New Bill Gives Reasonable Notice For School Employees - Central Coast News KION/KCBA

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Governor Brown has signed Assembly Bill AB 1908: Reasonable Notice for School Employees by Assemblymember Luis Alejo (D-Salinas). AB 1908 requires school and community college districts to provide classified school employees with a 60 day layoff notice.

"This measure makes sure that when school districts are confronted with challenges in balancing their budgets they do it in a fair manner and not on the backs of classified school employees," says Alejo.

"The Classified School Employees Association (CSEA) is pleased that the Governor signed AB 1908 into law, and thanks Assemblyman Luis Alejo for sponsoring this bill," says CSEA President Allan Clark. "AB 1908 provides much needed time for my fellow classified employees to find new jobs and to address housing and health care issues. Providing 60 day layoff notice is the reasonable, compassionate and right thing to do."

Classified school employees include secretaries, bus drivers, food service workers, groundskeepers, security personnel, teacher's aides, instructional assistants, custodians, maintenance workers, and health care assistants. Nearly 80 percent of classified employees are women. Many are serving as heads of households and supporting their families.

"In the last four years, over 30,000 classified school employees have been laid off. AB 1908 is a just and reasonable measure to protect working families during the current budget crisis," states Alejo.

The new law will take effect on January 1, 2013 in time for the school districts' budget decisions for the next school year.