BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 744 (Lara) - Pupils: Involuntary Transfers
Amended: May 14, 2013 Policy Vote: Education 7-1
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: May 23, 2013 Consultant: Jacqueline
Wong-Hernandez
SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
Bill Summary: SB 744 requires parental consent for referrals to
a county community school or community day school by a school
attendance review board (SARB), school district, or probation
department, except for situations where a student is expelled or
pursuant to a court order. This bill also establishes the right
of a student to reenroll in his or her former school or another
school upon completion of the term of involuntary transfer to a
county community school or community day school.
Fiscal Impact (as approved on May 23, 2013):
County community and community day schools: Potentially
significant ongoing savings, to the extent that students
that would have enrolled in county community and community
day schools instead attend traditional schools.
Mandate: Expulsion procedures - This bill creates a new
mandate on LEAs by changing expulsion hearing requirements.
The long-term result is likely minor ongoing savings, but
there may be one-time reimbursable costs to change LEA
process, materials and training.
Background: Existing law provides for various educational
options outside of a traditional comprehensive public school,
for students who are expelled from traditional schools or
referred to them by a SARB or probation officer.
The governing board of the school district, at the time
expulsion is ordered, must ensure that an educational program is
provided to the pupil. The district or county program (community
day schools or community schools, respectively) is the only
program required to be provided to expelled pupils. Each school
district governing board may determine to provide additional
programmatic options. (Education Code � 48916.1)
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Pupils expelled from school for serious offenses such as
possessing a firearm, brandishing a knife, causing serious
physical injury, selling a controlled substance or committing a
sexual assault are prohibited from enrolling in any school other
than a community school, community day school, or juvenile court
school. (EC � 48915.2)
School districts are authorized to establish one or more
community day schools to serve pupils who have been expelled for
any reason, or referred by probation or a school attendance
review board. (EC � 48660 & � 48662)
A county board of educations is authorized to maintain one or
more community schools to serve pupils who have been expelled,
referred by probation or an attendance review board, or are
homeless. (EC � 1980)
Existing law provides that juvenile court schools are public
schools or classes operated by the county superintendent of
schools in juvenile halls, homes, day centers, ranches, camps,
and youth correctional facilities. (EC � 48645.1 & � 48645.2)
Existing law requires the governing board to recommend a plan of
rehabilitation for the pupil at the time of the expulsion order,
which may include periodic review as well as assessment at the
time of review for readmission. The plan may also include
recommendations for improved academic performance, tutoring,
special education assessments, job training, counseling,
employment, community service, or other programs. (EC �
48916(b))
Governing boards are further required to set a date, not later
than the last day of the semester following the semester in
which the expulsion occurred, when the pupil shall be reviewed
for readmission to a school within the district or the school
the pupil last attended. (EC � 48916(a))
Governing boards are required to set a date of one year from the
date the expulsion occurred for a pupil who has been expelled
for: a) possessing, selling, or furnishing a firearm; b)
brandishing a knife at another person; c) unlawfully selling a
controlled substance; d) committing or attempting to commit a
sexual assault; or, e) Possession of an explosive. (EC �
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48916(a))
Existing law requires each school district to adopt rules and
regulations establishing a procedure for the filing and
processing of requests for readmission and the process for the
required review of all expelled pupils for readmission. (EC �
48916(c))
The governing board of a school district may permit, after the
term of expulsion, the enrollment of a pupil expelled from
another district for one of the most serious offenses if the
board determines the pupil no longer poses a threat. (EC �
48915.2 (b))
The governing board of a school district that receives a request
for enrollment from a pupil who has been expelled from another
school district, for acts other than the most serious offenses,
must hold a hearing to determine whether the individual poses a
continuing danger to pupils or employees. If the board finds the
pupil does not pose a danger, the pupil must be permitted to
enroll if the pupil has established residence in the district or
enrolled pursuant to an interdistrict agreement. (EC �
48915.1(a)(e))
Existing law prohibits a pupil from being denied enrollment or
readmission to a public school solely on the basis that he or
she has had contact with the juvenile justice system, including
arrest, adjudication by a juvenile court, supervision by a
probation officer, detention in a juvenile facility, or
enrollment in a juvenile court school.
(EC � 48645.5)
A school district governing board, upon voting to expel a pupil,
may suspend the enforcement of the expulsion order for up to one
calendar year and may, as a condition of the suspension of the
enforcement, assign the pupil to a school, class or program that
is deemed appropriate for the rehabilitation of the pupil. Upon
satisfactory completion of the rehabilitation assignment, the
governing board must reinstate the pupil in a school within the
district and may also order the expungement of any or all
records of the expulsion proceedings. (EC � 48917)
Proposed Law: This bill makes numerous changes to statute and
practice governing pupil transfers to county community schools
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and community day schools by districts, SARBs, and probation
officials. This bill revises the list of pupils who may be
involuntarily enrolled in a county community school to limit the
kind of probation referrals and remove homeless children, and
requires the consent of the pupil's parent or guardian for the
enrollment of a pupil who is referred as the result of a
recommendation by a SARB.
