BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION Senator Carol Liu, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Bill No: AB 2519 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Author: |Calderon | |-----------+-----------------------------------------------------| |Version: |May 19, 2016 Hearing | | |Date: June 15, 2016 | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant:|Lynn Lorber | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 AB 2519 (Calderon) Page 2 of ? 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) AB 2519 (Calderon) Page 3 of ? 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. AB 2519 (Calderon) Page 4 of ? 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, AB 2519 (Calderon) Page 5 of ? 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 AB 2519 (Calderon) Page 6 of ? 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 AB 2519 (Calderon) Page 7 of ? None on the current version of the bill. OPPOSITION None received. -- END --