CalSAAS FAQs

For Non-charter schools CalSAAS will monitor classroom teacher and services assignments entered into CALPADS. AB 1219 specifies that for charter schools only educators in teaching positions shall be monitored. Therefore services and non-classroom based assignments in charter schools will not be displayed in the system.

Note, although CalSAAS will not include charter school services assignments, the chartering authority may request information on services assignments for purposes other than assignment monitoring outlined in Education Code §44258.9. 

Pursuant to Assembly Bill 1219 (Jones-Sawyer) 2019-20 will be considered a Non-Consequential year, in that the data generated from CalSAAS for the 2019-20 school year will be used for informational purposes only, and will not be used as the basis for a penalty or sanction authorized in law.  However, all counties and chartering authorities will still be required to be monitored in the system and mandated to participate. Commencing with the 2020-21 school year, the Commission will make annual misassignment and vacant position data publicly available online.

Monitoring Authorities have the statutory responsibility to appropriately assign educators and service providers year-round, therefore it may be outside of CalSAAS and outside of census date reporting. Misassignments found outside of the CalSAAS must be reported in CalSAAS via the Monitoring Authority Reported Misassignments feature.

Monitoring practices are at the discretion of the Monitoring Authority. Nothing in AB 1219 precludes a monitoring authority from conducting manual audits outside of the CalSAAS.

Yes, CalSAAS will compare the educator’s credentials against the students’ primary disability category reported through California Special Education Management Information System (CASEMIS).  Educators who do not hold the appropriate authorizations for these disability areas will generate an exception.

Some courses, such as Study Hall or Avid do not have a specific credential that authorizes the content.  In these cases, California Code of Regulations, Title 5, §80005(b) is used in combination with a full credential based on a bachelor’s degree and student teaching to authorize the course assignment.  The Local Assignment Option should be selected when the assignment is entered into CALPADS.

Assignment Monitoring is a snapshot in time, taken on CDE’s Fall 2 Census Date.  Therefore, only assignments registered in CALPADS on this day are monitored through the system.

However, please note that it is the responsibility of the employing agency to ensure that the educator is appropriately assigned for the duration of the year pursuant to Education Code §35035(g), §47605(l), and §47605.6(l).

As there are currently no CALPADS course codes for Adult Education or Child Development settings, these assignments cannot be monitored within CalSAAS at this time. However, the year-round statutory responsibility remains, which requires all educators be assigned appropriately.

When reporting in CALPADS, select the course code that is appropriate for the content area that the teacher is providing support in.  For example, if the teacher is providing reading support, then select the Reading course code.  Then in the Instructional Level code, select “Support Instruction.”  It is important to note that the educator must hold the appropriate credential for the content being taught regardless of the level of instructional support being provided.

A general education wheel course should be reported with the CALPADS State Course Code of 9228.  Additionally, Title 5 §80005(b) authorizes an educator holding a credential based on a bachelor’s degree and student teaching to teach an elective in a Departmentalized setting in grades K-12.  Therefore, any fully credentialed teacher may be appropriately assigned for courses identified with this course code in combination with provisions outlined in the Local Assignment Option under Title 5 §80005(b), provided that the content of the course does not fall in one or more of the broad statutory subject areas. Refer to the web resource for additional guidance related to Wheel Electives. 

AB 1505 allows Charter Schools to use Local Assignment Options (LAO). This means that they may use Education Code §44865 to authorize independent study programs, provided that the program meets the definition of Independent Study in Education Code, and educator satisfies the requirements of the LAO.

Local Assignment Options entered into CALPADS will be displayed in CalSAAS as determined exceptions. The Monitoring Authority would then have the opportunity to review the exceptions and request additional documentation from the LEA as needed prior to making final determinations.

The charter school's Monitoring Authority will be responsible for making final determinations for the charter school exceptions. Refer to the User Levels section of the CalSAAS Users webpage for information related to user roles and abilities.  The law does allow district monitoring authorities to seek guidance from their County Office of Education (COE) regarding their charter school exceptions.  However, COEs are not responsible for anything further.

At this time, CalSAAS is only able to identify appropriate assignments based on the primary disability area of students served.  CalSAAS will identify any instance where a Special Education teacher's credential area does not authorize the primary disability category of the students they are teaching.  If a student with a low incident disability area identified as their primary disability is placed in an alternative setting based upon a secondary disability area and their IEP, then this can be identified in the determination process with the Alternate SPED Placement determination.  However, if the student does not have a secondary disability area, or their IEP does not identify an alternate placement situation, then the student's teacher must be appropriately authorized for the low incident disability area.  Refer to the Determinations web resource.

There may be instances in which several determinations could apply to an exception. In the case that multiple determinations could apply the following determinations should be selected over others:

• Misassignment
• Corrected MA
• 2019-20 Charter
• Vacancy
• Local Assignment Option
• Short-Term Waiver