Section 44740.

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that effective school district personnel management, recruitment, and hiring processes are essential to the placement of qualified teachers in our public schools and particularly important to secure qualified teachers for high priority schools that are often characterized as hard to staff. The Legislature therefore intends to establish personnel management assistance teams to provide technical assistance to school districts in establishing and maintaining effective personnel management, recruitment, and hiring processes. It is the intent of the Legislature that personnel management assistance teams not modify or contradict policy that falls within the scope of any collective bargaining agreement.

(b) (1) The Superintendent shall designate up to six regions of the state so that all school districts are located within a region.

(2) (A) The Superintendent shall select a county office of education, from among those offices that apply pursuant to subparagraph (B), within each region that is most likely to have the capacity to serve all school districts within the region, to establish and house a personnel management assistance team to assist and serve school districts within that region.

(B) A county office of education may apply to the Superintendent to establish a personnel management assistance team by showing how the county will address the personnel management needs of school districts within its region.

(c) From funds appropriated for purposes of this section, the Superintendent may grant funds to county offices that are selected to provide personnel management services through personnel management assistance teams and may provide further technical assistance to the selected county offices.

(d) Each personnel management assistance team shall consist of persons having extensive experience in school district personnel administration, including recruitment, selection, organization, and staffing.

(e) The superintendent of any school district, or county superintendent of schools, may request that the regional personnel management assistance team review the personnel practices of a school district under his or her jurisdiction and recommend practices or organizational functions to facilitate the timely hiring and placement of qualified teachers consistent with the personnel policies established by agreement with the exclusive representatives of employee organizations.

(Added by Stats. 2006, Ch. 517, Sec. 28. Effective January 1, 2007.)