BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 1799 (Bradford) - Pupil Records.
Amended: June 27, 2012 Policy Vote: Education 9-0
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: August 6, 2012
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 1799 requires that, if a pupil transfers from
one school to another within the state, the pupil's permanent
record be transferred from the former school within 10
schooldays after receiving a request for the record from the new
school of enrollment.
Fiscal Impact: This bill is unlikely to result in new costs to
any school district that would meet the minimum threshold
($1,000) for filing a claim for mandate reimbursement as a
result of its imposition of a 10-day deadline.
Background: Existing law requires that whenever a pupil
transfers from one school district to another or to a private
school, or transfers from a private school to a public school,
the pupil's permanent record or a copy, shall be transferred by
the former school upon request to the school where the pupil
intends to enroll. In addition, existing law authorizes the
State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt rules and regulations
concerning the transfer of records. (Education Code � 49068)
Existing law specifically requires the former local educational
agency (LEA) to transfer a foster youth, and that pupil's
educational information and records to the new LEA within two
business days from the date that a request is made by a county
placing agency. (EC � 49069.9)
Existing law also requires the school district, where a student
with disabilities is now enrolled, to "promptly acquire" a new
pupil's records, including the Individualized Education Plan
(IEP), if one exists, from the former school district; and
requires the former district to supply these records within 5
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business days of a request from the new district of enrollment.
(EC � 56043)
Proposed Law: AB 1799 requires that, if a pupil transfers from
one school to another within the state, the pupil's permanent
record or a copy of it shall be transferred from the former
school within 10 schooldays following the date the request is
received from the new school.
Related Legislation: AB 1065 (Bradford) 2011 required a school
district or a private school to transfer a pupil's permanent
record to his or her new school district or private school of
enrollment no later than five business days following the date
of the request, as specified. This measure was held under
submission in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Staff Comments: Existing law requires that the former school
district or private school of a transferring pupil to provide
that pupil's permanent record, or a copy of that record, to the
pupil's new school district or private school, upon request of
the new school. This bill places a 10-schoolday deadline for the
completion of activities already mandated in existing law; those
activities are unlikely to take more than 15 minutes of employee
time to complete.
Upon receiving a request from the new school, the former school
must access the transferring student's permanent record and
either make a photocopy of it or mail the original to the
receiving school. Those activities and costs (such as postage)
are already required. It would be very difficult for a school
district to successfully argue that requiring a minor task be
completed within 10 schooldays increases a school's costs to
comply with its duties under existing law. While legislative
counsel has identified that this bill technically expands an
existing mandate, the imposition of this deadline is unlikely to
result in successful mandate claims.
Existing law also imposes a deadline within which those records
of pupils with disabilities or in other specified circumstances
must be provided. This bill specifies that nothing in this
measure shall be construed to supersede any other federal or
state law governing the transfer of pupil records for specified
pupil populations.
Existing law authorizes the State Board of Education (SBE) to
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adopt rules and regulations concerning the transfer of pupil
records. This bill neither abrogates nor expands that authority;
it simply places the statement of authority in a new
subdivision.