BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1309
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Date of Hearing: June 22, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
SB
1309 (Leyva) - As Amended April 27, 2016
SENATE VOTE: 39-0
SUBJECT: Pupil discipline: expulsion hearings: county schools
SUMMARY: Establishes a process for expulsion of a pupil
enrolled in a school operated by a county office of education
(COE). Specifically, this bill:
1)Prohibits a pupil enrolled in a school operated by a COE from
being recommended for expulsion unless the principal of the
school in which the pupil is enrolled or his or her designee
determines that the pupil has committed an act for which a
pupil may be subject to suspension or expulsion under current
law and a hearing has been conducted.
2)Requires the county board of education to do either of the
following, if expulsion is recommended by a principal or his
or her designee:
a) Contract with the Office of Administrative Hearings
(OAH) for a hearing officer to conduct the expulsion
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hearing.
b) Appoint an impartial administrative panel consisting of
three or more certificated persons, none of whom is a
member of the county board of education or employed on the
staff of the school in which the pupil is enrolled, to
conduct the expulsion hearing.
3)Requires the hearing officer or the impartial administrative
panel to, if the decision is to expel, prepare and submit to
the county board of education findings of fact in support of
the decision to expel.
4)Requires the findings of fact to be based solely on the
evidence presented at the expulsion hearing.
5)Authorizes a pupil who has been expelled or his or her parent
or guardian to, within 30 days following the hearing officer's
or the impartial administrative panel's decision, file an
appeal to the county board of education, and requires the
county board of education to hold a hearing on the matter and
render a decision. Requires the appeal hearing to be held in
the same manner and have the same effect as the appeal process
established for a pupil enrolled in a school district.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Authorizes or requires a principal or a superintendent of
schools to suspend or expel a student committing any of a
number of specified acts. (EC Sections 48900, 48900.2,
48900.3, 48900.4, 48900.7, 48915)
2)Specifies the process for expulsion, the requirement for the
governing board of a school district to recommend a plan of
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rehabilitation for the pupil at the time of the expulsion
order, the process for readmission, the requirement for the
governing board to establish rules and regulations for
expulsions, the right of a pupil to have a hearing, the
timeline for the hearing, and the process for appealing an
expulsion. (EC Sections 48916, 48916.1, 48918, 48918.5,
48919, 48919.5, 48920, 48921, 48922, 48923, and 48924)
3)Requires county superintendent of schools in counties that
operate community schools, in conjunction with superintendents
of the school district in the county, to develop a plan for
providing education services to all expelled pupils in the
county. Requires the plan to enumerate existing educational
alternatives for expelled pupils, identify gaps in educational
services to expelled pupils, and strategies for filling those
service gaps. (EC Section 48926)
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
1)Estimated costs for contracting with the OAH to conduct an
expulsion hearing is $4,500. It is unknown how many hearings
the OAH would conduct. Costs would be $68,000 if 15 hearings
were conducted in a given year.
2)Statewide reimburseable state mandate costs could be in excess
of $50,000 in a given year. Actual costs would depend upon
the number of appeals that occur, which is currently unknown.
COMMENTS: Background. Under existing law, a principal or a
superintendent may suspend or recommend expulsion of a pupil for
committing any of a number of specified acts. For expulsions,
current law specifies three categories: 1) acts committed by a
pupil that result in immediate suspension and recommendation for
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expulsion; 2) acts committed by a pupil for which a principal or
superintendent must recommend expulsion, unless the principal or
superintendent finds that expulsion is inappropriate, due to the
particular circumstance; and 3) acts committed by a pupil for
which a principal or superintendent have discretion to determine
expulsion.
Upon a recommendation of expulsion of a pupil, a school district
governing board is required to hold a hearing and provide a
student and his or her parents or legal guardians written notice
that includes the charges upon which a proposed expulsion is
based, within specified timelines. In lieu of conducting the
hearing itself, existing law also authorizes the governing board
to contract with the county hearing officer or the OAH, or
appoint an impartial administrative panel of three or more
certificated individuals to conduct the hearing. The governing
board may meet in closed session, but the final action to expel
a pupil must be made in a public session. A pupil who is
expelled may file an appeal with the county board of education.
