ARTICLE IX - EDUCATION 1-16 :: California Constitution



SECTION 1.  A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being
essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the
people, the Legislature shall encourage by all suitable means the
promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural
improvement.





SEC. 2.  A Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be elected by
the qualified electors of the State at each gubernatorial election.
The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall enter upon the duties
of the office on the first Monday after the first day of January next
succeeding each gubernatorial election.  No Superintendent of Public
Instruction may serve more than 2 terms.





SEC. 2.1.  The State Board of Education, on nomination of the
Superintendent of Public Instruction, shall appoint one Deputy
Superintendent of Public Instruction and three Associate
Superintendents of Public Instruction who shall be exempt from state
civil service and whose terms of office shall be four years.
   This section shall not be construed as prohibiting the
appointment, in accordance with law, of additional Associate
Superintendents of Public Instruction subject to state civil service.





SEC. 3.  A Superintendent of Schools for each county may be elected
by the qualified electors thereof at each gubernatorial election or
may be appointed by the county board of education, and the manner of
the selection shall be determined by a majority vote of the electors
of the county voting on the question; provided, that two or more
counties may, by an election conducted pursuant to Section 3.2 of
this article, unite for the purpose of electing or appointing one
joint superintendent for the counties so uniting.





SEC. 3.1.  (a) Notwithstanding any provision of this Constitution to
the contrary, the Legislature shall prescribe the qualifications
required of county superintendents of schools, and for these purposes
shall classify the several counties in the State.
   (b) Notwithstanding any provision of this Constitution to the
contrary, the county board of education or joint county board of
education, as the case may be, shall fix the salary of the county
superintendent of schools or the joint county superintendent of
schools, respectively.





SEC. 3.2.  Notwithstanding any provision of this Constitution to the
contrary, any two or more chartered counties, or nonchartered
counties, or any combination thereof, may, by a majority vote of the
electors of each such county voting on the proposition at an election
called for that purpose in each such county, establish one joint
board of education and one joint county superintendent of schools for
the counties so uniting.  A joint county board of education and a
joint county superintendent of schools shall be governed by the
general statutes and shall not be governed by the provisions of any
county charter.





SEC. 3.3.  Except as provided in Section 3.2 of this article, it
shall be competent to provide in any charter framed for a county
under any provision of this Constitution, or by the amendment of any
such charter, for the election of the members of the county board of
education of such county and for their qualifications and terms of
office.





SEC. 5.  The Legislature shall provide for a system of common
schools by which a free school shall be kept up and supported in each
district at least six months in every year, after the first year in
which a school has been established.





SEC. 6.  Each person, other than a substitute employee, employed by
a school district as a teacher or in any other position requiring
certification qualifications shall be paid a salary which shall be at
the rate of an annual salary of not less than twenty-four hundred
dollars ($2,400) for a person serving full time, as defined by law.
   The Public School System shall include all kindergarten schools,
elementary schools, secondary schools, technical schools, and state
colleges, established in accordance with law and, in addition, the
school districts and the other agencies authorized to maintain them.
No school or college or any other part of the Public School System
shall be, directly or indirectly, transferred from the Public School
System or placed under the jurisdiction of any authority other than
one included within the Public School System.
   The Legislature shall add to the State School Fund such other
means from the revenues of the State as shall provide in said fund
for apportionment in each fiscal year, an amount not less than one
hundred eighty dollars ($180) per pupil in average daily attendance
in the kindergarten schools, elementary schools, secondary schools,
and technical schools in the Public School System during the next
preceding fiscal year.
   The entire State School Fund shall be apportioned in each fiscal
year in such manner as the Legislature may provide, through the
school districts and other agencies maintaining such schools, for the
support of, and aid to, kindergarten schools, elementary schools,
secondary schools, and technical schools except that there shall be
apportioned to each school district in each fiscal year not less than
one hundred twenty dollars ($120) per pupil in average daily
attendance in the district during the next preceding fiscal year and
except that the amount apportioned to each school district in each
fiscal year shall be not less than twenty-four hundred dollars
($2,400).
   Solely with respect to any retirement system provided for in the
charter of any county or city and county pursuant to the provisions
of which the contributions of, and benefits to, certificated
employees of a school district who are members of such system are
based upon the proportion of the salaries of such certificated
employees contributed by said county or city and county, all amounts
apportioned to said county or city and county, or to school districts
therein, pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be
considered as though derived from county or city and county school
taxes for the support of county and city and county government and
not money provided by the State within the meaning of this section.





SEC. 61/2.  Nothing in this constitution contained shall forbid the
formation of districts for school purposes situate in more than one
county or the issuance of bonds by such districts under such general
laws as have been or may hereafter be prescribed by the legislature;
and the officers mentioned in such laws shall be authorized to levy
and assess such taxes and perform all such other acts as may be
prescribed therein for the purpose of paying such bonds and carrying
out the other powers conferred upon such districts; provided, that
all such bonds shall be issued subject to the limitations prescribed
in section eighteen of article eleven hereof.





SEC. 7.  The Legislature shall provide for the appointment or
election of the State Board of Education and a board of education in
each county or for the election of a joint county board of education
for two or more counties.





SEC. 7.5.  The State Board of Education shall adopt textbooks for
use in grades one through eight throughout the State, to be furnished
without cost as provided by statute.





SEC. 8.  No public money shall ever be appropriated for the support
of any sectarian or denominational school, or any school not under
the exclusive control of the officers of the public schools; nor
shall any sectarian or denominational doctrine be taught, or
instruction thereon be permitted, directly or indirectly, in any of
the common schools of this State.





