BILL NUMBER: AB 394 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 29, 2007
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Levine
FEBRUARY 15, 2007
An act to amend Section 60000 of the Education Code,
relating to instructional materials. An act to add
Article 5.5 (commencing with Section 234) to Chapter 2 of Part 1 of
Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, relating to
discrimination.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 394, as amended, Levine. Instructional materials.
Safe schools: discrimination and harassment.
(1) Existing law prohibits discrimination on the basis of
specified protected characteristics, including, but not limited to,
actual and perceived gender identification and sexual orientation, in
any program or activity conducted by an educational institution, as
specified.
This bill would require the State Department of Education to
monitor adherence to the antidiscrimination and antiharassment
requirements as part of its regular monitoring and review of public
schools and school districts and to assess whether schools have done
certain things, including, among others, adopted a policy that
prohibits discrimination and harassment and adopted a process for
receiving and investigating complaints of discrimination and
harassment. The department would be required to display information
on trainings, curricula, and other resources that specifically
address bias-related discrimination and harassment on specified
Internet Web sites. The bill would require a school district to
publicize, as defined, its antidiscrimination and antiharassment
policies, and to take specified actions related to increasing
awareness of, identifying, and responding to, discrimination and
harassment based on those protected characteristics. By requiring
school districts to perform additional duties, the bill would impose
a state-mandated local program.
(2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Existing law declares the intent of the Legislature with respect
to the adoption and selection of instructional materials for use in
the elementary and secondary schools and recognizes the need to
establish broad minimum standards and general educational guidelines
for the selection of instructional materials.
This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those
provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no
yes .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:
(a) All pupils in public primary, elementary, middle, junior high,
and senior high schools have the inalienable right to attend school
at school campuses that are safe, secure, and peaceful.
(b) Pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 201 of the Education
Code, public schools in California have an affirmative obligation to
combat racism, sexism, and other forms of bias, and a responsibility
to provide equal educational opportunity.
(c) The California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of
2000 reaffirmed the right of all pupils to a safe school environment
by prohibiting a person from being subjected to discrimination on the
basis of sex, ethnic group identification, race, national origin,
religion, color, mental or physical disability, or an actual or
perceived characteristic that is contained in the definition of hate
crimes set forth in Section 422.55 of the Penal Code in an program or
activity conducted by an educational institution that receives, or
benefits from, state financial assistance or enrolls pupils who
receive state student financial aid.
(d) Hate motivated incidents jeopardize the safety and well-being
of all pupils because they target not only the individual victim, but
everyone who shares the identity that motivated the particular
incident. Unfortunately, there have been increasing reports of hate
motivated incidents and crimes in California schools.
(e) (1) Numerous studies point to an ongoing problem of
discrimination, harassment, and violence in schools that has severe
consequences for pupils. For example, the 2004-06 California Healthy
Kids Survey results found that between 27 to 30 percent of California
middle and high school pupils reported experiencing bias-related
harassment at school related to their race, ethnicity, gender,
religion, sexual orientation, or disability.
(2) Many teachers, school staff members, and pupils are unaware of
the rights and obligations regarding discrimination and harassment
set forth in Sections 200, 201, and 220 of the Education Code.
(3) Many teachers and school staff members have not received
effective and comprehensive training to prevent or respond to illegal
discrimination and harassment, despite the need for effective
interventions. Pupils with teachers or school staff who intervene are
less likely to be harassed on the basis of actual or perceived
sexual orientation.
(4) Many school districts are not effectively addressing
discrimination and harassment on campus. Less than half of grade 9
pupils express feeling safe at school, while 46 percent of pupils
said their schools were not safe for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender (LGBT) pupils.
(5) Many pupils do not know the manner in which to file a
discrimination or harassment complaint.
(6) Many school districts are responding to complaints about
discrimination and harassment in an inconsistent manner.
(f) In a public hearing conducted on October 3, 2002, by the
California Senate Select Committee on School Safety, pupils,
teachers, parents, researchers, and advocates from all over the state
testified about incidents of ongoing discrimination and harassment
and an inadequate response from school authorities.
(g) Bias-related discrimination and harassment have negative
consequences for pupil health, well-being, and academic success. For
example, the Safe Place to Learn report issued by the California Safe
Schools Coalition and the 4-H Center for Youth Development at the
Davis campus of the University of California found that pupils who
are harassed based on actual or perceived sexual orientation are at
least three times more likely to carry a weapon to school, to
seriously consider suicide, to make a plan for attempting suicide, or
to miss at least one day of school per 30 schooldays because they do
not feel safe. In addition, a survey of San Francisco Asian American
youth found that 36 percent cited racial tension as the primary
cause for fights on campus.
