories.  They never miss an opportunity to do so.  Whether the communication emanates from administrators, faculty, parents, board members, students, clerical staff, or alumni, all participants and stakeholders speak with one voice when describing the school's essential characteristics.  And when such messaging is consistently and uniformly repeated, its content is absorbed and, ultimately, adopted by the public.
 
As a lobbyist charged with the responsibility of representing the common interests of California's broadly inclusive nonprofit private school community, I can't possibly tell every school's story when visiting the offices of state lawmakers (though I strongly encourage school-site leaders to do so!).  Instead, I try to paint a picture of the collective contributions made by private schools, and to tell the private school story writ large. 

In case you're wondering how that story reads, you can find it on a single, two-sided page titled, "Private Education and the Public Interest," which can be viewed and downloaded, here.  When I visit the offices of newly-elected members of the California Legislature, this January, this is one of the documents our freshmen State Assemblymembers and State Senators will be receiving.  I encourage you to read and distribute it, as appropriate. For it, too, tells your school's story.  And it's a story of which you have every reason to be proud.

Ron Reynolds

The next edition of the CAPSO Midweek E-Mailer will be published January 14, 2015.