School district, county office of education, and community college district employees: personnel commissions: ranked groups.

Existing law provides for both the adoption and termination of a merit system in a school district or community college district by a majority vote of its classified employees or by a majority of the voting electors of the school district or community college district, as provided. Upon the filing of a petition for the adoption or for the termination of the merit system for classified employees of a school district or community college district, existing law requires the governing board of the district to perform specified activities in response, including activities related to presenting the pros and cons of the issue, providing opportunities for classified personnel to attend meetings, conducting an election by secret ballot, devising an identification system to ensure against fraud in the balloting process, forming a tabulation committee, and providing access to exclusive representatives within the school district, as provided. Existing law requires all vacancies in the classified service of a school district, county office of education, or community college district that has adopted the merit system to be filled from applicants on eligibility lists that are made up, wherever practicable, from promotional examinations or by appointments made by means of transfer, demotion, reinstatement, or reemployment, as provided. Existing law requires the personnel commission to place applicants on the eligibility lists in the order of their relative merit as determined by competitive examinations. Existing law requires the final score of candidates to be rounded to the nearest whole percent. Existing law requires that if a vacancy is filled from applicants on an eligibility list, the appointment be made from the eligible candidates having the first 3 ranks on the list who are ready and willing to accept the position. This bill would require, upon approval of an action of the personnel commission of the school district, county office of education, or community college district, the classified employees of the district or county office of education to hold an election to determine by majority vote if applicants should instead be placed on eligibility lists in ranked groups according to their relative merit as determined by competitive examinations. The bill would require the commission to administer the election in a similar manner to the election for the adoption or termination of a merit system in a school district or community college district, as provided. The bill would prescribe the ballot language, as provided. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on local educational entities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. In those districts and county offices of education that vote for the ranked group eligibility list procedure, the bill would require candidates' final examination scores to be rounded to the nearest whole percent and assembled into 5 distinct groups with fixed percentage ranges, as provided. The bill would require all appointments to be made from the highest ranking group on an eligibility list, except when that group includes fewer than 5 persons who are ready and willing to accept the position, in which case an appointment would be made from combining the next highest group or groups to include at least 5 persons ready and willing to accept the position, or if there are fewer than 5 persons who are ready and willing to accept the position in all remaining groups, from those remaining persons. The bill would authorize an eligibility list with fewer than 3 viable candidates to be considered exhausted if the appointing authority requests additional eligible candidates be certified for hiring consideration. This bill would, in those districts and county offices of education that adopted the ranked group eligibility list procedure and upon approval of an action of the personnel commission of the school district, county office of education, or community college district, require the classified employees of the district or county office of education to hold an election to determine if the district or county office of education should revert back to the individual ranking system, as provided. The bill would require the commission to administer the election in a similar manner to the election for the adoption or termination of a merit system in a school district or community college district, as provided, and would prescribe the ballot language, as provided. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on local educational entities, 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.