BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2519
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|Author: |Calderon |
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|Version: |May 19, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: June 15, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Lynn Lorber |
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Subject: School safety plans
SUMMARY
This bill requires school safety plans to include strategies
aimed at the prevention of, response to, and education about,
potential incidents involving crime, violence, or medical
emergency on the school campus and before and after school
activities.
BACKGROUND
Existing law:
1) Requires each school district or county office of
education to be responsible for the overall development of
all comprehensive school safety plans for its schools
operating kindergarten or any of grades 1 through 12. The
schoolsite council or a school safety planning committee is
responsible for developing the comprehensive school safety
plan. (EC § 32281)
2) Requires school safety plans to include:
a) An assessment of the current status of school
crime committed on school campuses and at
school-related functions.
b) Identification of appropriate strategies and
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programs that will provide or maintain a high level of
school safety and address the school's procedures for
complying with existing laws related to school safety,
including:
i) Child abuse reporting procedures.
ii) Disaster procedures, including an earthquake
emergency procedure system and a procedure to
allow public agencies (such as the American Red
Cross) to use school facilities for mass care and
welfare shelters.
iii) Policies regarding students who commit
specified offenses that would lead to suspension
or expulsion.
iv) Procedures to notify teachers of dangerous
students.
v) A discrimination and harassment
policy.
vi) The provisions of any schoolwide dress code.
vii) Procedures for safe ingress and egress of
students, parents, and school employees to and
from school.
viii) A safe and orderly environment conducive to
learning.
ix) The rules and procedures on school
discipline. (EC § 32282)
3) Encourages school safety plans, as they are reviewed and
updated and to the extent that resources are available, to
include policies and procedures aimed at the prevention of
bullying. (EC § 32282)
4) Requires school safety plans to be evaluated at least
once a year, and requires an updated file of all safety
related plans and materials to be readily available for
inspection by the public. (EC § 32282)
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5) Requires each school to adopt its school safety plan by
March 1 and review and update its plan annually by March 1.
Each school is required to annually report, in July, on
the status of its school safety plan, including a
description of key elements of the school safety plan in
the annual school accountability report card. (EC § 32286)
6) Requires the schoolsite council or school safety
planning committee to hold a public meeting before adopting
the school safety plan. Each school is required to forward
its school safety plan to the school district or county
office for approval, and school districts or county offices
are required to annually notify the California Department
of Education, by October 15, of any school that is not in
compliance. (EC § 32288)
7) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI),
if he or she determines that there has been a willful
failure to make any report, to notify the school district
or county office and assess a fine of up to $2,000 against
the district or county office. (EC § 32287)
ANALYSIS
This bill requires school safety plans to include strategies
related to potential incidents involving crime, violence, or
medical emergency on the school campus and before and after
school activities. Specifically, this bill:
1) Expands the required elements of the comprehensive school
safety plan to include the development of any other
strategies aimed at the prevention of, response to, and
education about, potential incidents involving crime,
violence, or medical emergency on the school campus,
including sanctioned activities before and after school.
2) Expands the school safety planning committee to include one
coach of the school, if the school has a coach.
3) Modifies existing legislative intent regarding the scope of
school safety plans to add references to the health and
safety of the campus community, medical emergency, and
sanctioned activities before and after school.
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STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author, "By law,
California schools must have Emergency Action Plans in
place to deal with emergencies that occur during school
time, however there is no requirement that schools have
Emergency Action Plans in place for 'after the bell'
activities. These activities, like sports practice and
club meetings, often include up to 50% of a school's
student body."
2) First policy hearing. This bill was recently amended to
expand the required elements of the comprehensive school
safety plan to include the development of any other
strategies aimed at the prevention of, response to, and
education about, potential incidents involving crime,
violence, or medical emergency on the school campus,
including sanctioned activities before and after school.
This provision was added to this bill after the bill
reached the Senate. This is the first time a policy
committee will consider provisions related to expansion of
school safety plans.
