BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-12 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 453
AUTHOR: Correa
AMENDED: April 25, 2011
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 27, 2011
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Beth Graybill
SUBJECT : Pupil suspension and expulsion: Bullying.
SUMMARY
This bill expands the definition of bullying to include acts
motivated by specified actual or perceived characteristics of
the victim, adds bullying, as specified, to the list of acts
for which expulsion may be recommended, and requires school
safety plans to include policies and procedures relating to
bullying.
BACKGROUND
Existing law prohibits the suspension or the recommendation
of a pupil for expulsion from school unless a school district
superintendent or the principal of the school determines that
the pupil has committed certain specified acts, including
having engaged in an act of bullying. Existing law defines
bullying to include an act of sexual harassment or hate
violence, threats or intimidation directed against school
pupils or personnel, or bullying committed by electronic
means, as specified. (Education Code � 48900)
Existing law requires a principal or a superintendent of
schools to recommend the expulsion of a pupil who commits
specified acts at school or a school activity off grounds,
unless the principal or the superintendent finds the
expulsion to be inappropriate due to the particular
circumstance. (EC � 48915)
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Declares the Legislature's intent to enact antibullying
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legislation that will be known as the Michael Joseph
Berry Bullying Prevention Bill of 2011. Makes findings
and declarations regarding the prevalence of bullying in
public schools and its impact on academic performance
and self-esteem. Finds that technology and the internet
has led to a proliferation of cyber bullying and finds
that students with disabilities are two to three times
more likely to be bullied than non-disabled students.
2) Requires comprehensive school safety plans, as they are
reviewed and updated, to the extent that resources are
available, to include policies and procedures to ensure
that appropriate strategies, resources, training, and
other prevention and intervention efforts are in place
to deal with the remediation and termination of
bullying; requires policies and procedures to include
protections and safeguards as specified and the
provision of information on bullying prevention to
pupils and school personnel as specified, and reporting
data and information on the incidence of bullying at
each school to the California Department of Education
(CDE) as deemed necessary by the Superintendent of
Public Instruction (SPI).
3) Adds to the list of offenses for which a pupil may be
suspended or expelled, an act of bullying directed
specifically toward a pupil or school personnel that is
motivated by any of the following actual or perceived
characteristics of the victim:
a) Disability.
b) Gender.
c) Nationality.
d) Race or ethnicity.
e) Religion.
f) Sexual orientation.
g) Association with a person or group with one or
more of these actual or perceived characteristics.
4) Defines "an act of bullying" to mean a type of
aggression, either verbal, physical, or psychological,
that includes, but is not limited to, any of the
following:
a) Behavior intended to harm or disturb the
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target or victim and may be carried out repeatedly
over time.
b) Behavior that reflects a physical or
psychological imbalance of power.
c) Behavior in the form of physical acts,
threats, intimidation, verbal abuse, taunting, or
indirect acts, as specified.
d) Acts using modern communication devices,
including, but limited to,
e-mail, instant messaging, chat rooms, Web sites,
social networking sites, cell phones, and all other
forms of technology, to intentionally embarrass,
humiliate, threaten, intimidate, or gain power or
control over, an individual or group.
5) Adds to the list of "mandatory" offenses for which a
pupil may be expelled, acts of bullying that have
persisted and reoccurred despite repeated efforts at
remediation and termination of the behavior by the
principal or the superintendent of schools.
6) Specifies that a principal or superintendent of schools
shall only recommend expulsion as a last resort if all
other prevention or intervention efforts have failed.
Requires all comprehensive school safety plans, as they
are reviewed
and updated and to the extent that resources are
available, to include policies and procedures relating
to bullying.
7) Provides that if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that this bill contains costs mandated by the
state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill : A 2007 report from the National
Association of Attorneys General Task Force on School
and Campus Safety noted that bullying is an important
issue in examining school violence and recommended
states continue to implement and expand bullying
prevention measures. A publication from the U.S.
Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and
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Delinquency Programs (OJJDP) notes that bullying can
take three forms: physical, verbal, and psychological
and can have short-term and long-term psychological
effects on both those who bully and those who are
bullied. Long-term consequences have also been linked
to increases in criminal behavior and substance abuse.
