Classified employees: school districts and community college districts: contracting out: training requirements.

Plain English Breakdown

The effectiveness of these changes in ensuring fair treatment for contracted workers remains uncertain.

Training and Contracting Rules for Classified Employees

This law sets new rules about training requirements for classified employees in school districts and community college districts, and adds conditions for contracting out their jobs.

What This Bill Does

• Adds new rules that require contractors to provide the same health care and retirement benefits as direct hires when they take over a job from a classified employee.
• Requires contractors to ensure workers meet or exceed the qualifications of direct hire employees who do similar work.
• Mandates school districts and community college districts to pay their classified employees for training time at regular rates, allowing real-time question-and-answer sessions during online trainings.
• Specifies that certain important trainings like child abuse reporting, suicide prevention, sexual harassment, or discrimination must be done in person.
• Imposes a state-mandated local program if the new rules add extra duties to school districts and community college districts.

Who It Names or Affects

• Classified employees in school districts and community college districts
• School districts and community college districts themselves
• Contractors who take over jobs from classified employees

Terms To Know

classified employees

Employees in positions that do not require certification qualifications, such as administrative or support staff.

state-mandated local program

A program where the state requires local agencies to perform certain duties and provides funding for those duties.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how much extra money will be given to school districts and community college districts to cover new training costs.
• It is unclear if there are any exceptions or exemptions from the new rules.

Official Summary Text

AB 1247, as introduced, Garcia.
Classified employees: school districts and community college districts: contracting out: training requirements.
Existing law requires school districts and community college districts to employ persons for positions not requiring certification qualifications and to classify, as defined, these persons. These employees are generally known as classified employees. Existing law also authorizes school districts and community college districts to contract for personal services currently or customarily performed by classified employees to achieve cost savings, unless otherwise prohibited, when certain conditions are met, including, among others, that the contract includes assurances that the contractor’s hiring practices meet applicable nondiscrimination standards.
This bill would add to the conditions referenced above (1) that the contract guarantees contributions to any bona fide fringe benefit programs providing health care or retirement benefits to a direct
hire that are equivalent to the amount that would be contributed if the contracted worker was a direct hire and (2) that the contract also includes assurances that contracted workers meet or exceed the minimum qualifications and standards, as provided, required of direct hires who perform or have performed the same job functions.
This bill would require school districts and community college districts to compensate their classified employees at their regular rate of pay for time necessary to complete any training mandated by law, a collective bargaining agreement, or an employer policy. The bill, notwithstanding any other law, would require those trainings, whether conducted online or in person, to allow for a classified employee to ask questions and have the questions answered by a natural person in real time during the trainings. The bill, notwithstanding any other law, would require any of those trainings that are related to child abuse reporting, suicide
prevention, sexual harassment, or discrimination to be conducted in person. To the extent these training requirements would impose additional duties on school districts and community college districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF