SECTIONS 44100-44105 - California Statutes

EDUCATION CODE

SECTION 44100-44105

44100. (a) The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(1) Generally, California school districts employ a
disproportionately low number of racial and ethnic minority
classified and certificated employees and a disproportionately low
number of women and members of racial and ethnic minorities in
administrative positions.
(2) It is educationally sound for the minority student attending a
racially impacted school to have available to him or her the
positive image provided by minority classified and certificated
employees. It is likewise educationally sound for the child from the
majority group to have positive experiences with minority people,
that can be provided, in part, by having minority classified and
certificated employees at schools where the enrollment is largely
made up of majority group students. It is also educationally
important for students to observe that women as well as men can
assume responsible and diverse roles in society.
(3) Past employment practices created artificial barriers and past
efforts to promote additional action in the recruitment, employment,
and promotion of women and minorities did not result in a
substantial increase in employment opportunities for these persons.
(4) Lessons concerning democratic principles and the richness that
racial diversity brings to our national heritage can be best taught
by staffs composed of mixed races and ethnic groups working toward a
common goal.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to do all of the
following:
(1) Establish and maintain a policy of equal opportunity in
employment for all persons.
(2) Prohibit discrimination on any basis listed in subdivision (a)
of Section 12940 of the Government Code, as those bases are defined
in Sections 12926 and 12926.1 of the Government Code, except as
otherwise provided in Section 12940 of the Government Code, in every
aspect of personnel policy and practice in the employment,
development, advancement, and treatment of persons employed in the
public school system.
(3) Promote the total realization of equal employment opportunity
through a continuing affirmative action employment program.
(c) The Legislature recognizes that it is not enough to proclaim
that public employers do not discriminate in employment, but that
effort must also be made to build a community in which opportunity is
equalized. It is the intent of the Legislature to require
educational agencies to adopt and implement plans for increasing the
numbers of women and minority persons at all levels of
responsibility.

44101. For the purposes of this article the following definitions
apply:
(a) (1) "Affirmative action employment program" means planned
activities designed to seek, hire, and promote persons who are
underrepresented in the work force compared to their numbers in the
population, including individuals with disabilities, women, and
persons of minority racial and ethnic backgrounds. It is a conscious,
deliberate step taken by a hiring authority to assure equal
employment opportunity for all staff, both certificated and
classified. These programs require the employer to make additional
efforts to recruit, employ, and promote members of groups formerly
excluded at the various levels of responsibility who are qualified or
may become qualified through appropriate training or experience
within a reasonable length of time. These programs should be designed
to remedy the exclusion, whatever its cause.
(2) Affirmative action requires imaginative, energetic, and
sustained action by each employer to devise recruiting, training, and
career advancement opportunities that will result in an equitable
representation of women and minorities in relation to all employees
of the employer.
(b) "Goals and timetables" means projected new levels of
employment of women and minority racial and ethnic groups to be
attained on an annual schedule, given the expected turnover in the
work force and the availability of persons who are qualified or may
become qualified through appropriate training or experience within a
reasonable length of time. Goals are not quotas or rigid proportions.
They should relate both to the qualitative and quantitative needs of
the employer.
(c) "Public education agency" means the Department of Education,
each office of the county superintendent of schools, and the
governing board of each school district in California.

44103. Each county superintendent of schools shall render
assistance in developing and implementing affirmative action
employment programs to elementary school districts under his
jurisdiction which had fewer than 901 units of average daily
attendance during the preceding fiscal year, and to high school
districts under his jurisdiction which had fewer than 301 units of
average daily attendance during the preceding fiscal year, and to
unified school districts under his jurisdiction which had fewer than
1,501 units of average daily attendance during the preceding fiscal
year.

44104. The department, out of funds appropriated for such purposes,
(1) shall provide assistance to local educational agencies in
adopting and maintaining high-quality affirmative action programs and
(2) develop and disseminate to public education agencies guidelines
to assist the agencies in developing and implementing affirmative
action employment programs.

44105. The State Board of Education shall adopt all necessary rules
and regulations to carry out the intent of this article.