Article 12. School-based Management And Advanced Career Opportunities For Classroom Teachers Programs of California Education Code >> Division 3. >> Title 2. >> Part 25. >> Chapter 3. >> Article 12.

(a) The Legislature finds that a primary goal of every public school should be the creation of effective and productive learning environments for pupils. Increasing the educational effectiveness and productivity of public schools may require new ways of organizing instructional and adminstrative staff which increase the collective investment of all schoolsite educators in the success of their school. The Legislature also finds that innovation and change are frequently discouraged by undue administrative and organizational rigidity. The Legislature intends that the school district's role in working with schoolsites be characterized by setting clear goals, providing sites the flexibility to achieve those goals, offering high quality technical assistance and support, and holding sites accountable for performance. The Legislature supports shifting from a rule-based system to a performance-based system of accountability. Those educators closest to pupils should be free, within limits, to create learning environments appropriate to their circumstances. The Legislature declares its intent not to diminish the leadership roles of school districts and site-level administrators. However, the Legislature does intend to encourage schools to foster more professional collaboration where teachers and principals, as an educational team, are responsible for creating the conditions that make more effective teaching and learning possible, and where schoolsite educators as a group have responsibility for the functioning and performance of their school. It is the further intent of the Legislature to encourage and foster a shift in public school administration from a system that rigidly controls and directs what goes on at the next lowest level, to a system that guides and facilitates professionals in their quest for more productive learning opportunities for their pupils.
  (b) The Legislature further finds and declares all of the following:
  (1) Hierarchical decisionmaking has tended to reduce the effectiveness and productivity of teachers in educating pupils. A more collaborative decisionmaking process may result in more effective teaching and pupil learning.
  (2) A true profession should offer individuals the opportunity for growth in their careers and in their professional lives.
  (3) Professional growth brings with it additional responsibilities and accountability, and taking greater responsibility allows the professional to achieve enhanced status and higher salary, and to make a contribution to the profession.
  (4) The current staffing structures and compensation structures in California school districts that emphasize seniority in setting teacher salaries and uniformity in teachers' roles do not adequately reward teaching excellence, exceptional achievement, or the assumption of additional educational responsibilities by teachers. Neither do they provide an incentive for teachers to continue to pursue excellence.
  (5) The establishment of advanced career opportunities for teachers, in conjunction with greater teacher involvement in schoolsite management, should increase the variety and responsibility of a teacher's work. It should also provide: (A) a mechanism for restructuring salary schedules to recognize experience, additional work and responsibility; and (B) the opportunity for performance-based contracts with teachers or groups of teachers.
  (6) Advanced career opportunities for teachers should also provide an incentive for teachers to remain in teaching, upgrade their skills, and improve the instructional program.

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage school districts to plan and implement alternative models of school-based management projects, or advanced career opportunities for classroom teachers projects, or a combination of both, for one or more schools in the district. Further, it is the intent of the Legislature that school district governing boards and administrators work with classroom teachers and teacher bargaining units to develop and strengthen procedures that increase teachers' decisionmaking authority in responsibilities that affect their ability to teach. These procedures may include, but need not be limited to, the following:
  (1) Selection of new teachers and administrators.
  (2) Evaluation of teacher and administrator performance.
  (3) Selection of curricular areas for improvement.
  (4) Tailoring and coordination of curriculum and instruction across grade levels and within departments at the schoolsite level.
  (5) Establishment of pupil discipline policies.
  (6) Design and conduct of staff development programs and policies.
  (7) Assignment of pupils and scheduling of classes.
  (8) Schoolwide problem solving and program development.
  (9) Organization of the school for effective instruction.
  (10) Development of procedures designed to institutionalize teacher involvement in decisionmaking.
  (11) Determining the roles and functions of teachers, administrators, and classified employees at the school site.
  (12) Development of alternative methods of teacher compensation that reward teaching excellence, exceptional achievement or the assumption of additional educational responsibilities.
  (13) Establishment of policies to decentralize district decisionmaking by providing schoolsite administrators and teachers with greater budget authority including the allocation of fiscal, personnel, and other resources at the schoolsite.
  (b) Participation of school discticts in the programs established pursuant to this article shall be on a voluntary basis. A school district shall be eligible to participate only upon the approval of participation by both the governing board of the district and the exclusive representative of certificated employees of the district.

It is the intent of the Legislature that each school district's school-based management proposal shall include the following:
  (a) A plan for involving parents in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of school restructuring efforts.
  (b) A plan for staff development that shall be made available to participating school personnel in order to assist in restructuring elements specified in the district proposal.
  (c) A plan for regularly assessing the progress of participating schools in meeting the goals identified in their funding proposal. Assessment plans shall include provisions for the collection of information on various school-level indicators including pupil performance, detentions, pupil and teacher absenteeism, and staff turnover. Districts are encouraged, as well, to establish a process of onsite quality reviews with the objective of evaluating the quality of instruction, leadership, staff development, and the planning and decisionmaking processes at participating schools.

(a) "Advanced career opportunities for classroom teachers" means a compensation system developed jointly by the governing board of a school district and the exclusive representative of certificated employees for one or more of the schools in the district that may include the following components:
  (1) Extended contract days.
  (2) Additional pay for additional duties or responsibilities.
  (3) Differentiated staffing.
  (4) Additional pay for meeting contracted performance goals.
  (b) Each Advanced Career Opportunity Program shall include the following components:
  (1) Fair selection procedures for job enlargement activities.
  (2) An evaluation procedure developed jointly by the governing board of the district and the exclusive representative of certificated employees that provides for periodic, fair, objective, and consistent evaluation of educator performance for purposes of placement and career advancement.
  (3) A plan for the periodic review of the district's Advanced Career Opportunity Program.

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for the purposes of implementing a program established pursuant to this article, the State Board of Education may waive any part, article, or section of this code, or any regulation adopted by the State Board of Education that implements this code upon request by a governing board of a school district on a districtwide basis or on behalf of its schools or programs, if the governing board does both of the following:
  (1) Provides written documentation that the exclusive representative of certificated employees concurs with the request. Failure of the exclusive representative of certificated employees to concur in the waiver request shall constitute cause for its denial.
  (2) Demonstrates that the waiver request is necessary to implement the proposed pilot project.
  (b) Subdivision (a) does not apply to Section 51513 or Part 26 (commencing with Section 46000), other than Section 46206.