Enrolled Bill Summary

            The Education Code requires a school district board of trustees that makes a severance payment to a superintendent to report the terms of the payment to the commissioner of education. Previously, the code also required the commissioner to reduce the district's Foundation School Program (FSP) funding by an amount equal to the severance payment for the school year following the school year in which the first payment was made. Senate Bill 1446 amends the code to define "severance payment" as any amount paid by the board to or in behalf of the superintendent that exceeds the amount the superintendent earned under the contract as of the termination date, including any amount above the earned standard salary and benefits paid as a condition of early termination.

            The bill also requires the commissioner to reduce the district's FSP funds by any amount that the severance payment exceeds one year's salary and benefits under the terms of the contract, and it deletes the provision that delayed the reduction in the district's FSP funding until the school year following the school year in which the first payment is made, making the penalty applicable to the year in which the payment is made.