School district's Contracts with Local Provider of "Anti-Bias" Training Exempt from Public Bidding Requirement

The Second Appellate District affirmed a judgment, holding that a school district did not violate competitive bidding laws by contracting with an organization to provide specialized anti-bias training for its educators.

Just Communities Central Coast, Inc. (JCCC) provides anti-bias training and educational programs to school districts and other organizations. Its facilitators have specialized training and knowledge of the local community and culture. They are required to participate in 60 hours of training (or its equivalent) and participate in an additional eight to 12 hours of specialized training for the educator program. Many of the facilitators live in Santa Barbara and previously attended or worked for schools in the Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD). JCCC has worked with SBUSD on various training programs since 2005. In 2018 and 2019, SBUSD approved sequential one-year contracts with JCCC for anti-bias training services.
Fair Education Santa Barbara, Inc. (FESB), a coalition of Santa Barbara County residents and taxpayers, filed a petition for writ of mandate challenging the contracts as void because they were not subject to public bidding. The trial court denied the petition.

The court of appeal affirmed, holding that the contracts were exempt from public bidding. Public Contr. Code §20111(d) exempts from the public bidding requirement any contract for "professional services or advice, insurance services, or any other purchase or service otherwise exempt from this section." Government Code §53060 similarly exempts from public bidding any contract for "special services," including "advice in financial, economic, accounting, engineering, legal, or administrative matters," "if such persons are specially trained and experienced and competent to perform the special services required." The JCCC contracts at issue here fell within both of these exemptions. The evidence showed JCCC facilitators had specialized training, knowledge, and skills that met SBUSD's specific need for providing anti-bias training to its staff, students, and parents. Further, many of the facilitators, because of their backgrounds, had a "unique understanding of" the issues in the local Santa Barbara community and could customize their training programs to address those issues." Finally,, SBUSD's board and superintendent declared that there were no public resources available to provide comparable services, and FESB provided no evidence to the contrary.

Fair Education Santa Barbara v. Santa Barbara Unified School District