BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 49
AUTHOR: Lieu & Steinberg
AMENDED: April 15, 2013
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 24, 2013
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : School safety plans.
SUMMARY
This bill requires school safety plans to include procedures
related to response to a person with a gun on campus, extends
from annually to every third year the frequency of review of
safety plans, and requires charter school petitions to include a
description of a school safety plan.
BACKGROUND
Current law:
1) Requires each school district and county office of
education to be responsible for the overall development of
all comprehensive school safety plans for its schools. The
schoolsite council is required to write and develop a
comprehensive school safety plan relevant to the needs and
resources of that particular school. (Education Code §
32281)
2) Authorizes the schoolsite council to delegate
responsibility for the development of the school safety
plan to a school safety planning committee, composed of the
principal, one teacher who is a representative of the
recognized certificated employee organization, one parent
whose child attends the school, one classified employee who
is a representative of the recognized classified employee
organization, and other members if desired. (EC § 32281)
3) Authorizes school districts and county offices of
education, in consultation with law enforcement, to elect
to not have its schoolsite council develop and write
portions of the school safety plan that include tactical
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responses to criminal incidents. Portions of the safety
plan containing tactical responses may be developed by
school administrators in consultation with law enforcement
and with a representative of the employee bargaining unit.
Governing boards are authorized to approve the tactical
response portion of the safety plan in a closed session.
(EC § 32281)
4) Requires the comprehensive school safety plan to include
(1) an assessment of the current status of school crime
committed on school campuses and at school-related
functions and (2) identification of appropriate strategies
and programs that will provide or maintain a high level of
school safety and detail procedures for complying with
existing laws; disaster procedures; policies regarding
suspension or expulsion; a discrimination and harassment
policy; and, a safe and orderly environment conducive to
learning. (EC § 32282)
5) Requires the comprehensive school safety plan to be
evaluated at least once a year. (EC § 32282)
6) Requires the schoolsite council or school safety planning
committee to hold a public meeting to allow public comment,
and requires the notification of specified people and
entities prior to this meeting. Current law requires each
school to submit its school safety plan to the school
district or county office of education for approval and
requires a school district or California Office of
Education to notify the California Department of Education
by October 15 of every year of any school that is not in
compliance. (EC § 32288)
7) Requires each school to include a description of key
elements of the school safety plan in the annual school
accountability report card.
(EC § 32286)
8) Current law requires, if the Superintendent of Public
Instruction determines that there has been a willful
failure to make any report required in school safety plan
statutes to do both of the following:
a) Notify the school district or county office of
education in which the willful failure has occurred.
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b) Make an assessment of up to $2,000 against that
school or county office, which may be done by
deducting funding from the district's or county
office's future apportionment. (EC § 32287).
Charter schools are exempt from most laws governing school
districts except where specifically noted. Existing law
requires charter schools to comply with the provisions of its
charter and provisions of the Education Code that apply to
charter schools.
(EC § 47601 et. seq.)
Current law requires governing boards to grant a charter unless
the petition fails to meet one or more of the following:
1) The charter school presents an unsound educational
program;
2) The petitioners are demonstrably unlikely to
successfully implement the program described in the
petition;
3) The petition does not contain the number of required
signatures;
4) The petition does not contain an affirmation that it
will be nonsectarian in its programs and policies, shall
not charge tuition, shall not discriminate, and other
affirmations, as specified.
5) The petition does not contain reasonably comprehensive
descriptions of among other elements, the procedures that
the school will follow to ensure the health and safety of
pupils and staff. (EC § 47605)
ANALYSIS
This bill requires school safety plans to include procedures
related to response to a person with a gun on campus, extends
from annually to every third year the frequency of review of
safety plans, and requires charter school petitions to include a
description of a school safety plan. Specifically, this bill:
1) Adds to the required components in school safety plan
procedures related to individuals with guns on school
campuses and at school-related functions, including
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training programs related to active shooters and active
terrorists.
2) Modifies the existing March 1, 2000, deadline for the
adoption of a school safety plan to instead require the
adoption of a plan with the changes proposed by this bill
by March 1, 2014, and requires plans to be reviewed and
updated by March 1 of every third year thereafter.
3) Modifies the existing requirement that schools annually
include in the school accountability report card the status
of school safety plans, to require the status of plans for
the upcoming school year to be accurately reported no later
than July 31 of every third year. This bill requires the
report to include, but is not limited to, whether or not a
school safety plan was adopted and a description of the
safety plan's elements.
4) Prohibits confidential information relating to tactical
responses to criminal incidents from being included at the
public meeting currently required prior to the adoption of
a school safety plan.
5) Requires each school principal or administrator of a school
without a principal to provide written or electronic notice
to each teacher and classified employee that the adopted
school safety plan is readily available for inspection.
6) Requires each superintendent of a school district or county
office of education, or each administrator in charge of a
district or county office without a superintendent, to
annually provide written notification, by October 15, to
the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) identifying
each school within the district or county that has not
accurately reported the status of plans in the school
accountability report card.
7) Adds to the required elements of a charter school petition
the development of a school safety plan, which must include
specific topics, and is annually reviewed by the school and
updated as necessary.
8) Requires each principal or administrator in charge of a
school without a principal to keep and maintain a copy of
the most recent school safety plan for that school. This
bill requires each superintendent of a school district or a
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county office, or each administrator in charge of a
district or county office without a superintendent, to keep
and maintain a copy of the most recent school safety plan
and a copy of every notification sent to the Superintendent
of Public Instruction (SPI) of schools that have not
developed school safety plans.
