BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 1400
AUTHOR: Fong
AMENDED: June 29, 2009
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: July 8, 2009
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Beth Graybill
SUBJECT : Community Colleges: Student expulsion and
enrollment.
SUMMARY:
This bill authorizes a community college district, under
specified circumstances, to deny or condition enrollment to
an individual who has been expelled or is being considered
for expulsion from a California Community College for certain
violent or serious offenses as specified.
BACKGROUND
Existing law requires a California Community College (CCC)
district to admit any California resident and may admit any
nonresident, possessing a high school diploma or the
equivalent thereof. CCC district governing boards may admit
persons who are over the age of 18 who do not possess a high
school diploma or its equivalent who are capable of profiting
from the instruction offered and are also authorized to admit
high school students if their high school governing boards
determine the student would benefit from advanced scholastic
or vocational work. Under current law, the governing board
of a CCC district may only exclude "students of filthy or
vicious habits, or students suffering from contagious or
infectious diseases" and "may exclude from attendance in
regular classes students whose physical or mental disability
is such as to cause his or her attendance to be inimical to
the welfare of other students."
Existing law authorizes a CCC to expel a student for good
cause when other means of correction fail to bring about
proper conduct, or when the presence of the student causes a
continuing danger to the physical safety of the student or
others. The expulsion is required to be accompanied by a
hearing.
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Existing federal law specifies that student disciplinary
records are protected by the Family Educational Rights and
Privacy Act (FERPA) and are subject to the general
requirement that records regarding identifiable students
cannot be shared without the student's consent or a court
order. Current state law also provides these protections.
Existing law, the California Tort Claims Act, gives public
entities, including state and local governments, general
immunity from liability for injuries that may arise from an
act or an omission and extends that immunity to public
employees as specified.
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Authorizes a governing board of a community college
district to deny enrollment or permit conditional
enrollment to a student who has been expelled or is
being considered for expulsion from another district
within the preceding 10 years for specified violent and
criminal offenses upon determining through a hearing
that the individual poses a continuing danger to the
physical safety of the students and employees in the
district. Defines violent offenses to include:
a) Committed or attempted to commit murder;
b) Caused, attempted to cause, or threatened to
cause physical injury to another person, including
assault or battery, as defined, except in
self-defense;
c) Committed or attempted to commit a sexual
assault, as defined, or committed sexual battery,
as defined;
d) Committed or attempted to commit kidnapping,
or seized, confined, inveigled, enticed, decoyed,
abducted, concealed, kidnapped, or carried away
another person by any means with the intent to hold
or detain that person for ransom or reward;
e) Committed or attempted to commit robbery;
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f) Committed stalking, as defined;
g) Possessed, sold, or otherwise furnished a
firearm, knife, explosive, or other dangerous
objects.
2) Authorizes a California Community College (CCC) district
to request information from another community college
district in determining whether the applicant continues
to pose a danger to the physical safety of others and
requires any community college district receiving a
request to respond no later than five working days from
the receipt of the request.
3) Authorizes a governing board of a CCC to deny, permit,
or condition enrollment of individuals who have been
expelled from another CCC for one of the defined acts
and requires the determination to be based on a hearing
conducted in accordance with the rules and regulations
governing student conduct that is adopted by the
governing board of the district.
4) Requires a student who has been previously expelled from
a community college for any of the specified actions and
who seeks admission in another
community college district to inform the receiving
district of his or her prior expulsion.
5) Authorizes a governing board to delegate authority
granted by this act to a district superintendent,
president or other designee, as specified.
6) Grants a student who is denied enrollment the right to
appeal the decision to the district governing board.
7) Specifies that the measure does not impose a duty to
review applicants for admission or review previously
enrolled students, whether returning or continuing, or
to conduct a hearing in response to the receipt of any
information regarding a potential, former, or existing
student.
8) Specifies that a community college district, its
governing board members, district officers or employees,
including the superintendent, a college president, or
designees of those individuals, shall not be liable for
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an injury as a result of exercising discretion pursuant
to this act.
9) Provides for reimbursement to California Community
College (CCC) districts if the Commission on State
Mandates determines that this bill contains state
mandated costs.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Discipline and expulsion from a CCC . Existing law
requires the CCCs to adopt rules for student conduct
standards and related penalties for violating those
standards. A CCC district is authorized to expel a
student for good cause, which may include assault,
battery, or any threat of force or violence upon a
student or college personnel, willful misconduct that
results in injury or death to a student or college
personnel, or defacing district property, or the use,
sale, or possession on campus of controlled substance or
specified poisons. Under current law, the conduct for
which a student may be removed, suspended, or expelled
must be related to college activity or college
attendance. According to the author's office, there are
relatively few students expelled each year for violent
and criminal offenses; data from a survey of 55 CCC
campuses indicated that less than 25 students were
expelled in the 2007-08 academic year for reasons that
included threats and assault of students/school
personnel, vandalism of school property, and possession
of a weapon on campus.
2) Need for the bill . Under current law, a student who is
expelled from a community college district for a serious
or violent act is free to enroll in a different
community college district without that district's
knowledge of his or her expulsion from the first
district. The General Counsel for the California
Community Colleges Chancellor's Office has opined that
"even if the receiving college becomes aware of the
expulsion, there is no current authority to restrict a
student admission based on past conduct, even if that
conduct occurred at another community college district."
The sponsors of this bill contend that the inability to
deny admission to students who have previously been
expelled from other community colleges for certain
offenses poses a threat to students, faculty, and staff.
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This bill does not address students expelled from the
California State University (CSU) or the University of
California (UC) who seek admission to a community
college.
3) Practices of other systems . According to the author's
office, the California Community Colleges are the only
postsecondary education institutions that do not have an
established authority or process for denying admission
to individuals who have been expelled from a college
within the system.
According to the UC, a student who is expelled from a campus
within the UC system may be considered for readmission
only under exceptional circumstances. The student may
not be admitted to a different UC campus without the
express approval of the Chancellor of the campus to
which the expelled student has applied. The Student
Conduct Procedures for the CSU afford students due
process in discipline proceedings and provide guidance
to campuses to address student misconduct. These
procedures specify that students who are expelled from a
CSU campus are expelled from the entire system.
Admission or readmission to the CSU may be qualified,
revoked, or denied to any person found to have violated
the Student Conduct Code.
In the state's K-12 system, a pupil who is expelled from a
school district may be enrolled in another district
during or after the period of expulsion, only after the
second school district holds a hearing to determine
whether the individual poses a continuing danger either
to the pupils or employees of the school district. AB
1400 establishes a process that is similar to that used
in the K-12 system.
SUPPORT
Kern Community College District
Peralta Community College District
Rio Hondo Community College District
San-Jose Evergreen Community College District
OPPOSITION
None received.
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