BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 549
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 549 (Jones-Sawyer)
As Amended May 24, 2013
Majority vote
EDUCATION 7-0 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Buchanan, Olsen, Campos, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Chávez, Nazarian, | |Bradford, |
| |Ammiano, Williams | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Hall, |
| | | |Ammiano, Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Weber |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Harkey, Bigelow, |
| | | |Donnelly, Linder, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Specifies that as the comprehensive school safety
plans are reviewed and updated, the Legislature encourages all
plans, to the extent that resources are available, to include
clear guidelines for the roles and responsibilities of mental
health and intervention professionals, if the school district
uses intervention professionals, school resource officers, and
police officers on the school campus. Specifies that the
guidelines may include primary strategies to create and maintain
a positive school climate, promote school safety, and increase
pupil achievement, and prioritize mental health and intervention
services, restorative and transformative justice programs, and
positive behavior interventions and support.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, General Fund/Proposition 98 cost pressure, likely
between $150,000 and $250,000, to school districts to establish
guidelines.
COMMENTS : Existing law requires each school to develop a school
safety plan that includes processes, procedures, and policies to
ensure student and staff safety at a school site. The
components of the plan range from daily processes, such as
procedures for safe ingress and egress of pupils, parents and
school employees; to disaster and emergency procedures such as
AB 549
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those during and after earthquakes; to behavioral policies such
as discrimination and harassment policies. The school safety
plan is developed by a school site council or a school safety
planning committee. Current law requires a school to submit the
school safety plan to the school district or county office of
education (COE) for approval and requires the school district or
COE to annually notify the California Department of Education
(CDE) of any schools that have not complied with the requirement
to develop a school safety plan. The Superintendent of Public
Instruction is authorized to impose a fine of not more than
$2,000 against a school district or COE for any willful failure
to make any required report. According to the CDE, there has
been no report of noncompliance by schools and no district or
COE has been fined for willfully failing to report a school that
has not developed a school safety plan. It is unclear whether
this is because there has been no violations and every school in
the state has developed its school safety plan, or whether
districts or COEs have not reported schools that have not
developed their school safety plans.
This bill encourages the school safety plan, as it is reviewed
and updated, to include guidelines on the roles and
responsibilities of mental health and intervention
professionals, school resource officers (SROs) and police
officers on the school campus. The guidelines may include
strategies to create positive school climates and culture and
prioritize mental health and intervention services, restorative
and transformative justice programs, and positive behavior
interventions and support.
In the last couple of years, legislation have focused on
reducing punitive measures, such as out of school suspensions
and expulsions, and emphasized more positive strategies, such as
restorative and transformative justice programs and positive
behavior interventions and support, to change behaviors. The
rationale is that a student is more likely to engage in gangs,
commit criminal activities and enter the juvenile justice system
if they are not in school. Consistent with this belief is that
the presence of law enforcement on school campuses and
incarceration of pupils are contrary to the cultivation of a
positive school culture. Earlier versions of this bill
attempted to limit the role of SROs and police officers to
protection of the physical safety of students and staff.
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Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0000968