“I am extremely pleased, as this was one of my top priorities this year. This new law will increase local control of our schools by giving educators more time to work with students and their academic needs. Our primary focus should be in the classroom, not on bureaucratic paperwork,” Ruskin said.

The measure, Assembly Bill 110 (Chapter 69, Statutes of 2005), deletes certain redundant and duplicative data collection and reporting requirements contained in existing law. After seeking and receiving the guidance of local teachers and administrators, Ruskin worked closely and collaboratively with the Superintendent of Public Instruction, who then sponsored the measure. The Association of California School Administrators supported the bill.

There has been little or no oversight in past years to determine whether new data requests were redundant or necessary, and whether existing reports could or should be simplified. The California Department of Education has been working since 2004 on the Superintendent’s Paper Reduction Initiative, through which they have administratively eliminated more than 37 percent of the information required by the department from local education agencies, schools, programs, and other entities in the K-12 system. Ruskin’s AB 110 further extends that effort to reports that required statutory changes.

“We’re in the midst of an education funding crisis. I wanted to find a way to alleviate some of that strain on local school districts, and I think this bill is a great start. I appreciate Superintendent O’Connell’s leadership and cooperation on this issue, and look forward to working with him and local teachers and administrators in the coming years to further reduce the burden on our schools,” Ruskin added. He has pledged to address this issue every year he serves in the Legislature.

The Paperwork Reduction Act passed through the Legislature without any dissenting votes. Having been recently elected to the State Assembly, this is the second of Ruskin’s bills to be signed into law by the Governor. The first was AB 1130 (Chapter 30, Statutes of 2005) that provides liability protection for nonprofit regional center employees who provide basic, essential services to developmentally disabled individuals.