BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 320|
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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:
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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.
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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.
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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
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OPPOSITION: (Verified 5/27/15)
None received
Prepared by:Olgalilia Ramirez / ED. / (916) 651-4105
5/29/15 10:59:33
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