3) Another approach. According to the author, this bill is
necessary to ensure that school safety plans are developed
for before and after school activities. However, this bill
adds a required component contained within school safety
plans to address the development of any other strategies
aimed at the prevention of, response to, and education
about, potential incidents involving crime, violence, or
medical emergency on the school campus, including
sanctioned activities before and after school. Staff
recommends an amendment to strike reference to before and
after school activities in that provision, and instead
modify existing provisions to provide that comprehensive
school safety plans are for schools operating kindergarten
or any of grades 1 to 12, to include sanctioned activities
before and after school (add to Education Code § 32281(a)).
4) The need for other strategies This bill expands the
required elements of school safety plans to include any
other strategies aimed at the prevention of, response to,
and education about, potential incidents involving crime,
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violence, or medical emergency. Existing law requires
school safety plans to address disaster procedures and a
safe and orderly environment, and policies for students who
commit acts for which they may be suspended or expelled.
However, existing law does not specifically require school
safety plans to include strategies aimed at the prevention
of, response to, and education about, potential incidents
involving crime, violence, or medical emergency. Nor does
existing law specifically authorize school safety plans to
address issues that are not statutorily required to be
addressed.
5) Related legislation. AB 58 (Rodriguez, 2015) required
charter school petitions to include the development of a
school safety plan, and requires the portion of school
safety plans containing tactical responses to include
procedures related to guns on school campuses. AB 58 was
held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SB 592 (Leyva, 2015) among other things, requires school safety
plans to include procedures and policies to prevent and
respond to adolescent relationship abuse. SB 592 was held
in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
6) Prior legislation. SB 49 (Lieu, 2013) among other things,
required school safety plans to include procedures related
to individuals with guns on school campuses and at
school-related functions, including, training programs
related to active shooters and active terrorists. SB 49
was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SB 634 (Price, 2013) required comprehensive school safety plans
to include procedures for conducting school safety drills,
required each school during each school year to conduct a
minimum number of school evacuation drills relating to fire
incidents, and required schools to conduct at least one law
enforcement school lockdown drill. SB 634 was held in the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 1264 (Conway, 2014) expanded the definition of "tactical
response to criminal incidents" to include a plan to
safeguard against incidents that include a firearm,
explosive, or other deadly weapon, and required a school
district or county office of education to publicly announce
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its adoption or update of a tactical response plan, but did
not require disclosure of those portions of the plan that
may be kept private. AB 1264 was pending in this
Committee, but was never heard.
SB 755 (Lieu, 2011) among other things, extended the requirement
to develop a school safety plan to charter schools and
imposed a fine of between $250 and $1,000 on any principal,
administrator at a school without a principal, and any
superintendent of a school district or county office of
education for failing to develop a school safety plan or
failing to make specified reporting requirements. SB 755
was held by the Senate Appropriations Committee, gutted and
amended to relate to a different topic, and subsequently
held in the Senate Rules Committee.
AB 2501 (Lieu, 2010) was nearly identical to SB 755, and was
never heard by this Committee.
AB 2639 (Lieu, 2008) required each school district and county
office of education to annually submit to the California
Department of Education a report that includes a list of
schools within its jurisdiction that have and have not
developed a school safety plan. AB 2639 was held by the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 810 (Lieu, 2007) required the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI) to notify the Commission on Teacher
Credentialing (CTC) of a principal or schoolsite
administrator's failure to comply with requirements related
to the development and adoption of the school safety plan,
and required the CTC to suspend the principal or
administrator's credential for one year if he or she does
not correct the noncompliance within 30 days of receiving
the notice from the SPI. AB 810 was held by the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
7) Fiscal impact. This bill imposes unknown costs, as it
creates a mandate. The provisions of this bill that create
a mandate were not in the bill when it was heard in the
Assembly; therefore, no fiscal analysis has yet been
completed for the current version of this bill.
SUPPORT
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None on the current version of the bill.
OPPOSITION
None received.
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