BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 840
AUTHOR: Lara
INTRODUCED: January 7, 2014
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: March 19, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : Local educational agency policies against
bullying.
SUMMARY
This bill requires each local educational agency to develop
and implement a policy against bullying that includes
specific components.
BACKGROUND
Policies and resources
Current law, pursuant to the Safe Place to Learn Act,
requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to:
1) Monitor, as part of its Categorical Program
Monitoring process, adherence of school districts to
the following requirements:
a) Adopt a policy prohibiting discrimination,
harassment, intimidation
and bullying based on actual or perceived
characteristics (disability, gender, gender
identity, gender expression, nationality, race or
ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or
association with a person or group with one or
more of these actual or perceived
characteristics).
b) Adopt a process and timeline for receiving and
investigating
complaints of discrimination, harassment,
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intimidation and bullying
based on actual or perceived characteristics.
c) Publicize anti-discrimination, anti-harassment,
anti-intimidation and
anti-bullying policies.
d) Post the policy in all schools and offices.
e) Maintain documentation of complaints.
f) Ensure that complainants are protected from
retaliation.
g) Identify a responsible school officer to ensure
compliance.
(Education Code § 234.1)
The Safe Place to Learn Act also 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)
Current law:
1) Encourages the inclusion of policies aimed at
preventing bullying as school safety plans are
reviewed and updated. (EC § 32282(f))
2) Requires each educational institution in the State to
have a written policy relative to sexual harassment,
and include information on where to obtain the
specific rules and procedures for reporting charges of
sexual harassment and for pursuing available remedies.
(EC § 231.5)
3) Requires the annual notifications to parents to
include a copy of the written policy of the school
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district on sexual harassment as it relates to
students. (EC § 48980(g))
Definition of bullying
Current law defines bullying as any severe or pervasive
physical or verbal act or conduct, including communications
made in writing or by means of an electronic act, and
including one or more acts committed by a student or group
of students directed toward one or more students that has
or can be reasonably predicted to have the effect of one or
more of the following:
1) Placing a reasonable student or students in fear of
harm to that student or those students' person or
property.
2) Causing a reasonable student to experience a
substantially detrimental effect on his or her
physical or mental health.
3) 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. (Education Code §
48900(r))
Discipline
Current law authorizes local educational agencies (LEAs) to
suspend or recommend for expulsion a student who has been
determined to have committed an act of bullying. (EC §
48900(r))
Data collection and reporting
Current law requires:
1) LEAs to maintain documentation of complaints of
discrimination, harassment, intimidation or bullying
based on actual or perceived characteristics and the
resolution of each incident. (EC § 234.1(e))
2) The Annual Report on Dropouts in California to
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include, when data is available, behavioral data by
school and district, including suspensions and
expulsions. (EC § 48070.6)
3) Local control accountability plans (LCAPs) to include
information addressing specific state priorities,
including school climate as measured by suspension and
expulsion rates, and surveys of students, parents and
teachers. (EC § 52060 and § 52066)
4) The school accountability report card (SARC) to
include an assessment of specific school conditions
including suspension and expulsion rates for the most
recent 3-year period. (EC § 33126)
5) School districts to specifically identify in a
student's official records each suspension or
expulsion, by offense committed. (EC § 48900.8)
ANALYSIS
This bill requires each local educational agency to develop
and implement a policy against bullying. Specifically,
this bill:
1) Requires each local educational agency to develop, in
collaboration with interested stakeholders, and
implement a policy against bullying.
2) Requires the policy to 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
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documented are not to be limited to incidents
that resulted in suspension or expulsion.
d) A requirement that the local
educational agency report information about
incidents to the California Department of
Education (CDE) in a manner to be determined by
the CDE.
3) Requires collaborating stakeholders to include, but
not be limited to, school administrators and staff,
students and their families, and the community.
4) States findings and declarations that any form, type
or level of bullying is unacceptable and every
incident need to be taken seriously by school
administrators and staff, and by students and their
families.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Not currently required ? Current law prohibits
bullying, authorizes local educational agencies (LEAs)
to suspend or expel students for bullying, and
requires the CDE to assess whether LEAs have adopted a
policy that prohibits discrimination, harassment,
intimidation and bullying based on actual or perceived
characteristics. However, statute does not explicitly
require LEAs to adopt and implement a policy relative
to bullying that is not based on actual or perceived
characteristics.
2) Mandatory training . A 2013 report by the Bureau of
State Audits, titled School Safety and
Nondiscrimination Laws, states:
Although state law does not expressly require
LEAs to provide training in preventing
discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and
bullying (prevention training) to their staff,
many LEAs choose to do so. The majority of the
LEAs that responded to our survey, as well as the
LEAs we visited, have made various efforts to
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train their staff. Further, LEAs also use
programs and workshops that focus on prevention
training. If the Legislature adds training
requirements to the Education Code, it should
consider modeling those requirements on the
provisions in Massachusetts law.
This bill requires policies against bullying to
include mandatory training for certificated employees
on the prevention of bullying and how to address
incidents of bullying. Does a policy about mandatory
training actually mandate training? Could a policy be
adopted that calls for mandatory training only after
the LEA identifies sufficient funding for the
training? Should classified school personnel receive
training?
1) Reporting incidents of bullying . Local educational
agencies (LEAs) are currently required to maintain
documentation of complaints of discrimination,
harassment, intimidation or bullying based on actual
or
perceived characteristics and the resolution of those
incidents. Other requirements for reporting
discipline data are specific to suspension and
expulsion rates.
This bill requires policies against bullying to
include the requirement that LEAs report the
documentation of incidents of bullying to the
California Department of Education (CDE) in a manner
determined by the CDE. Staff recommends an amendment
to explicitly require LEAs to report this
documentation rather than link reporting to the LEA
policy. Staff recommends amendments to prohibit the
reporting of any individual student information and
clarify that documentation reported to the CDE is to
be aggregated at the school district level.
1) State audit . The 2013 report by the Bureau of State
Audits, titled School Safety and Nondiscrimination
Laws, concluded, among other things, that:
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a) While California law defines bullying
broadly, California's Safe Place to Learn Act,
including the complaints policy, requires that
bullying be based on a protected characteristic
in order to be unlawful discrimination or
harassment.
b) State law does not direct every LEA to
develop and implement an anti-bullying policy
using a collaborative process with all interested
stakeholders, including site administrators,
staff, students, students' families, and the
community.
c) California law limits the requirement for
statewide reporting of bullying to those
incidents resulting in suspensions and expulsions
rather than including all incidents of bullying.
The audit recommended, among other things, that the
California Department of Education (CDE) use data from
the California Healthy Kids Survey and reported
suspensions and expulsions to evaluate the levels of
discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying
students encounter and to determine the effectiveness
of efforts by CDE and schools, and report the results
to the Legislature by August 1, 2014.
The audit further recommended that the Legislature
consider amending the Education Code to address the
concerns cited above.
http://www.bsa.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2012-108.pdf
2) Technical amendment . Staff recommends a technical
amendment: on page 3, line 7, strike "but be not
limited to" and insert "but not be limited to."
3) Prior legislation . SB 231 (Correa, 2013) would have
established the California Bullying Prevention
Clearinghouse and required the Superintendent of
Public Instruction to convene an advisory council to
provide technical assistance on best practices that
reduce bullying.
SB 231 was held on the Assembly Appropriations
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Committee's suspense file.
SUPPORT
California Communities United Institute
California Psychological Association
Disability Rights California
Equality California
Girl Scout Troup 1114
L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center
National Center for Lesbian Rights
Our Family Coalition
Transgender Law Center
OPPOSITION
None on file.