BILL NUMBER: AB 203 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 29, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 11, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 27, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 21, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Brownley
JANUARY 27, 2011
An act to amend Section 53300 of, and to add Sections
53304 and 53305 to, the Education Code, relating to An
act to amend Sections 53300 and 53302 of, and to add Sections
53300.5, 53304, and 53305 to, the Education Code, relating to
school intervention.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 203, as amended, Brownley. Public schools: parent empowerment:
school intervention.
Existing law requires a local educational agency to implement one
of several specified interventions for a school not identified as a
persistently lowest-achieving school that, after one full school
year, fails to meet specified criteria and has a specified percentage
of parents and legal guardians of pupils sign a petition requesting
the local educational agency to implement at least one of 5 specified
interventions. Existing law requires a local educational agency to
implement the intervention option requested by the petition unless
the agency makes a specified finding in a regularly scheduled public
hearing. Existing law limits the number of schools subject to a
petition pursuant to these provisions to 75.
This bill would require interventions to be implemented also for a
school that is identified as persistently lowest-achieving but does
not receive specified school improvement grant funding. The bill
would require a governing board of a local educational agency to
allow parents and legal guardians to provide testimony at the
regularly scheduled public hearing. To the extent these provisions
would impose additional duties on local educational agencies, the
bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The bill would prohibit more than one parent or legal guardian per
pupil from signing a petition , and would require
any written information provided to parents or legal
guardians pursuant to these provisions the parent
empowerment petition, and, if the petition includes a specific
charter school operator, a summary of the charter
petition, to meet specified language requirements. The
bill would require that, if the petition includes a specific charter
school operator, that the charter petition summary include specified
elements. The bill would require that, if paid signature gatherers
are being used, the petition include a statement indicating this, and
would prohibit signature gatherers from being paid per signature.
The bill would require all parties involved in the signature
gathering process to adhere to specified school procedures. The
bill would require the State Department of Education to provide
specified information on its Internet Web site, in easy to understand
terms, regarding the petition process, the 5 intervention options
that parents and legal guardians may request, and a sample petition
that meets specified requirements. The bill also would make
clarifying changes to, and provide definitions for, those
intervention petition provisions.
The bill would require the schoolsite council at each school that
is eligible for a petition to be submitted pursuant to these
provisions to provide, at its next scheduled meeting, or a meeting
within 90 days, whichever is sooner, information regarding the
petition process, including the intervention options available and
the process for submitting a petition. By imposing new duties on
school districts, this bill would impose a state-mandated local
program.
The bill would require the department, within 90 days after the
Superintendent and state board have received 75 petitions, to submit
a report to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the
Legislature, the Governor, and the state board, that includes
specified information relating to the implementation of these school
interventions.
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.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature to
provide parents with adequate information to make an informed
decision on whether to sign a petition or initiate a petition
pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 53300) of Chapter 18
of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code. It is
further the intent of the Legislature that local governing boards
with schools that are eligible for the parent empowerment program, at
a regularly scheduled meeting, to provide information on the parent
empowerment program, such as a description of the intervention
models, the petition process, and responsibilities of the school,
parents, and organizations that are initiating and signing the
petition, and to allow parents to provide testimony on the program
and intervention models.
SECTION 1. SEC. 2. Section 53300 of
the Education Code is amended to read:
53300. (a) (1) For any school that is not identified as a
persistently lowest achieving school, or is identified as a
persistently lowest achieving school but does not receive funding
under the federal School Improvement Grant Program pursuant to
Section 6303 of Title 20 of the United States Code, that, after one
full school year of corrective action pursuant to paragraph (7) of
Section 1116(b) of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act
(20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), continues to fail to make adequate
yearly progress, and has an Academic Performance Index score of less
than 800, and where at least one-half of the parents or legal
guardians of pupils attending the school, or a combination of at
least one-half of the parents or legal guardians of pupils attending
the school and the elementary or middle schools that normally
matriculate into a middle or high school, as applicable, sign a
petition requesting the local educational agency to implement one or
more of the four interventions identified pursuant to paragraphs (1)
to (4), inclusive, of subdivision (a) of Section 53202 or the
federally mandated alternative governance arrangement pursuant to
Section 1116(b)(8)(B)(v) of the federal Elementary and Secondary
Education Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), the local educational
agency shall implement the option requested by the parents and legal
guardians unless, in a regularly scheduled public hearing, the local
educational agency makes a finding in writing stating the reason it
cannot implement the specific recommended option and instead
designates in writing which of the other options described in this
section it will implement in the subsequent school year consistent
with requirements specified in federal regulations and guidelines for
schools subject to restructuring under Section 1116(b)(8) of the
federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301
et seq.) and regulations and guidelines for the four interventions
identified pursuant to paragraphs (1) to (4), inclusive, of
subdivision (a) of Section 53202.
