BILL NUMBER: SB 840 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Lara
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Mullin)
(Coauthors: Senators Beall, Block, Hueso, Leno, Mitchell, Torres,
Wright, and Yee)
JANUARY 7, 2014
An act to amend Section 234 of, and to add Section 234.6 to, the
Education Code, relating to educational equity.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 840, as introduced, Lara. Educational equity: local educational
agency policies against bullying.
Existing law, the Safe Place to Learn Act, requires the State
Department of Education to assess whether local educational agencies
have taken certain actions related to educational equity, including
adopting a policy that prohibits discrimination, harassment,
intimidation, and bullying based on specified characteristics such as
disability, gender, gender identity, race, or sexual orientation, or
association with a person or group with one or more of the specified
characteristics and adopting a process for receiving and
investigating complaints of discrimination, harassment, intimidation,
and bullying based on the specified characteristics.
Existing law, the Interagency School Safety Demonstration Act of
1985 (the act), requires certain schoolsite councils to develop a
comprehensive school safety plan relevant to the needs and resources
of that particular school. The act requires the comprehensive school
safety plan to identify appropriate strategies and programs that will
provide or maintain a high level of school safety, including the
development of a discrimination and harassment policy consistent with
the Safe Place to Learn Act. The act also requires each school to
forward its comprehensive school safety plan to the school district
or county office of education for approval.
This bill would require each local educational agency to develop
and implement a policy against bullying, as specified, which
includes, at a minimum, a procedure for referring victims of bullying
to counseling, mental health, or other health services as
appropriate, mandatory training for certificated employees on the
prevention, and addressing, of bullying, and a procedure for the
documentation of all incidents of bullying that take place within the
local educational agency as well as the responsive actions taken, if
any. The bill would require the local educational agency to forward
the documentation of the bullying incidents to the department.
By requiring local educational agencies to develop and implement a
bullying policy and to report certain information to the
departments, this bill would increase the duties of local school
officials and thereby impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 234 of the Education Code is amended to read:
234. (a) This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the
Safe Place to Learn Act.
(b) It is the policy of the State of California to ensure that all
local educational agencies continue to work to reduce
discrimination, harassment, violence, intimidation, and bullying. It
is further the policy of the state to improve pupil safety at schools
and the connections between pupils and supportive adults, schools,
and communities.
(c) The Legislature finds and declares that any form, type, or
level of bullying is unacceptable and every incident needs to be
taken seriously by local educational agency administrators and staff,
and by pupils and their families.
SEC. 2. Section 234.6 is added to the Education Code, to read:
234.6. Notwithstanding any other law, each local educational
agency shall develop, in collaboration with interested stakeholders,
and implement a policy against bullying. Collaborating stakeholders
shall include, but be not limited to, school administrators and
staff, pupils and their families, and the community. The policy shall
include, at a minimum, all of the following:
(a) A procedure for referring victims of bullying to counseling,
mental health, or other health services, as appropriate.
(b) Mandatory training for certificated employees on the
prevention of, and how to address, bullying.
(c) A procedure for the documentation of all incidents of bullying
that take place within the local educational agency and the
responsive actions taken, if any. Incidents documented shall not be
limited to incidents that resulted in suspension or expulsion. The
local educational agency shall report this information to the
department in a manner to be determined by the department.
SEC. 3. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local
agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant
to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.