(h) A number of school districts have paid hundreds of thousands
of dollars in damages to settle lawsuits by pupils claiming their
schools failed to protect them from harassment, intimidation, and
violence, including a June 2005 jury award of three hundred thousand
dollars ($300,000) in San Diego to two former high school pupils for
the harassment they received at school based on their actual or
perceived sexual orientation and a January 2007 settlement of
forty-five thousand dollars ($45,000) in a Contra Costa County
lawsuit alleging that school officials failed to protect a pupil from
repeated attacks motivated by racial and ethnic prejudice.
SEC. 2. Article 5.5 (commencing with Section 234)
is added to Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the
Education Code , to read:
Article 5.5. Safe Place To Learn Act
234. (a) This article shall be known and may be cited as the Safe
Place to Learn Act.
(b) It is the policy of the State of California to ensure that all
school districts and schools continue to work to reduce
discrimination, harassment, and violence. It is further the policy of
the state to improve pupil safety at schools and the connections
between pupils and supportive adults, schools, and communities.
234.1. The department, pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section
64001, shall monitor adherence to the requirements of Chapter 5.3
(commencing with Section 4900) of Division 1 of Title 5 of the
California Code of Regulations and Chapter 2 (commencing with Section
200) as part of its regular monitoring and review of public schools
and school districts, commonly known as the Categorical Program
Monitoring process. The department shall assess whether schools have
done all of the following:
(a) Adopted a policy that prohibits discrimination and harassment
based on the characteristics set forth in Section 422.55 of the Penal
Code and Section 220.
(b) Adopted a process for receiving and investigating complaints
of discrimination and harassment based on the characteristics set
forth in Section 422.55 of the Penal Code and Section 220.
(c) Included in its antidiscrimination and antiharassment policy
the person or persons, employee or employees, or local educational
agency office or unit responsible for receiving and investigating
complaints, and ensuring local educational agency compliance.
(d) Maintained documentation of complaints and their resolution.
(e) Ensured that complainants are protected from retaliation and
that the identity of a complainant alleging discrimination or
harassment remains confidential, as appropriate.
234.2. The department shall display information on trainings,
curricula, and other resources that specifically address bias-related
discrimination and harassment based on the characteristics set forth
in Section 422.55 of the Penal Code and Section 220 on the
California Healthy Kids Resource Center Internet Web site and other
appropriate department Internet Web sites where information about
discrimination and harassment is posted.
234.3. A school district shall do all of the following:
(a) During the normal course of reprinting, update all applicable
publications on school safety, bullying, tolerance, bias-motivated
behavior, and hate-related violence to include information on
bias-related discrimination and harassment based on the
characteristics set forth in Section 422.55 of the Penal Code and
Section 220. For purposes of this subdivision, "all applicable
publications" does not include instructional materials as defined in
subdivision (h) of Section 60010.
(b) As required by Chapter 5.3 (commencing with Section 4900) of
Division 1 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations,
publicize relevant antidiscrimination and antiharassment policies,
including information about the manner in which to file a complaint,
for pupils, parents, employees, agents of the governing board, and
the general public. For purposes of this subdivision, "publicize"
means to post the policies in all schools and school offices,
including staff lounges and pupil government meeting rooms, and on
the Internet Web site of the school district, to make written copies
of the policies available, upon request, in the administrative office
of the district, and to include the policies in the pupil handbook,
during the normal course of their reprinting. This subdivision does
not prohibit a school district from voluntarily engaging in any other
means of publication or distribution, including, but not limited to,
displaying the policies in locations accessible to pupils.
(c) During the normal course of offering trainings or
disseminating information related to discrimination and harassment,
include training and information on methods of identifying and
responding to bias-related discrimination and harassment based on the
characteristics set forth in Section 422.55 of the Penal Code and
Section 220. A school district may use existing resources provided by
the department pursuant to Section 234.2 and may use trainings that
include the information described in this subdivision for purposes of
the professional development of teachers and other school staff
members.
(d) Maintain and centralize copies of all complaints of
discrimination and harassment and documentation of their resolution
for a period of no less than four years. The documentation may be
either in hard copy or electronic form.
SEC. 3. If the Commission on State Mandates
determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs
shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of
Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
SECTION 1. Section 60000 of the Education Code
is amended to read:
60000. (a) It is the intent and purpose of the Legislature in
enacting this part to provide for the adoption and selection of
quality instructional materials for use in elementary and secondary
schools.
(b) The Legislature recognizes that, because of the common needs
and interests of the citizens of this state and the nation, there is
a need to establish broad minimum standards and general educational
guidelines for the selection of instructional materials for the
public schools, but that because of economic, geographic, physical,
political, educational, and social diversity, specific choices about
instructional materials need to be made at the local level.
(c) The Legislature further recognizes that the governing boards
of school districts have the responsibility to establish courses of
study and that they must have the ability to choose instructional
materials that are appropriate to their courses of study.