9) Requires all books, documents, records, and other papers
kept and maintained to be open for inspection and copying
on business days, excluding legal holidays, during the
hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., within 48 hours of a written,
verbal, or electronic request by a law enforcement agency.
10) Requires California Department of Education to monitor
compliance using an existing monitoring framework.
11) Eliminates ability of a school principal to designate
another person to act in the principal's place regarding
duties associated with school safety plans. This bill adds
"administrator in charge of a school without a principal."
12) Modifies the requirement that all safety-related plans and
materials be readily available for inspection to strike
"public" and instead specify that plans are to be available
for inspection by law enforcement and school employees.
13) Modifies the list of people and entities that must be
notified about the public meeting prior to adoption of a
school safety plan to strike reference to the local mayor
and a representative of the student body government. This
bill also strikes reference to the list of people and
entities that the schoolsite council or school safety
planning committee is encouraged to notify.
14) Adds non-governmental organizations to agencies that are to
be allowed to use school facilities during a disaster.
15) Adds the Attorney General and city attorneys to the
definition of law enforcement.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, "School safety
plans do not service their purpose if there is no
compliance. Recent lockdowns of Los Angeles schools in
response to various crimes in their vicinity have exposed
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vast differences in the way many of these schools deal with
emergency situations. In one case, according to the School
District's Chief of Police, thousands of students were kept
in classrooms longer than necessary (as much as 5 hours),
causing frustrated parents to complain about the district's
handling of the situation. Those present at the command
center remarked that some of the schools were woefully
unprepared and improvising on the spot. The Los Angeles
police blamed individual schools for failing to develop
their own plans for managing emergencies."
2) Training school personnel . Current law does not require
the training of school personnel on school safety plans.
This bill requires school safety plans to include
procedures related to individuals with guns on school
campuses and at school-related functions, including
training programs related to active shooters and active
terrorists. This bill requires school safety plans to
include training programs, presumably information about
available training, but does not directly require training.
The California Department of Education maintains
information on its website relative to training, including
training about crisis response.
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ss/vp/scvptraining.asp
3) Reviewing and updating safety plans . This bill modifies
the requirement that schools review and update school
safety plans from annually to every third year. The
purpose of this extension is because the process of
reviewing school safety plans can be time consuming yet
schools do not always have a need to update their safety
plans. Nothing in current law, or in this bill, precludes
a school from reviewing and updating the school safety plan
more frequently.
Technical amendments are needed to conform provisions for
charter schools and schools that were established after
March 1, 2001. Staff recommends amendments to clarify that
all schools are required to review their school safety
plans every third year. (Page 11, line 10 and page 24,
line 1)
4) Related legislation . SB 634 (Price) requires schools to
conduct specific safety drills, and adds standards for
safety drills to the required elements of school safety
plans. This bill also requires the California Department
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of Education to provide information on model comprehensive
school safety plans and training programs for school
personnel. SB 634 is scheduled to be heard by this
Committee on April 24, 2013.
AB 1264 (Conway) expands the definition of "tactical response to
criminal incidents" to include a plan to safeguard against
incidents that include a firearm, explosive, or other
deadly weapon, requires a school district or county office
of education to publicly announce its adoption or update of
a tactical response plan, but does not require disclosure
of those portions of the plan that may be kept private,
requires school safety plans to include a tactical response
plan, and requires the school safety plan to include a
protocol for teachers to provide notification of pupils
identified as having a potential mental health issue that
is likely to result in violence or harm to the pupil or
others. AB 1264 is pending in the Assembly Education
Committee.
SB 316 (Block) requires modernization projects submitted to the
Division of the State Architect under the State School
Facility Program to include locks that allow classrooms and
rooms with an occupancy of five persons or more to be
locked from the inside as a condition for receipt of state
bond funds beginning January 1, 2016, and requires that all
districts and county offices equip every classroom and
rooms with an occupancy of five persons or more with locks
that meet this same requirement by January 1, 2017. SB 316
is pending in this Committee.
AB 202 (Donnelly) establishes the School Marshal Plan and
authorizes school districts, county offices of education,
and charter schools to use general purpose funds to provide
training for school marshals. AB 202 defines "school
marshal" as a school employee who is authorized to possess
a firearm at a schoolsite or designated school activities.
AB 202 exempts from disclosure the personally identifiable
information of a school marshal in an application for a
license to carry a firearm, or in a license to carry a
firearm, issued by the sheriff of a county or the chief of
other head of a municipal police department. AB 202 failed
passage in the Assembly Education Committee on April 17,
2013, on a 1-5 vote.
AB 470 (Mullin) apportions $321,000 for certain activities of
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the Interagency School Safety Demonstration Act of 1985,
which includes training to reduce school crime and
violence. AB 470 is pending in the Assembly Education
Committee.
AB 549 (Jones-Sawyer) requires school safety plans to include
clear guidelines for the roles and responsibilities of
police officers on the school campus. AB 549 is scheduled
to be heard by the Assembly Education Committee on May 1,
2013.
AB 699 (Donnelly) authorizes a parent or guardian of a public
elementary or secondary school pupil to remove his or her
child from an unsafe school and enroll his or her child in
another school or school district. AB 699 is scheduled to
be heard by the Assembly Education Committee on May 1,
2013.
AB 1076 (Olsen) requires, if federal funding becomes available,
the governing board of each school district and each county
superintendent of schools to equip the interior of each
classroom, cafeteria, theater, gym, and any other regularly
used space, except a parking lot, in a public school with a
panic button to be used to alert local law enforcement in
the event of a violent incident. AB 1076 is pending in the
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SUPPORT
Los Angeles County Office of Education
OPPOSITION
None on file.