BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 2519 (Calderon) - School safety plans
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|Version: June 22, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: August 1, 2016 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill requires school safety plans to include
strategies that prevent, respond to, and educate on potential
incidents involving crime, violence, or medical emergency on the
school campus and before and after school activities.
Fiscal
Impact:
Unknown reimbursable state mandate costs, potentially in the
hundreds of thousands to incorporate the new content required
by this bill into each school's safety plan. See staff
comments. (Proposition 98)
The California Department of Education indicates any workload
costs generated by this bill would be minor.
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Background: Existing law provides that each school district and county
office of education is responsible for the overall development
of all comprehensive school safety plans for its schools
operating kindergarten through grade 12. A safety plan is
defined as a plan to develop strategies aimed at the prevention
of, response to, and education about, potential incidents
involving crime and violence on school campus. (Education Code
§ 32282)
Each school site council, if one exists, is required to develop
the plan but is authorized to delegate this responsibility to a
school safety planning committee made up of specified members.
School safety plans are required to be evaluated at least once a
year. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, 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)
The safety plan is required to include the following components:
(1) an assessment of the current status of school crime
committed on school campus and at school-related functions, and
(2) identification of strategies that will provide a high level
of school safety and address the school's procedures for
complying with existing laws related to school safety, which
include the development of all of the following:
Child abuse reporting procedures.
Disaster procedures, as specified.
Policies for students who committed an act listed in Education
Code Section 48915(c) and other school-designated serious acts
that would lead to suspense, expulsion, or mandatory expulsion
recommendations.
Procedures to notify teachers of dangerous students.
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A discrimination and harassment policy, as specified.
The provisions of any school-wide dress code that prohibits
students from wearing "gang-related apparel," if the school
has adopted that type of a dress code.
Procedures for safe ingress and egress of students, parents,
and school employees to and from school.
A safe and orderly environment conducive to learning at
school.
The rules and procedures on school discipline, as specified.
(EC § 32282)
According to the author, this bill is necessary to ensure that
school safety plans are developed for before and after school
activities.
Proposed Law:
This bill:
Expands required components of the comprehensive school safety
plan to include 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.
Expands the scope of the safety plan to apply to activities
before and after school.
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Adds a coach, if one exists at a school, to the list of
required members of a school safety planning committee that
may be delegated in place of a school site council, or
required if a school site council does not exist, to develop a
comprehensive school safety plan.
Staff
Comments: This bill expands an existing reimbursable state
mandate by: (1) adding another element to be included in the
plan, and (2) broadening the scope of the entire plan to apply
to before and after school activities. As described in the
Background section, there are numerous existing required
elements for the safety plan. This bill would require these
procedures to also take into account before and after school
activities (e.g. athletics and club meetings).
This bill also requires the school safety plan to include 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. The interpretation
of what these strategies would include would be left to schools
to decide. Based on the previous mandate to include a
discrimination and harassment policy, reimbursable activities
would be related to one-time activities to develop the
procedures for inclusion in the safety plan which would include
consulting with a law enforcement agency representative and
other school site councils or school safety planning committees,
where practical. Ongoing activities would be to annually review
the plan, including the new elements required by this bill.
Ultimately the costs for this bill are unknown. Prior to the
establishment of the K-12 Mandate Block Grant, the annual cost
for the school safety plan mandate has historically been about
$3 million per year, though the costs to marginally adjust the
plan have typically not been significant. However, if each
school (excluding charter schools as they are exempt) spent just
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one hour at a staff rate of $50 per hour to incorporate the
additional information in the school safety plan and submitted a
successful claim to the Commission on State Mandates, statewide
costs would be $500,000.
Staff notes that with the funding enacted in the 2016-17 Budget
Act to pay down owed mandate claims, the estimated outstanding
debt is estimated to be $1.6 billion by the end of the current
budget year.
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