BILL NUMBER: SB 1396	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Hancock

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2014

   An act to add Chapter 19 (commencing with Section 53330) to Part
28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, relating to school
climate.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1396, as introduced, Hancock. School climate: Schoolwide
Positive Behavior Intervention and Support program.
   Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and
secondary schools in this state, and authorizes local educational
agencies throughout the state to provide instruction to pupils.
   This bill would establish the Schoolwide Positive Behavior
Intervention and Support program. The bill, to the extent that
one-time funding is made available in the Budget Act of 2014, would
require the State Department of Education to apportion funds to a
designated county office of education, selected from applicant county
offices of education, that would be the fiduciary agent for the
program. The bill would require the designated county office of
education to consult with specified organizations and target the
funding towards a statewide professional development effort that
would provide training in schoolwide positive behavior and support to
school personnel.
   The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to review
the impacts of this professional development effort and report to the
Governor and the Legislature by June 30, 2016, on specified aspects
of the program.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) In many school districts, local policies have addressed safety
and mental health issues in schools with ad hoc and piecemeal
strategies. This is borne out by the very narrow federal and state
laws related to pupil suspension and expulsion that produced reactive
discipline policies and increased pupil exclusion from school. These
practices have resulted in disproportionality in discipline
practices, as reflected in the high number of suspensions and
expulsions among African American and Latino pupils in California.
   (b) Recent statistics indicate that 20 percent of schoolage youth
experience a functional or significant behavior or mental health
disorder. In contrast, less than 1 percent of pupils are identified
to receive mental health services through the special education
classification of emotional disturbance. These numbers suggest a
significant gap in the need for school-based prevention and
intervention behavioral health services. Schoolwide Positive Behavior
Intervention and Support (SW-PBIS) can fill this gap by providing a
comprehensive and collaborative prevention and intervention framework
for schools to improve academic and behavioral outcomes for all
pupils. Recent research from Orange County has shown that in
districts where SW-PBIS has been implemented there has been a
26-percent drop in in-school suspensions, a 55-percent drop in
out-of-school suspensions, and a 30-percent drop in expulsions.
   (c) In order to ensure that all pupils flourish academically,
districts must establish equitable discipline practices and
behavioral interventions that promote positive social-emotional
development and that prevent and respond to negative behaviors in
order to reengage disconnected pupils. School psychologists play a
critical role in implementing school-based educationally related
counseling services and positive behavior systems and supports that
create and reinforce positive school cultures of achievement for all
pupils, including those at risk of academic failure.
   (d) The local control funding formula has been passed in an effort
to reform school finance and to direct funding directly to at-risk
pupil populations as outlined in Section 42238.07 of the Education
Code. This section states that the regulations shall require a school
district "to increase or improve services for unduplicated pupils."
Research shows that efforts to improve school climate, safety, and
learning are not separate endeavors. They must be designed, funded,
and implemented as a comprehensive schoolwide approach. School
districts must work to ensure through their local control and
accountability plans that pupils have access to universal, targeted,
and individualized psychological, behavioral, and counseling services
and support that will increase their chances for academic
improvement.
   (e) SW-PBIS is a multitiered framework for creating positive
school cultures. SW-PBIS is a decisionmaking framework that guides
selection, integration, and implementation of the best evidence-based
academic and behavioral practices for improving important academic
and behavior outcomes for all pupils. The SW-PBIS approach requires
the implementation of preventative and proactive approaches to
discipline and positive discipline methods. In doing so, SW-PBIS
changes the belief systems and behavior of school staffs, pupils, and
the community, resulting in positive, productive citizens, and safer
schools.
   (f) SW-PBIS can support important local control and accountability
plan priority areas by providing local schools and districts with an
evidence-based framework to produce targeted pupil behavioral and
academic outcomes. SW-PBIS provides an operational framework for
achieving these outcomes.
   (g) SW-PBIS fosters local control for school climate, academics,
and behavior. SW-PBIS provides an operational framework and a set of
sustainable schoolwide practices for achieving these outcomes. The
schoolwide practices are research-based, but are developed and
implemented by the local school team of teachers, parents,
administrators, school psychologists, school counselors, and pupils
to reflect the culture and values of their schools.
   (h) SW-PBIS has national support and has been defined, described,
and researched since its introduction in the reauthorization of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997. SW-PBIS research
and training is supported by the Office of Special Education
Programs (OSEP), United States Department of Education, through the
OSEP Technical Assistance Center. School psychologists have been
leaders in SW-PBIS professional development and systems
implementation in schools and districts throughout the state.
   (i) (1) SW-PBIS emphasizes four integrated elements:
   (A) Data for decisionmaking.
   (B) Measurable outcomes supported and evaluated by data.
   (C) Practices with evidence that these outcomes are achievable.
   (D) Systems that efficiently and effectively support
implementation of these practices.
   (2) These four elements are guided by six core principles, as
follows:
   (A) Develop a continuum of scientifically based behavior and
academic interventions and supports.
   (B) Use data to make decisions and solve problems.
   (C) Arrange the environment to prevent the development and
occurrence of problem behavior; increase supervision where needed.
   (D) All school staff teach and encourage prosocial skills and
behaviors in all settings on campus, and before and after school.
   (E) Implement evidence-based behavioral practices with fidelity
and accountability.
   (F) Screen universally and monitor pupil performance and progress
continuously.
   (j) Schools that have established and maintained SW-PBIS systems
with integrity have teaching and learning environments that are less
reactive, aversive, punitive, dangerous, and exclusionary, are more
engaging, responsive, preventive, productive, and participatory,
address classroom management and disciplinary issues such as
attendance, cooperation, participation, and meeting positive
expectations, improve support for pupils whose behavior requires more
specialized or intensive assistance for emotional and behavioral
disorders and mental health issues, and maximize academic engagement
and achievement for all pupils.
  SEC. 2.  Chapter 19 (commencing with Section 53330) is added to
Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, to read:
      CHAPTER 19.  SCHOOLWIDE POSITIVE BEHAVIOR INTERVENTION AND
SUPPORT


