BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 320| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: SB 320 Author: Lara (D) Amended: 3/26/15 Vote: 21 SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 9-0, 4/22/15 AYES: Liu, Runner, Block, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan, Vidak SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 6-1, 5/28/15 AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza NOES: Nielsen SUBJECT: Pupil fees: complaint of noncompliance: regulations SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill authorizes the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to ensure appeals regarding pupil fees are resolved in a timely manner and prohibits a school from establishing a local policy that authorizes resolution of a complaint by only providing a remedy to the complainant without also providing a remedy to all affected students, parents, and guardians. ANALYSIS: Existing law: SB 320 Page 2 1)Establishes that state-supported educational opportunities have a right to be enjoyed without regard to economic status and prohibits school officials from requiring any pupil, except for pupils in classes for adults, to purchase any instructional material for the pupils' use in the school. (Education Code § 51004 and § 60070) 2)Specifies that a pupil enrolled in a school shall not be required to pay a pupil fee, deposit or other charge imposed for participation in any educational activity offered by a school, school district, charter school, or county office of education that constitutes an integral fundamental part of elementary and secondary education including curricular and extracurricular activities. (EC § 49011 and § 49010) 3)Provides that a complaint regarding pupil fees may be filed with the principal of a school under the Uniform Complaint Procedures (UCP). The complaint may be filed anonymously. If a public school finds merit in the complaint, then the public school is required to provide a remedy to all affected pupils, parents and guardians that, where applicable, includes reasonable efforts to ensure full reimbursement. A complainant who is dissatisfied with a local educational agency's (LEA's) decision may appeal the decision to the California Department of Education (CDE). The complainant shall receive a written appeal decision within 60 days of CDE's receipt of the appeal. (EC § 49013) This bill: 1)Prohibits a school from establishing a local policy that authorizes resolution of a complaint by only providing a remedy to the complainant without also providing a remedy to all affected students, parents, and guardians. 2)Delegates all power and authority necessary to the SPI to ensure timely resolution of any compliant found to have merit. 3)Requires the SPI to adopt regulations by June 30, 2016, that include but are not limited to the following provisions: a) Upon finding merit in an appeal, require CDE to specify the remedy a school must take to resolve the complaint. SB 320 Page 3 b) Authorize CDE, as appropriate, to resolve an appeal based on newly presented evidence without sending the case back to the school. c) Require the school to provide evidence to CDE of the corrective action taken within 60 days of the decision. d) If the school fails to provide corrective action, require the appropriate school or district administrator as specified to appear before the state board and explain the school's failure to fulfill the requirement. Comments 1)Need for the bill. According to the author, despite existing law, some schools continue to charge unlawful school fees, and the complaint process does not always function in the manner intended. Subsequently, parents have reported that schools continue to resolve complaints by reimbursing only the family that filed the complaint and have experienced long delays in the process due to appeals going back and forth from CDE and the school. This bill seeks to strengthen the local pupil fee complaint process and CDE's authority over appeals in order to improve the process for parents while establishing clear guidelines for schools. 2)What is a pupil fees complaint? According to CDE, an unlawful pupil fees complaint is a written statement alleging violation of a federal or state law or regulation related to noncompliance with laws relating to pupil fees. A complaint alleging a violation must be filed with the school through UCPs outlined in regulations (CCR, Title 5, §§ 4600-4687 and EC §§ 4910-49013). a) These procedures include among other things: i) Upon filing the school has 60 days to complete the investigation and prepare a final report. ii) If there is disagreement with the school's decision, the complainant can submit an appeal to CDE within 15 days of receiving the final decision. SB 320 Page 4 iii) If CDE finds merit in the complaint, the school is required to provide a remedy to all affected students, parents, and guardians where applicable. This bill statutorily clarifies the specific procedure which must be followed by a school district in order to remedy a complaint. It also clearly delegates power and authority to the SPI to ensure timely resolution of any complaints found by the SPI to have merit. 3)Appearing before the State Board of Education (SBE). SBE is the K-12 policy-making body for academic standards, curriculum, instructional materials, assessments and accountability. The SBE adopts instructional materials for use in grades K-8. The SBE also adopts regulations (Title 5) to implement a wide variety of programs created by the Legislature, such as charter schools, and special education. In addition, the SBE has the authority to grant LEA requests for waivers of certain provisions of the state Education Code. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: No According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: This bill results in unknown, but potentially significant, costs for schools to comply with the additional requirements related to student fee complaints. CDE indicates the need for 1.5 additional positions and $192,000 General Fund to implement the requirements of this bill. However, it appears that the majority of the workload imposed by this bill may be temporary in nature. SUPPORT: (Verified 5/27/15) American Civil Liberties Union California Association for Bilingual Education California Teachers Association Californians Together SB 320 Page 5 OPPOSITION: (Verified 5/27/15) None received Prepared by:Olgalilia Ramirez / ED. / (916) 651-4105 5/29/15 10:59:33 **** END ****