BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 1799
AUTHOR: Bradford
AMENDED: April 23, 2012
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 20, 2012
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Daniel Alvarez
SUBJECT : Pupil records: pupil transfers.
SUMMARY
This bill requires that, if a pupil transfers from one school
to another within the state, the pupil's permanent record or
a copy of it shall be transferred from the former school
within 10 schooldays following the date the request is
received from the new school.
BACKGROUND
Current law:
1) Requires whenever a pupil transfers from one school
district to another or to a private school, or transfers
from a private school to a public school, the pupil's
permanent record or a copy, shall be transferred by the
former school upon request to the school where the pupil
intends to enroll. In addition, current law authorizes
the State Board of Education to adopt rules and
regulations concerning the transfer of records.
(Education Code § 49068)
2) Implements the Interstate Compact on Educational
Opportunity for Military Children that creates a formal
interstate agreement that addresses the educational
transition issues of children of military families,
including requiring the former school to provide records
within ten days of a request for those records from the
new school of enrollment. Note that the two schools
involved would be in different states. (EC § 49700)
3) Requires the former local educational agency (LEA) to
transfer a foster youth, and that pupil's educational
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information and records to the new LEA within two
business days from the date that a request is made by a
county placing agency. (EC § 49069.9)
4) Requires the school district, where a student with
disabilities is now enrolled, to "promptly acquire" a
new pupil's records, including the Individualized
Education Plan (IEP), from the former school district;
also requires the former district to supply these
records within 5 business days of a request from the new
district of enrollment. (EC § 56043)
5) Requires, under the federal McKinney-Vento Act, that
the former school district transfer pupil records for
homeless youth to the district where the pupil intends
to or is now enrolled.
ANALYSIS
This bill requires that, if a pupil transfers from one school
to another within the state, the pupil's permanent record or
a copy of it shall be transferred from the former school
within 10 schooldays following the date the request is
received from the new school. In addition, this bill:
1) Defines "schoolday" to mean any day upon which the
school is in session or non-holiday weekdays during the
summer break.
2) Authorizes the State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt
rules and regulations concerning the transfer of pupil
records.
3) Specifies findings and declarations that:
a) The academic record of a transferring pupil
is essential to the pupil's placement, academic
success, and timely graduation; and
b) An accurate, updated pupil record enhances
school safety, academic achievement, and pupil
welfare when the record of a transferring pupil
includes transcripts, immunization records, and,
when applicable, suspension notices, expulsion
records, and individualized education programs.
STAFF COMMENTS
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1) Need for the bill . According to the Los Angeles County
Office of Education, sponsor of this bill, "too often, a
pupil's permanent record is not sent in a reasonable
amount of time. In many instances, the records are sent
a year or two from the date of the initial request, and
in numerous instances the records are never sent. The
lack of the response by the district and private schools
is hindering the correct educational placement of the
student as well as preventing access to vital pupil
records."
2) As previously stated in the background, current law
requires that the former school district or private
school of a transferring pupil to provide that pupil's
permanent record, or a copy of that record, to the
pupil's new school district or private school. Current
law also places a deadline within which those records of
pupil's with disabilities or in specified circumstances
must be provided. No statute or regulation, however,
places any deadline or time limit on the provision of
the permanent records of transferring general education
students who do not fall into the specified categories;
yet these pupils clearly constitute the majority of
inter-district and private-public school transfers.
A former district's or school's lack of response or
delay in responding to a request for a pupil's records
from a new district or school of enrollment places the
pupil's new district and school in the position of
making potentially high stakes educational decisions
about the pupil without the benefit of the cumulative
record and information that has been compiled throughout
the pupil's educational career; this may have a clear
adverse impact on the pupil's future education and
opportunities. A pupil's new school and teachers need
timely information in order to make appropriate
placement, programmatic, and instructional decisions
involving the pupil; a pupil's permanent record provides
much of that information and should, in the best
interests of the pupil, be provided in a timely manner.
This bill does not eliminate or narrow the requirement
of notifying the parent of his or her right to receive a
copy of the record and a right to a hearing to challenge
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the content of the record.
However, by attempting to provide timely and clarifying
direction on transfer of pupil records, this measure
could add a level of confusion because it differs from
the requirements of other statutes related to
transferring of pupil records. Therefore, staff
recommends an amendment that clarifies nothing in this
measure shall be construed to supersede any other
federal or state law governing the transfer of pupil
records for specified pupil populations.
3) According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee , this
measure could result in both local assistance and state
operations costs as follows:
a) Potential, indeterminate, General Fund
(Proposition 98) state reimbursable mandated costs
of approximately $200,000 to school districts to
transfer a pupil's permanent record within 10
schooldays, as specified. This cost will likely be
reduced because districts will utilize the
California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data
System (CALPADS) to meet these requirements.
CALPADS is fully functional now and working to
collect student level data. In 2010-11 there were
6.22 million children enrolled in California
schools.
b) General Fund costs, likely less than
$125,000, to the State Board of Education to adopt
rules and regulations concerning the transfer of
pupil records, as specified.
1) Measure is keyed with a possible mandate . By imposing a
new requirement on public schools to transfer records
within 10 schooldays, as specified, the bill may impose
a state-mandated local program.
2) Previous legislation . In 2011, AB 1065 (Bradford)
required a school district or a private school to
transfer a pupil's permanent record to his or her new
school district or private school of enrollment no later
than five business days following the date of the
request, as specified. This measure was held on the
Assembly Appropriations suspense file.
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SUPPORT
California Association of Private School Organizations
California County Superintendents Educational Services
Association
Hawthorne School District
Los Angeles County Office of Education
Wiseburn School District
OPPOSITION
None on file