Untitled California Attorney General Opinion

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Schools and community colleges in California have governing boards at both the state and local level. For grades K-12, the State Board of Education, the governing body of the California Department of Education, sets statewide policy. 1 At the local level, each county has a county office of education, which supports local school districts by, among other things, formulating new curricula and planning business and personnel systems. 2 Each county office of education is headed by a county superintendent and governed by a county board of education. 3 In a “general law” county, a county board of education consists of five or seven trustees, elected by the voters of the trustee areas that they represent, for terms of four years. 4 Imperial County is a general law county, and its County Board of Education consists of five members, each representing a trustee area of the County Office of Education.

California’s community college system consists of community college districts, managed statewide by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. 6 Locally, every community college district has a governing board of five to seven members, who may be…