California School Employees Ass'n v. Bonita Unified School District

Opinion

MALLANO, Acting P. J.

— For decades, the Education Code did not permit classified employees of public school districts to submit disciplinary disputes to binding arbitration. Rather, the district’s governing board had broad and sole authority to make disciplinary decisions. In 2001, the Legislature addressed the subject. The result was a statute — not yet construed by the courts — that allows classified employees to arbitrate certain disciplinary matters (Ed. Code, § 45113, subd. (e) (section 45113(e)).

Here, a school district summarily terminated a classified employee, declining to…