BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 322 (Leno) - Charter schools: pupils: suspension and
expulsion: admissions: departures.
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|Version: May 13, 2015 |Policy Vote: ED. 7 - 2 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: May 18, 2015 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill: (1) adds admission preferences in the event
a random drawing for attendance is necessary; (2) establishes
conditions for additional attendance preferences on an
individual charter school basis; (3) establishes provisions for
which charter schools must comply regarding pupil suspension and
expulsion; and (4) requires a charter school, upon a student's
expulsion or departure, to report the reason within 10 days.
This bill also requires each school district to draft and
implement a policy to annually collect data about teacher
turnover at each of its schools, and at each charter school it
authorizes.
Fiscal
Impact:
This bill results in unknown, potentially significant, costs
to charter authorizers likely to be in the low millions.
These costs include: (1) charter authorizers to review and
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approve amended charters to conform to procedures and to
provide oversight of these requirements, and (2) for districts
to create and implement a policy to annually collect data
about teacher turnover. Costs to charter authorizers for
oversight activities and to school districts for data tracking
would likely be considered a reimbursable state mandate.
Costs imposed on charter schools would not be reimbursable.
Background:
Charter Schools
Under existing law, the Charter Schools Act of 1992 provides for
the establishment of charter schools in California for the
purpose, among other things, to improve student learning and
expand learning experiences for pupils who are identified as
academically low achieving. A charter school may be authorized
by a school district, a county board of education, or the State
Board of Education, as specified. Some charter schools are new
while others are conversions from existing schools. Except
where specifically noted otherwise, California law exempts
charter schools from many of the statutes and regulations that
apply to schools and school districts. The legislative intent
of the Charter Schools Act was to provide opportunities for
teachers, parents, pupils, and community members to establish
and maintain schools that operate independently from a school
district structure that would afford parents and pupils with
expanded educational choices, offer new professional
opportunities for teachers to be responsible for the learning
program at the school site, and create competition within the
public school system to stimulate continual improvements in all
public schools.
Current law requires that charter schools: 1) are nonsectarian
in their programs, admission policies, employment practices, and
all other operations; 2) not charge tuition; and 3) not
discriminate against any pupil on the basis of the
characteristics, as specified. Admission to a charter school
may not be determined according to the place of residence of the
pupil, or of his or her parent or legal guardian, within the
state, except that an existing public school converting to a
charter school must adopt and maintain a policy giving
admissions preference to pupils who reside within the former
attendance area of that public school. (Education Code § 47605,
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et. seq.)
Parents, teachers, or community members may initiate a charter
petition, which is typically presented to and approved by a
local school district governing board. The law also allows,
under certain circumstances, for county boards of education and
the State Board of Education to authorize charter schools. The
specific goals for a charter school are detailed in the
agreement (charter) between the authorizing entity and the
charter developer. The charter petition is also required to
include a description of the educational program of the school
and several other policies and procedures relating to employees,
pupils, and finances. Current law establishes procedures for
the renewal of charter schools, not to exceed five years.
If a pupil is expelled or leaves the charter school without
graduating or completing the school year for any reason, the
charter school is required to notify the superintendent of the
school district of the pupil's last known address within 30
days, and shall upon request provide that school district with a
copy of the cumulative record of the pupil, including a
transcript of grades or report card, and health information.
This provision applies only to pupils subject to compulsory
full-time education.
Proposed Law:
This bill:
1. Adds the intent of the Legislature to do all of the
following:
A. Ensure equal access to interested pupils at
charter schools and prohibit practices that discourage
enrollment or disproportionately push out segments of
already enrolled students.
B. Ensure that charter school discipline policies
are fair and transparent.
C. Ensure that a pupil's constitutional right to
due process is protected at charter schools.
D. Consistent with Section 5 of Article IX of the
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California Constitution, ensure that charter schools
operate within the system of common schools by
remaining"?free, nonsectarian and open to all
students?," as stated in Wilson v. State Board of
Education (1999) 75 Cal.App.4th 1125, 1137-38
E. Gather data on student and teacher turnover in
charter schools.
2. Modifies the required components of a petition for the
establishment of a charter school, specifically, the
comprehensive descriptions of admission policies and
procedures by which students are suspended or expelled, to
be consistent with items 3, 4, 5, and 6 below.
3. Adds siblings of students currently attending the
charter school and children of employees at the charter
school as preferences for attending a charter school in the
event a public random drawing is necessary in determining
the admission of students to the school and provides for
other preferences to be established on an individual
charter school basis, as outlined below.