SEC. 9.  (a) The University of California shall constitute a public
trust, to be administered by the existing corporation known as "The
Regents of the University of California," with full powers of
organization and government, subject only to such legislative control
as may be necessary to insure the security of its funds and
compliance with the terms of the endowments of the university and
such competitive bidding procedures as may be made applicable to the
university by statute for the letting of construction contracts,
sales of real property, and purchasing of materials, goods, and
services.  Said corporation shall be in form a board composed of
seven ex officio members, which shall be:  the Governor, the
Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly, the Superintendent
of Public Instruction, the president and the vice president of the
alumni association of the university and the acting president of the
university, and 18 appointive members appointed by the Governor and
approved by the Senate, a majority of the membership concurring;
provided, however that the present appointive members shall hold
office until the expiration of their present terms.
   (b) The terms of the members appointed prior to November 5, 1974,
shall be 16 years; the terms of two appointive members to expire as
heretofore on March 1st of every even-numbered calendar year, and two
members shall be appointed for terms commencing on March 1, 1976,
and on March 1 of each year thereafter; provided that no such
appointments shall be made for terms to commence on March 1, 1979, or
on March 1 of each fourth year thereafter, to the end that no
appointment to the regents for a newly commencing term shall be made
during the first year of any gubernatorial term of office.  The terms
of the members appointed for terms commencing on and after March 1,
1976, shall be 12 years.  During the period of transition until the
time when the appointive membership is comprised exclusively of
persons serving for terms of 12 years, the total number of appointive
members may exceed the numbers specified in the preceeding
paragraph.
   In case of any vacancy, the term of office of the appointee to
fill such vacancy, who shall be appointed by the Governor and
approved by the Senate, a majority of the membership concurring,
shall be for the balance of the term for which such vacancy exists.
   (c) The members of the board may, in their discretion, following
procedures established by them and after consultation with
representatives of faculty and students of the university, including
appropriate officers of the academic senate and student governments,
appoint to the board either or both of the following persons as
members with all rights of participation:  a member of the faculty at
a campus of the university or of another institution of higher
education; a person enrolled as a student at a campus of the
university for each regular academic term during his service as a
member of the board.  Any person so appointed shall serve for not
less than one year commencing on July 1.
   (d) Regents shall be able persons broadly reflective of the
economic, cultural, and social diversity of the State, including
ethnic minorities and women.  However, it is not intended that
formulas or specific ratios be applied in the selection of regents.
   (e) In the selection of the Regents, the Governor shall consult an
advisory committee composed as follows:  The Speaker of the Assembly
and two public members appointed by the Speaker, the President Pro
Tempore of the Senate and two public members appointed by the Rules
Committee of the Senate, two public members appointed by the
Governor, the chairman of the regents of the university, an alumnus
of the university chosen by the alumni association of the university,
a student of the university chosen by the Council of Student Body
Presidents, and a member of the faculty of the university chosen by
the academic senate of the university.  Public members shall serve
for four years, except that one each of the initially appointed
members selected by the Speaker of the Assembly, the President Pro
Tempore of the Senate, and the Governor shall be appointed to serve
for two years; student, alumni, and faculty members shall serve for
one year and may not be regents of the university at the time of
their service on the advisory committee.
   (f) The Regents of the University of California shall be vested
with the legal title and the management and disposition of the
property of the university and of property held for its benefit and
shall have the power to take and hold, either by purchase or by
donation, or gift, testamentary or otherwise, or in any other manner,
without restriction, all real and personal property for the benefit
of the university or incidentally to its conduct; provided, however,
that sales of university real property shall be subject to such
competitive bidding procedures as may be provided by statute.  Said
corporation shall also have all the powers necessary or convenient
for the effective administration of its trust, including the power to
sue and to be sued, to use a seal, and to delegate to its committees
or to the faculty of the university, or to others, such authority or
functions as it may deem wise.  The Regents shall receive all funds
derived from the sale of lands pursuant to the act of Congress of
July 2, 1862, and any subsequent acts amendatory thereof.  The
university shall be entirely independent of all political or
sectarian influence and kept free therefrom in the appointment of its
regents and in the administration of its affairs, and no person
shall be debarred admission to any department of the university on
account of race, religion, ethnic heritage, or sex.
   (g) Meetings of the Regents of the University of California shall
be public, with exceptions and notice requirements as may be provided
by statute.





SEC. 14.  The Legislature shall have power, by general law, to
provide for the incorporation and organization of school districts,
high school districts, and community college districts, of every kind
and class, and may classify such districts.
   The Legislature may authorize the governing boards of all school
districts to initiate and carry on any programs, activities, or to
otherwise act in any manner which is not in conflict with the laws
and purposes for which school districts are established.





SEC. 16.  (a) It shall be competent, in all charters framed under
the authority given by Section 5 of Article XI, to provide, in
addition to those provisions allowable by this Constitution, and by
the laws of the State for the manner in which, the times at which,
and the terms for which the members of boards of education shall be
elected or appointed, for their qualifications, compensation and
removal, and for the number which shall constitute any one of such
boards.
   (b) Notwithstanding Section 3 of Article XI, when the boundaries
of a school district or community college district extend beyond the
limits of a city whose charter provides for any or all of the
foregoing with respect to the members of its board of education, no
charter amendment effecting a change in the manner in which, the
times at which, or the terms for which the members of the board of
education shall be elected or appointed, for their qualifications,
compensation, or removal, or for the number which shall constitute
such board, shall be adopted unless it is submitted to and approved
by a majority of all the qualified electors of the school district or
community college district voting on the question.  Any such
amendment, and any portion of a proposed charter or a revised charter
which would establish or change any of the foregoing provisions
respecting a board of education, shall be submitted to the electors
of the school district or community college district as one or more
separate questions.  The failure of any such separate question to be
approved shall have the result of continuing in effect the applicable
existing law with respect to that board of education.

Last modified: January 4, 2019