On Saturday, Gov. Jerry Brown rejected AB 165, a piece of legislation that would have prohibited schools from collecting fees from students for books, art supplies, lab equipment or mandatory school-related activities, subjected schools to annual audits and required all schools to post notices in each classroom about the no-fee policy.
Brown said that all schools should be compliant in providing students with their right to a free public education, but the bill takes the “wrong approach” and “goes too far” in mandating that all 1,042 districts and 1,200 charter schools be audited, even where there have been no complaints or evidence of any violation.
“Many of us were surprised by the governor’s veto,” said Michael Matthews, superintendent of schools for Manhattan Beach Unified School District, adding that it was on the School Board’s agenda last week because the district believed it would become the law.
“Still, it’s something we want to check on and make sure we are abiding by, as AB 165 was really a reiteration of what is already in the California education code,” Matthews said, referring to the right to a free public education.
The bill was written after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the state of California, alleging that some school districts were denying students a free public education by charging fees for certain classes or extracurricular activities.
“We’re going to make sure we clearly draw a line between what is donation…and what is a fee,” Matthews said. “We want to avoid fees for our students.”
