BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 733
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 733 (Ma)
As Amended August 24, 2012
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |77-0 |(May 16, 2011) |SENATE: |38-0 |(August 28, |
| | | | | |2012) |
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Original Committee Reference: ED.
SUMMARY : Amends the California Education Code to conform with
the federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
provisions relating to the confidentiality of pupil records.
The Senate amendments :
1)Clarify references to federal statute, and add references to
federal regulations that further clarify federal law.
2)Change "prosecuting agency" to "district attorney's office" in
the exception for consideration against a parent for failure
to comply with compulsory education laws.
3)Prohibit the disclosure of pupil records to a volunteer or
other party.
EXISTING LAW protects, under FERPA (20 United States Code
(U.S.C.) Section 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) and state law, the
privacy of pupil education records by requiring written
permission from the parent or eligible student, with specified
exceptions, in order for a school district to release any
information from a student's education record.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar
to the version passed by the Senate.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : Under the previous (1997) authorization of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), states were
required to prove compliance through submission of a copy of
state policies and procedures to the Office of Special Education
AB 733
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Programs in the United States Department of Education (USDOE).
As a result of reviewing these materials, the federal Family
Policy Compliance Office in 2003 issued instructions to the
California Department of Education (CDE) addressing areas of
FERPA where California statute fell short of compliance. Under
the current reauthorization (2004) of IDEA, states are required
to provide assurances to USDOE as to compliance with all
relevant federal requirements. FERPA protects the privacy of
student education records, and applies to all schools that
receive funds under programs administered by the U.S. Department
of Education. Under FERPA, schools generally must have written
permission from the parent or eligible student in order to
release any information from a pupil's record; however, FERPA
provides limited exceptions to this requirement.
Since no changes have been enacted to bring state statute into
full compliance with FERPA, USDOE has annually warned the CDE
that these previous outstanding issues must be resolved and that
this resolution is a condition of continued federal funding for
Special Education in California. As a result USDOE has issued a
Conditional Grant Award Letter to the CDE when making the annual
award of funds to California under IDEA; this type of grant
award means that the funding is provided on the condition that
outstanding issue will be resolved. The author and the
Superintendent of Public Instruction, the sponsor of this bill,
have expressed concern that this status jeopardizes the
continuation of California's special education funding,
currently in excess of $1.21 billion annually. This bill
proposes to bring state Education Code into conformity with
FERPA, and thus eliminate the conditions that USDOE has placed
on the state's IDEA grant; the provisions in this bill have been
developed by the CDE through discussion with USDOE.
In early April of this year, USDOE announced that it proposes to
amend the regulations implementing FERPA, in order to ensure
that FERPA continues to protect the privacy of education
records, as intended by Congress, while allowing for the
effective use of data in statewide longitudinal data systems.
Expectations are that the federal rulemaking process will
extend, at least, to the end of this calendar year. It is
important to note that the regulations proposed by the USDOE
focus on the federally allowed exceptions to the FERPA
requirement for obtaining parental signatures prior to the
release of pupil record information; ironically, the USDOE is
urging California to conform its state law to those same
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exceptions, but in their existing form and as interpreted under
current regulations. It is very possible that California
statute, even with the changes proposed by this bill, will not
conform to federal law and regulations as they change under the
federal rulemaking process through this year; in other words,
this bill may be aiming at a moving target of federal
regulations.
This bill was double referred to the Assembly Education
Committee and the Assembly Judiciary Committee. It passed out
of both houses on consent, but was returned to the Senate on
July 5, 2011, for further amendments.
Related legislation . AB 1937 (Silva) codifies federal
regulations authorizing schools to provide access to student
records, subject to specified conditions, to a contractor,
consultant, volunteer, or other party to whom the school has
outsourced institutional services or functions. AB 1937 passed
out of Assembly Education Committee (7-1), Assembly Judiciary
Committee (7-0), and the Assembly Floor (52-6) but was held in
the Senate Education Committee due to concerns about the
disclosure of pupil records to volunteers. This bill provides
that, notwithstanding federal regulations, the disclosure of
pupil records to a volunteer or other party is prohibited.
Analysis Prepared by : Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0005671