A bill that would make it illegal for high school and college administrators to fire a journalism adviser because of what students write in the school newspaper is about to go before the state Senate for a vote.

“It could happen next week,” said Adam Keigwin, director of communications for Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, SB1370’s sponsor.

Called the “Journalism Teacher Protection Act,” it was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee 5-0 on April 8. If passed in the Senate, the bill goes to the Assembly for approval and then to the governor’s desk by the Aug. 31 deadline.

Keigwin said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to sign it, because of his support for legislation Yee sponsored in 2006, which now protects college student journalists from censorship by administrators. High school students have been protected since 1992.

But since the passage of these two laws, school administrators “have tried to control student speech by threatening, disciplining, demoting, or even firing faculty members, including journalism advisers,” according to the Senate committee analysis.

In a press release Sen. Yee said, “It is quite disheartening to hear, that after we specifically prohibited prior restraint by administrators, that some are engaging in this type of nefarious activity and even firing quality teachers because of content in the student newspaper.”

Steve O’Donoghue, director of the California Scholastic Journalism Initiative, said the bill is extremely important.

“Principals take away the experienced advisers and replace them with someone with no experience,” O’Donoghue said.

According to the California Newspaper Publishers Association, 12 cases occurred over the past two years in which teachers were fired or reassigned because of something written by students.

The Association of the California School Administrators opposes SB1370, saying it is too broad in the sense that it will protect all teacher and not just journalism teachers.

“Teachers are the adults that must be held accountable for their students. The protection of the students must be a top priority at every school site,” according to the ACSA in the Senate Committee analysis.

Paul DeBolt, immediate past president of the statewide Journalism Association of Community Colleges, said ACSA makes “a ridiculous argument.”

“How can student-journalist learn about the profession, if they aren’t responsible for what they publish?” said DeBolt, adviser to “The Advocate” at Contra Costa College, a frequent winner of national and state awards.

“They (the administrators) don’t always like what’s in the paper,” he said,

“but they realize the students have the freedom to publish what they want.”