This bill requires, based on the educational assessment or
rehabilitation plan of a student, the student to be enrolled in
or have access to programs either at the school or through
community organizations: a) Counseling; b) mental health
counseling or other support services; c) access to services
necessary to transition the student back to his or her prior
school or to another comprehensive school; d) mediation,
conflict resolution, or alternative behavior interventions; and,
e) supplemental services to assist with passage of the high
school exit exam.
This bill would revise the list of pupils who may be
involuntarily transferred to a community day school to limit the
kind of probation referrals. The bill would allow enrollment of
other pupils in a community day school with the consent of the
pupil's parent or guardian, and under specified conditions. This
bill would further provide that a pupil who is involuntarily
enrolled in a county community school or a community day school
the right to reenroll in his or her former school or another
comprehensive school immediately after being readmitted from
expulsion or court-ordered placement, as specified. The bill
would prohibit additional academic or behavioral criteria or
conditions that would extend the duration of the placement of a
pupil in a county community school or a community day school
beyond the terms of the initial or subsequent expulsion order
from being added.
With regard to an expulsion hearing, upon the decision of a
hearing officer or administrative panel not to expel a student,
this bill requires a student to be permitted to return to the
classroom instructional program from which the expulsion
referral was made, unless the parent, guardian or responsible
adult requests another school placement in writing.
Staff Comments: There are currently 77 county community schools
serving approximately 16,000 pupils. There are 258 school
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district-run community schools, serving approximately 7,700
pupils. These schools typically receive higher per-pupil funding
than traditional schools.
This bill establishes additional checks and requirements for
LEAs in order to refer (or recommend for referral) pupils to
county community and community day schools. To the extent that
fewer pupils are referred to, and enroll in, these schools,
there will be significant state savings.
This bill makes changes to the requirements of an expulsion
proceeding. School districts specifically receive $587.16 per
hearing, currently, to reimburse the cost of hearing
preparation, conducting the hearing, producing recommendations,
and producing record of the hearing. In 2010-11, the last year
for which complete data is available, there were 18,649
expulsions in California.
This bill requires that if the hearing officer or administrative
panel decides not to recommend expulsion, the pupil immediately
be reinstated and permitted to return to the classroom
instructional program from which the expulsion referral was
made, unless the parent, guardian, or responsible adult of the
pupil requests another school placement in writing; this is in
contrast to the current allowance for discretionary referral to
another rehabilitative or educational program instead of, or in
addition to, the previous school. Requiring a revision of the
rules and regulations governing procedures for the expulsion of
pupils will likely increase the existing expulsion reimbursable
mandate. Long term, however, there will likely be savings from
returning more students to their schools or origin.
This bill also appears to expand the role and requirements of
LEAs to provide services to students related to their
educational assessments. Existing law requires county community
and community day schools to develop "an individually planned
educational program based upon an educational assessment shall
be prescribed for each pupil."
This bill expands statute to specify that:
"if the educational assessment or rehabilitation plan shows
that the pupil needs any of the following, the pupil shall be
enrolled in or have access to these programs either at the
school or through community organizations: counseling, mental
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health counseling, or other support services, access to
services necessary to transition a pupil back to his or her
prior school or to another comprehensive school, mediation,
conflict resolution, alternative behavior interventions as
described in subdivision (b) of Section 48900.5, supplemental
services to assist with passage of the high school exit
examination, or extracurricular or other enrichment
activities."
This provision appears to expand the LEA's role by specifying
its responsibility to enroll or facilitate access of a pupil to
a number of services which may or may not have become part of an
educational plan that is based on the assessment. To the extent
county community schools have not been providing identified
needed services to their students, this could represent
significant new costs to the counties, and would likely be
reimbursable.
This bill also increases notification requirements on LEAs
related to student educational services. The bill requires
additional notifications to parents and probation authorities,
which are also likely to reimbursable activities. While there
are a relatively small number of pupils served by these LEAs at
any given time, a minor mandate on each for a population that
may move in and out of these schools could be significant in the
aggregate.
Staff notes that as part of the 2013-14 Governor's Budget, the
Administration proposes to restructure the existing K-12 finance
system, eliminate over 40 existing programs, and repeal numerous
Education Code sections related to those programs. The
Administration proposes to primarily fund LEAs using a new
formula known as the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). The
LCFF would consolidate the vast majority of state categorical
programs and revenue limit apportionments into a single funding
stream and would eliminate the statutory and programmatic
requirements for almost all existing categorical programs,
including community day schools. Under the Governor's proposal,
LEAs could still run the programs, but would not receive a
specific allocation for them. The Administration's proposal does
assume that COEs will continue to operate county community
schools, and proposes to significantly increase per-pupil rates
for COEs.
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The committee amendments would remove language that appears to
expand the role and requirements of LEAs to provide services to
students related to their educational assessments.