BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2262
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 28, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 2262 (Bradford) - As Amended: March 20, 2012
SUBJECT : School districts: governing boards: notification:
parent rights and responsibilities
SUMMARY : Authorizes the governing board of each school district
to, at the request of parents or guardians, provide the annual
notice of parent or guardian rights and responsibilities in an
electronic format.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires school districts to send a notification to parents or
guardians at the beginning of the first semester or quarter of
the regular school term with specified information, including
parent or guardian rights and responsibilities; discipline
policies; policies regarding excused/unexcused absences;
minimum day schedules and staff development days; the
California High School Exit Exam dates, the requirements for
passing the exam, the consequences of not passing the exam,
and that passing the exam is a condition of graduation; a copy
of the district's sexual harassment policy; requirements for
graduation, including a list of career technical education
courses that satisfy admission requirements for the California
State University and the University of California; pesticides
used at a schoolsite; and attendance options. (Education Code
(EC) Section 48980 - 48980.3)
2)Requires the notice to be sent at the time of registration for
the first semester or quarter of the regular school term.
Authorizes the notice to be sent by regular mail or by any
other method normally used to communicate with parents or
guardians in writing. (EC Section 48981)
3)Requires a parent or guardian to sign and return the notice to
school. Specifies that signature of the notice is an
acknowledgment by the parent or guardian that he has been
informed of his rights but does not indicate that consent to
participate in any particular program has either been given or
withheld. (EC Section 48982)
AB 2262
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4)Requires that if 15% or more of the pupils enrolled in a
public school speak a single primary language other than
English, as determined from the census data submitted to the
California Department of Education (CDE) in the preceding
year, all notices, reports, statements, or records sent to the
parent or guardian of any such pupil by the school or school
district shall, in addition to being written in English, be
written in the primary language, and may be responded to
either in English or the primary language. (EC Section 48985)
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Legislative Counsel, this bill
is non-fiscal.
COMMENTS : Under current law, local educational agencies are
required to provide an annual notice to parents and guardians to
inform them of their rights and responsibilities under specified
sections of the law and provide information deemed important or
helpful by the Legislature for parents or guardians to know.
The information required to be provided total more than 20 items
and include district policies on discipline, attendance,
excused/unexcused absences, fingerprinting, sexual harassment,
and residency; rights of parents or guardians to excuse their
pupils from sexual education classes and rights of students to
refrain from participation in an education project harmful to
animals; and information important for high school graduation
and entry into college. Parents or guardians are required to
sign a form to acknowledge receipt of the notification.
The length of the notices vary from district to district,
ranging from under 20 pages to over 100 pages. Some districts
combine the parent notice with other school policies and
procedures, resulting in a sizeable document (e.g.,
parent-student handbook). Current law authorizes school
districts to provide the notice by regular mail or by any other
method normally used to communicate with parents or guardians in
writing. This bill authorizes school districts to send the
notice via an electronic format (e.g., email or on the
district's Web site) if it is requested by a parent or guardian.
Current law is permissive and does not require school districts
to send the notices by mail. Districts are authorized to send
the notice by other means used to communicate with parents or
guardians in writing; districts can likely do this now.
However, in order to ensure that parents and guardians are not
AB 2262
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forced to receive electronic versions, electronic notifications
should only be an option for those families who choose that
option. This bill authorizes delivery via an electronic format
only if it is requested by parents or guardians.
This bill is sponsored by the Los Angeles Unified School
District (LAUSD), who states, "LAUSD faces its 5th consecutive
year of budget deficits, and it is currently wrestling with a
deficit of $390 million for FY 2012-13. In an effort to find
new and innovative ways to cut costs, LAUSD would like to have
the option to distribute parent-student handbooks
electronically?.The parent-student handbooks cost LAUSD
approximately $400,000 for printing and distribution. If half
of LAUSD's families elected to get the parent-student handbook
electronically, the District could save approximately $200,000 a
year."
Committee amendment . Staff recommends striking the amendment
authorizing the notification to be provided in hard copy or
electronic format in Section 1 of the bill. EC Section 48981
(Section 2 of the bill) specifies when notices are to be sent
and how they can be sent. The authority to send notices via an
electronic format proposed by this bill is most appropriate
under this section.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Los Angeles Unified School District
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087