SACRAMENTO: Legislation that would have allowed schools to protect their best teachers was defeated by Democrats in the Senate Education Committee today. SB 453, authored by Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar), would have allowed districts to make staffing decisions based on performance evaluations and factors other than a teacher’s simple date of hire [...]

Editor’s Note: Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) publicly called on the California Attorney General to take action against those individuals in the CA Parks and Recreation Department who deliberately attempted to hide $20 million in taxpayer money. The following remarks are from today’s Senate Floor address. Mr. President and Colleagues: Tomorrow, April 12th, [...]

Last November, Californians risked their money on state government. Despite five years of closed businesses, lost jobs, and replacement jobs that pay far less, Californians trusted the state with more of their hard-earned money. With some of the highest tax rates in the nation, Governor Jerry Brown has declared California’s government is on the road [...]

Education reform legislation I authored was voted down in the Senate Education Committee yesterday following an outburst of opposition from union interests that were bent on protecting the status quo. SB 355 would have allowed school districts in California to base layoffs on teacher performance rather than just teacher seniority. The measure is part of a broader, nationwide wave of school reform that will allow school districts to foster and retain quality teachers.

With our schools struggling to increase their education quality, I’m disappointed the Senate education committee chose the status quo related to which teachers we let go. Half of our state’s schools are experiencing declining enrollment. Regardless of this year’s difficult budget, layoffs are being made. The defeat of SB 355 means incompetent teachers are still given preference to better teachers because of the quality blind approach we currently use.

Union members with the California Teachers’ Association showed up in force during the committee hearing to oppose my reform efforts, and at the same time, defend the “Last in, First Out” (LIFO) hiring policy. This policy ensures that, no matter how proficient many teachers are, no matter how hard they work, no matter how well they teach, they will receive layoff notices solely based on the date they were hired.

I have introduced new
legislation that will allow government agencies to contract out for supplies
and services with private business. Senate Constitutional Amendment (SCA) 11
will make government operations more affordable and efficient by encouraging
competition among private market service and equipment providers.

If you can find a
product or service in the Yellow Pages, the State of California should be using
those services rather than creating new bureaucracies at taxpayer expense. It’s
no secret that the private sector can do anything government does and usually
more efficiently, and at less cost.

Working in a bi-partisan manner, Senate Republicans encourage the Democratic Leadership to join local teachers, parents, and students across the state to ensure that California qualifies for and embraces the $4.35 billion Educational Grants offered by the Obama Administration.

As stated in the Los Angeles Times article, “President Obama singled out California on Friday for failing to use education data to distinguish poor teachers from good ones, a situation that his administration said must change for the state to receive competitive, federal school dollars.”

Our state spends more than $40 billion on education. That investment buys us 25th place among the states. We have an opportunity to protect the jobs of our local teachers and end the status quo that says this is the best we can do and this is the best our children can achieve.