BILL NUMBER: SB 1396 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 9, 2014
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 amended, Hancock. School climate: Schoolwide
Positive Behavior Intervention and Support multitiered
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 a multitiered
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 multitiered intervention 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 , the State Department of Education, and the
Legislature by June 30, 2016, 2017, 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) Restorative justice or restorative practices is a set of
principles and practices grounded in the values of showing respect,
taking responsibility, and strengthening relationships. Restorative
justice focuses on repair of harm and prevention of reoccurrence.
Restorative practices, applied in a schoolwide context, are used to
build a sense of school community and resolve conflict by repairing
harm and restoring positive relationships where pupils and educators
work together to set academic goals, develop core values for the
classroom, and resolve conflicts. Restorative practices can be
incorporated in the tiered framework of schoolwide positive behavior
interventions and supports.
(b)
(c) 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)
(d) 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)
(e) 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)
(f) 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)
(g) 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)
(h) 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)
(i) 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)
(j) (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)
(k) 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
MULTITIERED 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
a multitiered intervention and support program that includes,
but is not limited to, 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 multitiered intervention and support
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
multitiered intervention and support and other
mental health approaches. The goal would be to organize
SW-PBIS multitiered intervention and support
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
multitiered intervention and support program 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 Regional K--12 Student Mental Health Initiative, the
National Alliance on Mental Health Illness, the California Technical
Assistance Center on SW-PBIS, Schoolwide
Positive Behavior Intervention and Support, 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 multitiered intervention
and support programs to assist in the planning and
implementation of this project.
(d) The designated county office of education, in the
implementation of this chapter, shall consider and include, as
appropriate, available resources for multitiered intervention and
support.
(d)
(e) 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
multitiered intervention and support efforts
with local control funding formula planning.
(2) Creating broad exposure to SW-PBIS,
multitiered intervention and support, which would include
pamphlets, videos, Internet Web site creation, webinars, and
newsletters.
(3) Creating regional conferences on SW-PBIS
multitiered intervention and support 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 multitiered intervention and su
pport systems based on the analysis pursuant to
subdivision (f) 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 multitiered intervention and support
programs .
(7) Establishing a repository for the collection and dissemination
of SW-PBIS multitiered intervention and
support best practices.
(e)
(f) 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 multitiered
intervention and support programs 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 school
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.
schoolwide multitiered intervention and supports to
address academic and behavioral issues and to use as a foundation for
the annual goals and state priorities, such as pupil engagement and
school climate, to be included in local control and accountability
plans.
(f)
(g) The Legislative Analyst's Office shall review the
impacts of this professional development effort and shall report to
the Governor Governor, the State Department
of Education, and the Legislature by June 30, 2016,
2017, on the breadth and best practices of the
training.