Amended in Assembly June 30, 2015

Amended in Senate March 26, 2015

Senate BillNo. 320


Introduced by Senator Lara

February 23, 2015


An act to amend Section 49013 of the Education Code, relating to pupil fees.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 320, as amended, Lara. Pupil fees: complaint of noncompliance: regulations.

Existing law prohibits a pupil enrolled in a public school from being required to pay a pupil fee for participation in an educational activity. Existing law authorizes a complaint of noncompliance to be filed with the principal of a school for violation of that prohibition, as specified, and required public schools to establish local policies and procedures to implement the complaint provisions.

This bill would prohibit a public school from establishing a local policy or procedure that authorizes the public school to resolve a complaint by providing a remedy to the complainant without also providing a remedy to all affected pupils, parents, and guardians, as provided. The bill would authorize the Superintendent of Public Instruction to ensure that an appeal that the State Department of Education finds merit in is resolved in a timely manner and would require the Superintendent, on or before June 30, 2016, to adopt regulations to govern the use of that authority, as specified.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 49013 of the Education Code is amended
2to read:

3

49013.  

(a) A complaint of noncompliance with the
4requirements of this article may be filed with the principal of a
5school under the Uniform Complaint Procedures set forth in
6Chapter 5.1 (commencing with Section 4600) of Division 1 of
7Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations.

8(b) A complaint may be filed anonymously if the complaint
9provides evidence or information leading to evidence to support
10an allegation of noncompliance with the requirements of this
11article.

12(c) A complainant not satisfied with the decision of a public
13school may appeal the decision to the department and shall receive
14a written appeal decision within 60 days of the department’s receipt
15of the appeal.

16(d) If a public school finds merit in a complaint, or the
17department finds merit in an appeal, the public school shall provide
18a remedy to all affected pupils, parents, and guardians that, where
19applicable, includes reasonable efforts by the public school to
20ensure full reimbursement to all affected pupils, parents, and
21guardians, subject to procedures established through regulations
22adopted by the state board.

23(e) Information regarding the requirements of this article shall
24be included in the annual notification distributed to pupils, parents
25and guardians, employees, and other interested parties pursuant to
26Section 4622 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations.

27(f) Public schools shall establish local policies and procedures
28to implement the provisions of this section on or before March 1,
292013. A public school shall not establish a local policy or procedure
30pursuant to this subdivision that authorizes the public school to
31resolve a complaint filed pursuant to this section, whether formally
32or informally, by providing a remedy to the complainant without
33also providing a remedy to all affected pupils, parents, and
34guardians, as required by subdivision (d).

35(g) The Superintendent shall have all power and authority
36necessary to ensure that, when the department finds merit in an
37appeal filed pursuant to this section, the complaint is resolved
38pursuant to subdivision (d) in a timely manner. On or before June
P3    130, 2016, the Superintendent shall adopt regulations to govern the
2use of this authority. The regulations shall include, but are not
3limited to, provisions that do all of the following:

4(1) Specify that, if the department finds merit in an appeal filed
5pursuant to this section, the department’s written decision shall
6identify with specificity the corrective action that the public school
7begin delete mustend deletebegin insert shallend insert take to confirm that it has provided a remedy to all
8affected pupils, including, if applicable, specific direction regarding
9the reasonable efforts the public school shall take to ensure full
10reimbursement to all affected pupils.

11(2) Specifybegin delete that the department mayend deletebegin insert that, if the public school
12failed to address an issue raised in the complaint filed pursuant
13to this section in the public school’s decision about that complaint,
14the department shall require the public school to respond to the
15issue within 10 business days and, after providing this opportunity
16to respond, the department shallend insert
make findings on the merit of the
17appeal without remanding the complaint to the public school for
18further consideration, regardless of whether the public school
19begin delete addressed an issue in its decision about the underlying complaint,
20and may rely on evidence presented for the first time on appeal,
21if the department concludes such evidence is reliable.end delete
begin insert provided
22the required response.end insert

begin insert

23(3) Specify that, if the complainant submits evidence in
24conjunction with the appeal that is related to an issue raised in
25the underlying complaint and that is presented for the first time
26on appeal, the department shall notify the public school of the new
27evidence and provide the public school with 10 business days to
28respond to the new evidence, and, after providing this opportunity
29to respond, the department shall make findings on the merit of the
30appeal without remanding the complaint to the public school for
31further consideration, regardless of whether the public school
32provided the required response.

end insert
begin insert

33(4) Specify that, if the complainant raises one or more issues
34on appeal that were not presented in the underlying complaint,
35the department shall remand any new issue to the public school
36to treat as a newly filed complaint as provided in this section, but
37shall resolve the remainder of the appeal as provided in this
38section.

end insert
begin delete

39(3)

end delete

P4    1begin insert(5)end insert Require the public school to provide to the department,
2within 60 days of the department’s written decision, evidence
3documenting that the public school has complied with any
4corrective action specified in the written decision and the
5requirements of subdivision (d).

begin delete

6(4)

end delete

7begin insert(6)end insert If the public school has not satisfied the requirement in
8paragraphbegin delete (3),end deletebegin insert (5),end insert require the superintendent of the school district
9or the county office of education or the principal of the charter
10school, as appropriate based on the public school involved in the
11underlying complaint, to appear at the next regularly scheduled
12meeting of the state board to explain the public school’s failure to
13satisfy that requirement.



O

    97