   53330.  (a) To the extent that one-time funding is made available
in the Budget Act of 2014, the department shall apportion funds to a
designated county office of education to be the fiduciary agent for
the Schoolwide Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (SW-PBIS)
program. The designated county office of education shall be chosen by
the Superintendent from county offices that apply for designation
under this chapter. The designated county office of education shall
be in charge of establishing specific professional development
activities that will lead to statewide professional development
support structures allowing for the development and expansion of
SW-PBIS efforts in each region of the state.
   (b) This professional development and outreach effort shall build
upon existing statewide organizations, networks, and regional
organizations that are providing services related to SW-PBIS and
other mental health approaches. The goal would be to organize SW-PBIS
trainings and resources to be disseminated on a regional basis.
These trainings, associated materials, and research shall educate
participants on how to have SW-PBIS support local control and
accountability plan strategic goals in alignment with a multitiered
support system framework.
   (c) The designated county office of education shall consult with
the K-12 Student Mental Health Initiative, the National Alliance on
Mental Health Illness, the California Technical Assistance Center on
SW-PBIS, the California County Superintendents Educational Services
Association, the California Mental Health Directors Association, the
United Advocates for Children and Families, and other nonprofit
agencies throughout the state. The designated county office of
education shall also select an advisory committee made up of
stakeholders and mental health professionals who have participated in
the development and expansion of SW-PBIS programs to assist in the
planning and implementation of this project.
   (d) Within the context of a state-level plan, funding shall be
targeted to all of the following critical activities:
   (1) Explaining the importance of linking SW-PBIS efforts with
local control funding formula planning.
   (2) Creating broad exposure to SW-PBIS, which would include
pamphlets, videos, Internet Web site creation, webinars, and
newsletters.
   (3) Creating regional conferences on SW-PBIS implementation that
would provide free training for teachers, school psychologists, and
administrators.
   (4) Establishing stipends for release time for school personnel
attending these workshops.
   (5) Developing best practices of current district-level SW-PBIS
systems and ensure that these best practices are widely disseminated.

   (6) Establishing a cohort of trainers that can be available to
work directly with local school districts seeking to implement
SW-PBIS.
   (7) Establishing a repository for the collection and dissemination
of SW-PBIS best practices.
   (e) The designated county office of education, working in
cooperation with the Department of Finance, the State Department of
Education, and the Legislative Analyst, shall analyze the relevant
data on the success of SW-PBIS at both the state and national levels,
and shall establish a set of best practices to be made available to
school districts and consortia of districts to expand current mental
health programs and to use as the foundation of addressing school
discipline issues including school violence, suspensions, expulsions,
and bullying.
   (f) The Legislative Analyst's Office shall review the impacts of
this professional development effort and shall report to the Governor
and the Legislature by June 30, 2016, on the breadth and best
practices of the training.