Existing law does not provide a process for expulsion of
students enrolled in COEs. COEs operate county community
schools for students who have been expelled from a school
district, juvenile court schools for students who are in
juvenile detention facilities, and provide career technical
education, special education and related services. The author
states, "Despite the existence of a detailed process for
handling student expulsion at the school district level, current
law remains silent on how expulsions should be handled by COE
operated schools. This lack of clarity does not ensure that
students have access to due process when going through expulsion
proceedings. There is no requirement in current law for a COE
to hold an expulsion hearing or to have an appeals hearing
following an expulsion. Furthermore, even if there is an
appeal, the situation could arise where the COE board hears and
decides on both the expulsion and the appeal."
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This bill establishes a process that is similar to the expulsion
process required of school districts. The bill prohibits a
pupil from being recommended for expulsion unless the principal
finds that the pupil has committed one of the 18 acts that may
lead to suspension or expulsion specified in the Education Code.
If an expulsion is recommended, instead of requiring the county
board of education to conduct a hearing, the bill requires the
county board of education to either contract with the OAH or
appoint an administrative panel comprised of three or more
certificated persons who are not employed at the school where
the pupil is enrolled or are members of the county board of
education. These options are similar to options available to
the governing boards of school districts should they choose not
to conduct hearings themselves. If an expulsion is recommended,
the bill requires the OAH or the administrative panel to submit
findings of fact, based solely on the evidence provided at the
hearing, to the county board of education. A pupil who has been
expelled or his or her parent or guardian may request an appeal
within 30 days of the OAH or administrative panel's decision.
The appeal hearing is conducted by the county board of
education, which is required to use the process a county board
of education typically uses to conduct appeals for students
expelled from district schools.
Do COEs expel students? According to the California County
Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA), most
COEs do not expel students. County boards of education that do
expel pupils either conduct hearings or convene administrative
panels, but do not have a process for appeals. Some COEs
initiate expulsion in order to "expel" the pupil from one county
operated program to another. Expulsion data reported by COEs to
the California Department of Education show that after excluding
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charter school expulsions<1>, there were only six expulsions
from county-operated schools operated by two COEs in 2014-15.
One of the COEs initiates an expulsion process only to expel a
student from one county-operated program to another and may not
count as true expulsions.
What happens to students who are expelled from COEs? When
students are expelled from district schools, schools districts
are required to notify the pupil and his/her parents or
guardians of the education alternative placement to be provided
to the pupil. Typically, students expelled from district
schools enroll in county operated programs. This bill does not
specify what happens to the pupils if they are expelled from
COEs. If the role of COEs is to educate those students for
which district schools are not appropriate (because they were
expelled, involved in the juvenile court system, etc.), where
would those students receive their required education if they
are expelled from COEs? The Los Angeles County Office of
Education and the Santa Clara County Office of Education operate
comprehensive high schools. Students expelled from these
schools can enroll in other COE-operated programs, such as
county community schools. Establishing an expulsion process for
COE-operated comprehensive high schools may make sense, but the
Committee may wish to consider whether COEs should be allowed to
expel students who were already expelled from district schools.
Due process rights. While similar, the process established by
this bill to provide due process protections to students
expelled from COEs is abbreviated and does not offer all the
same protections as those provided to district students, such as
providing students with written notice of the hearing that
---------------------------
<1>
Suspension and expulsion rates of charter schools authorized by
county boards of education are reported as COE statistics.
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includes the reasons for recommending expulsion, establishing
timelines, and allowing students to have representation. Upon a
recommendation by the OAH or the administrative panel to expel,
the bill also does not require the county board of education to
take action in a public meeting. Under current law, the
governing board of a school district is required to inform a
pupil and his/her parents or guardians of the alternative
placement of the pupil during the expulsion. This bill does not
include this requirement.
Staff recommends the following amendments:
1)Incorporate in the hearing process other due process rights
similar to those established in Education Code 48918 for
district students.
2)Upon a recommendation to expel by the OAH or the
administrative panel, require the county board of education to
take action in a public meeting.
3)Require the county board of education that upholds an
expulsion following an appeal to provide the pupil and the
pupil's parents or guardians with an education plan or
alternative placement.
4)Require the plan for providing education services to all
expelled students specified in EC Section 48926 to include
students expelled by COEs.
Related legislation. SB 322 (Leno), pending in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee, would, among other provisions,
establish procedures for the suspension and expulsion of pupils
in charter schools.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Federation of Teachers
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916)
319-2087