BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 1309 Page 1 Date of Hearing: August 3, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Lorena Gonzalez, Chair SB 1309 (Leyva) - As Amended June 29, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Education |Vote:|7 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable: Yes SUMMARY: This bill establishes a process for expulsion of a student enrolled in a school operated by a county office of education (COE). Specifically, this bill: 1)Requires, if a principal or designee recommends a student for expulsion, the county board of education to contract with the SB 1309 Page 2 Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) to conduct the expulsion hearing or appoint an impartial administrative panel, as specified, to conduct the expulsion hearing. 2)Requires the OAH hearing officer or the impartial administrative panel to prepare and submit to the county board of education, findings of fact in support of a decision to expel. Final action to expel a student must be taken only by the county board of education in a public session. 3)Requires parents or guardians of the student to be provided with a written notice of the hearing at least 10 days before the date of the hearing, including a statement of specific facts and charges upon which the proposed expulsion is based. The notice must also inform parents of their right to be represented by legal counsel or by a nonattorney adviser. 4)Authorizes a student, or his or her guardian, within 30 days of a decision to expel, to file an appeal with the county board of education. Requires the county board of education to hold a hearing and determine the outcome. If the county board of education upholds an expulsion, the county superintendent of schools or his or her designee must provide the student, or the parent or guardian, a written notice of the decision to expel along with an education plan or notice of the education alternative placement. FISCAL EFFECT: 1)Unknown costs to the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) to conduct expulsion hearings, to the extent a county board of education chooses to contract with OAH. According to OAH, estimated costs for a one-day hearing are approximately $4,500. SB 1309 Page 3 There is no statewide data on the number of hearings that were conducted to determine whether a student attending a county school should be suspended or expelled. Although only six students were expelled from county schools last year, over 7,000 students were suspended from these schools. It is possible that some of the suspension cases began as expulsion cases. For illustration, if OAH was required to conduct 50 hearings, OAH would incur costs in the range of $225,000 (special funds). 2)Unknown Proposition 98/GF state mandated costs, likely in the tens of thousands, for county boards of education to amend their education plan to include a plan for students expelled from a county school and to process expulsion appeals. Actual costs will depend upon the number of appeals. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. Existing law does not provide a process for expulsion of students enrolled in COEs. According to the author, although there is a detailed process for handling student expulsion at the school district level, current law is 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, if there is an appeal, the situation could arise where the COE board hears and decides both the expulsion and the appeal. This bill establishes a process that is similar to the expulsion process required of school districts. SB 1309 Page 4 2)Background on COEs and expulsion. COEs operate county community schools for students who have been expelled from a school district. COEs also run juvenile court schools for students who are in juvenile detention facilities and provide career technical education, special education and related services. Although rare, some COEs run comprehensive schools. Los Angeles County Office of Education and the Santa Clara County Office, for example, operate comprehensive high schools. Typically, students expelled from district schools enroll in county operated programs. Generally, COEs do not expel students. If a student is expelled from a county school, they are likely to be enrolled in other COE-operated programs, such as county community schools. 3)Impact on OAH. School district governing boards currently have the option to conduct a hearing for expulsion or to contract with OAH or an impartial administrative panel to conduct the hearing. Most governing boards conduct their own hearings. OAH indicates they have never been contacted by a school board to conduct an expulsion hearing. This bill will require the county board to contract with OAH, or develop an impartial administrative panel, to conduct the expulsion hearing since the county board is also the body that processes appeals. Therefore, OAH will likely receive requests to conduct hearings as a result of this bill. Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916) 319-2081 SB 1309 Page 5