(2) At the regularly scheduled public hearing required pursuant to
paragraph (1), the governing board of a local educational agency
shall allow parents and legal guardians to provide testimony
regarding the petition or the written findings.
(b) For purposes of this article, both of the following
requirements shall apply:
(1) No more than one parent or legal guardian per pupil may sign a
petition.
(2) Any written information provided to parents or legal
guardians, including a petition, shall meet the language requirements
of Section 48985.
(1) The parent empowerment petition, and, if the petition includes
a specific charter school operator, a summary of the charter
petition, shall meet the language requirements of Section 48985.
(2) If a petition includes a specific charter school operator, the
charter petition summary shall include, but is not limited to, a
summary of the charter elements described in paragraph (5) of
subdivision (b) of Section 47605.
(c) All of the following shall apply with respect to petition
signatures:
(1) No more than one parent or legal guardian per pupil may sign a
petition.
(2) A petition that includes signatures of parents or legal
guardians of pupils attending elementary or middle schools that
normally matriculate into a middle or high school shall include
signatures of parents or legal guardians representing at least 35
percent of pupils attending the school for which the petition is
submitted.
(3) Signatures shall be verified by the district of the school for
which the petition is submitted and, if applicable, the district of
the elementary or middle schools that normally matriculate into a
middle or high school, using common verification documents that
contain parent or guardian signatures effective on the date the
petition is submitted.
(4) (A) If paid signature gatherers are being used, the petition
shall include a statement indicating that some signature gatherers
may be paid, and the individual being requested to sign a petition
may ask the signature gatherer if he or she is being paid to collect
signatures. If asked, signature gatherers shall disclose whether they
are being paid to collect signatures.
(B) Signature gatherers shall not be paid per signature.
(5) All parties involved in the signature gathering process shall
adhere to all schoolsite hours of operation, school and local
educational agency safety policies, and visitor sign-in procedures.
SEC. 3. Section 53300.5 is added to the
Education Code , to read:
53300.5. (a) When the list of schools eligible for a parent
empowerment petition is made available by the department, the
schoolsite council at each of those schools shall provide, at its
next scheduled meeting, or at a meeting within 90 days, whichever is
sooner, information regarding the parent empowerment petition
process, including the intervention options available to parents and
legal guardians and the process for submitting a petition.
(b) A local educational agency shall include, in the notice of
restructuring planning or restructuring status pursuant to Section
1116(b)(1)(E) of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), a notice that the schoolsite
council at a school that has been identified as eligible for a parent
empowerment petition is required to hold an informational meeting on
the parent empowerment petition process, pursuant to subdivision
(a).
SEC. 4. Section 53302 of the Education
Code is amended to read:
53302. (a) No more than 75 schools shall be
subject to a petition authorized by this article.
(b) A petition shall be counted toward this limit upon the
Superintendent and state board receiving notice from the local
educational agency of its final disposition of the petition.
(c) Within 90 days after the Superintendent and the state board
receive 75 petitions pursuant to subdivision (a), the department
shall submit a report to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees
of the Legislature, the Governor, and the state board that includes
information on the schools that implemented interventions pursuant to
this article and the types of interventions implemented at the
schools.
SEC. 2. SEC. 5. Section 53304 is
added to the Education Code, to read:
53304. The department shall provide all of the following, in easy
to understand terms, on its Internet Web site:
(a) Information regarding the petition process authorized pursuant
to this article and the five intervention options referenced in
Section 53300 that parents and legal guardians may request.
(b) A sample petition that can be used by interested petitioners.
The sample petition shall be available in other languages pursuant to
Section 48985. Petitioners shall not be required to use the sample
petition, but alternate petitions shall contain all components
required by law.
SEC. 3. SEC. 6. Section 53305 is
added to the Education Code, to read:
53305. For purposes of this article, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(a) "Parents or legal guardians" means the natural or adoptive
parents, legal guardians, or other persons holding the right to make
educational decisions for the pupil pursuant to Section 56028 or
56055, or Section 361 or 727 of the Welfare and Institutions Code,
including, but not limited to, foster parents who hold rights to make
educational decisions on the date the petition is submitted.
(b) "A combination of at least one-half of the parents or legal
guardians of pupils attending the school and the elementary or middle
schools that normally matriculate into a middle or high school, as
applicable" means one-half of the total number of parents and legal
guardians of pupils who attend any of the following:
(1) The school for which the petition is submitted.
(2) An elementary or middle school that normally matriculates into
the middle or high school for which a petition is submitted, as
applicable.
SEC. 4. SEC. 7. 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.