A. Preferences on a charter school basis must
abide by the following requirements:
i. Each type of preference must be
approved by the charter school at a public
hearing;
ii. They are consistent with federal
law and the California Constitution;
iii. They must ensure access for
students with disabilities, academically
low-achieving students, English learners, and
low-income students, as specified; and
iv. They must not require mandatory
parental volunteer hours as a criterion for
admission or continued enrollment.
4. Requires charter school suspension and expulsion
procedures to meet the following requirement:
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A. The constitutional due process requirement of
providing notice and an opportunity to be heard before
restricting a student's entitlement to public
education.
5. For expulsions, procedures must ensure the following:
A. The student is entitled to a formal hearing to
determine if the student is to be expelled.
B. At the hearing, the student has, or the
student's parents or guardian have, a right to appear
in person or to be represented, as specified.
C. At least 10 days before the proposed hearing
date, the student is provided written notice of the
hearing date to include information as specified.
D. If it is determined that the student is to be
expelled, the person or persons that made the
determination must issue a written decision
identifying the basis of the decision, as specified.
E. A record of the hearing is made so that a
written transcription of the proceedings can be made.
6. Provides that unless a charter school has adopted
procedures for the expulsion of students that are
consistent with those set forth in this bill and follows
those procedures, a student's departure from the charter
school is not to be considered as an expulsion pursuant to
existing law.
7. Reduces the timeline (from 30 days to 10 days) in which
a charter school is currently required to notify the school
district if a student is expelled or leaves the charter
school, and also requires the charter school to also
include in the copy of the cumulative report of the student
to be provided to the school district, the reason for the
student's departure.
8. Authorizes a charter school to encourage parental
involvement but requires the charter school to notify the
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parents and guardians of applicant students and currently
enrolled students that parental involvement is not a
requirement for acceptance to, or continued enrollment at,
the charter school.
9. Requires each school district to draft and implement a
policy to annually collect data about teacher turnover at
each of its schools, and at each charter school it
authorizes.
Related
Legislation: AB 1034 (Gatto, 2011) proposed to require charter
schools to report specified pupil data and make changes to
statutes governing charter school admission practices. AB 1034
was vetoed by Governor Brown with the following veto message:
Charter schools are established to encourage the widest
possible range of innovation and creativity. Their
governing charters reflect the ideas and aspirations of
those willing to undertake this profoundly difficult
challenge. It is critical that they have the flexibility
to set admission criteria and parent involvement practices
that are consistent with the school's mission.
Staff
Comments: This bill likely results in costs in the following
areas:
Charter Schools: Current law requires charter petitions to
contain reasonably comprehensive descriptions of various items
including admissions requirements and suspension and expulsion
procedures. This bill requires these procedures to be
consistent with changes in admissions preferences and
requirements for suspension and expulsion included in this bill.
Additional costs for charters to conform to these requirements
such as: developing new policies, staff training on
requirements, amending charters, and implementing new policies,
would have to be absorbed locally since charters are ineligible
to claim reimbursement of costs resulting from state mandates.
They do receive a share of the K-12 mandate block grant funding,
but the funding does not address additional costs resulting from
this bill.
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Charter Authorizer Oversight Activities: State level costs
could be incurred as a result of material revisions to charters
so that they conform to the admissions, suspension, and
expulsion procedures included this bill. Material revisions to
charters are governed by the standards and criteria that apply
to new petitions. Existing law provides that renewals and
material revisions of charters include a reasonably
comprehensive description of any new requirement of charter
school enacted into law after the charter was originally granted
or last renewed. Assuming that the bill's requirements
constitute material revisions to charters, this would increase
costs to the charter authorizer to review and conduct a public
hearing on the provisions of the charter. Assuming these
activities would increase workload to the authorizer by 10 hours
for each charter school at a standard staffing rate of $50 per
hour, including benefits, costs could be in the hundreds of
thousands statewide and could be reimbursable under state
mandate law.
Oversight of compliance to these procedures may marginally
increase oversight workload of the charter authorizer since they
are already required to provide oversight in these categories.
Additional costs for charter authorizers to provide oversight
would add to costs for existing charter oversight reimbursable
state mandates.
Track Teacher Turnover: This bill requires each school district
to draft and implement a policy to annually collect data about
teacher turnover at each of its schools, including each charter
school it authorizes. This provision could be determined to be
a reimbursable state mandate by the Commission on State
Mandates. One-time costs would be incurred to develop the plan
and ongoing costs would be to annually collect data. Assuming
developing the plan and collecting required data would take the
school district 20 hours to 40 hours at a rate of $50 per hour,
including benefits, costs could be $1 million to $2 million to
school districts.
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