BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de León, Chair


          AB 1993 (Fox) - Bullying: Training Module
          
          Amended: May 27, 2014           Policy Vote: Education 7-0
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: No
          Hearing Date: June 30, 2014                                  
          Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez                       
          
          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. 
          
          Bill Summary: AB 1993 requires the California Department of  
          Education (CDE) to develop an online training module regarding  
          bullying.

          Fiscal Impact: $100,000 - $130,000 (General Fund) in one-time  
          costs for the CDE to develop and publish a bullying training  
          module. 

          Background: Existing law authorizes schools to suspend or  
          recommend for expulsion a student who engages in an act of  
          bullying, which is defined as any severe or pervasive physical  
          or verbal act or conduct, including communications made in  
          writing or by means of an electronic act, directed toward one or  
          more students that has or can be reasonably predicted to have  
          the effect of one or more of the following:

           a)    Placing a reasonable student or students in fear of harm  
                to that student's or those students' person or property.

           b)    Causing a reasonable student to experience a  
                substantially detrimental effect on his or her physical or  
                mental health.

           c)    Causing a reasonable student to experience substantial  
                interference with his or her academic performance.

           d)    Causing a reasonable student to experience substantial  
                interference with his or her ability to participate in or  
                benefit from the services, activities, or privileges  
                provided by a school.  (EC § 48900(r)(1))

          Existing law defines an "electronic act" as the creation and  
          transmission, originated on or off the schoolsite, by means of  








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          an electronic device, including but not limited to a telephone,  
          wireless telephone, or other wireless communication device,  
          computer, or pager, of a communication, including but not  
          limited to: a) a message, text, sounds, or image; or b) post on  
          a social network website, as specified. (EC § 48900(r)(2))

          The Safe Place to Learn Act requires the Superintendent of  
          Public Instruction to post on the Internet and provide to each  
          school district a list of statewide resources that provide  
          support to youth who have been subjected to school-based  
          discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or bullying.  The  
          website must also include a list of statewide resources for  
          youth who have been affected by gangs, gun violence, and  
          psychological trauma caused by violence at home, at school, and  
          in the community.  (EC § 234.5)

          Proposed Law: This bill requires the CDE to develop an online  
          training module to assist all school staff, school  
          administrators, parents, students and community members in  
          increasing their knowledge of the dynamics of bullying and  
          cyberbullying. This bill further requires the online training  
          module to include, but not be limited to, identifying an act of  
          bullying or cyberbullying, and implementing strategies to  
          address bullying and cyberbullying.

          Related Legislation: AB 1455 (Campos) authorizes schools to  
          refer a victim of bullying, or other students affected by  
          bullying, for case management, counseling, and participation in  
          a restorative justice program.  AB 1455 is awaiting action on  
          the Senate Floor.

          SB 840 (Lara) 2014 would have required each local educational  
          agency to develop and implement a policy against bullying. SB  
          840 was held under submission in this Committee.

          SB 231 (Correa) 2013 would have required the CDE to establish  
          the California Bullying Prevention Advisory Council for the  
          purpose of providing information about bullying, abuse, safety,  
          and referrals to other agencies. SB 231 was held under  
          submission in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

          Staff Comments: The CDE will require additional resources to  
          develop a bullying training module and publish it online. The  
          CDE estimates that it will require $40,000 in contract costs to  








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          hire module developers, which would include educational leaders  
          with expertise in bullying and cyberbullying, technology/online  
          learning experts, and classroom teachers. It will also incur  
          $15,000 in costs to publish the module online, through the K-12  
          High Speed Network.

          The remainder of the costs would be for CDE to staff the  
          project, and coordinate its completion. This bill is vague in  
          its requirements for what must be included in the training  
          module and how complex and comprehensive it must be. Thus, costs  
          will be driven by the CDE's interpretation of what it must do,  
          and how efficiently it completes that work. The CDE estimates  
          that it would need a .5 Education Programs Consultant (EPC) for  
          one year (at a cost of $58,000), and a .2 Associate Governmental  
          Programs Analyst (AGPA) for one year (at a cost of $18,000), to  
          manage the project. The EPC would serve as project lead, and  
          would be responsible for identifying experts from the field to  
          provide input for the project, determine the criteria,  
          strategies, and format needed to be included in the module and  
          possible developers who have the expertise in online  
          professional learning, bullying, and cyberbullying. The limited  
          AGPA support would be to prepare the contracts, monitor the  
          budget, and pay invoices. To the extent that the CDE can  
          complete this project in fewer than 1,400 staff hours, costs  
          could be reduced.