A 2001 report by the National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development (NICHD) estimated that 1.6 million
children in grades 6 through 10 in the United States are
bullied at least once a week and 1.7 million bully
others frequently. According to the OJJDP, a study of
6,500 middle school students in South Carolina revealed
that 23% said they had been bullied regularly during the
previous three months. By expanding the definition of
bullying and making persistent recurring acts of
bullying subject to expulsion, this bill will enable
school officials to maintain consistent rules and
discipline concerning bullying, foster safer school
environments, and reduce disruptions to learning that
can be brought on by bullying.
Under the provisions of this bill, a pupil may be suspended
or expelled for bullying that is directed at a pupil or
school personnel that has or is perceived to have one of
six specified characteristics. What about other
physical, individual, or social characteristics that may
not be protected under anti-discrimination laws, but may
nonetheless become the basis for bullying, such as
height, weight, socioeconomic status, having acne, or
simply being unconventional? Given that children can be
teased for a variety of reasons and teasing can escalate
into bullying, should the list of characteristics be
less limiting? Staff recommends amendments to specify
that a pupil may be suspended or expelled for bullying
directed toward a pupil or school personnel motivated by
actual or perceived characteristics of the victim,
including but not limited to the characteristics listed
in subsection (2) of paragraph (r) in Section 1 of the
bill.
2) Mandated costs . The Legislative Counsel's digest
indicates that this bill would impose a state-mandated
program by requiring habitual truants to be expelled.
According to the Legislative Analyst's Office, mandate
claims associated with the current list of mandatory
suspension and expulsion offenses average about $6.3 to
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$6.4 million annually, suggesting that the statewide
total for mandate claims for habitual bullying could be
approximately $630,000. Although the Committee has
expressed concern about imposing new mandates on school
districts in the current fiscal climate, it is possible
that the establishment of more consistent policies
pertaining to school bullying could also serve to reduce
bullying over time.
Recent amendments to this bill could significantly increase
these mandate costs by requiring school safety plans, as
they are updated, to include specific policies and
procedures relating to bullying, including the provision
of data and information to the California Department of
Education (CDE) on the incidence of bullying at each
school. By specifying that the provision of data would
be pursuant to what the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI) deems necessary, this bill could also
result in unknown General Fund costs to the CDE for the
SPI to determine reporting requirements. Although the
language specifies the policies and procedures can be
incorporated to the extent funds are available, it is
unclear how this would be defined. Could this bill
impose a new financial burden on these local education
agencies at a time when they are anticipating
significant revenue reductions? To reduce the mandated
costs contained in this bill, staff recommends
amendments that would encourage rather than require
school safety plans to include policies and procedures
on bullying and delete requirements to report bullying
data to the SPI.
3) Related and prior legislation .
SB 755 (Lieu) makes numerous changes to the requirement that
each school have a school safety plan, imposes new
penalties for schools and districts that fail to meet
these requirements, and requires school districts and
county offices of education to be responsible for the
development of school safety plans, as specified. This
bill is pending in this Committee.
SB 919 (Lieu) defines sexting as the sending or receiving of
sexually explicit pictures or video images via an
electronic act and adds sexting to the list of acts for
which a pupil may be suspended or expelled.
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AB 1156 (Eng) requires the training of schoolsite personnel
in the prevention of bullying, allows a child who is a
victim of an act of bullying to meet residence
requirements in another district, and expands the
definition of bullying to include various specified
acts. This bill is pending in the Assembly Education
Committee.
AB 86 (Lieu, Chapter 646, 2008) defined bullying to mean acts
that are committed personally or electronically, acts
directed against another pupil that constitutes sexual
harassment, hate violence, severe or pervasive
intentional harassment, threats, or intimidation and
gave school officials grounds to suspend a pupil or
recommend a pupil for expulsion for bullying. This bill
was passed by this Committee on a 7-2 vote.
AB 88 (Lieu, 2007) would have required the California
Department of Education to work with the Department of
Consumer Affairs to distribute
Internet safety resources. This measure was passed by
this Committee on a 9-0 vote. The measure was later
placed on the Senate Inactive File.
SUPPORT
California Disabilities Services Association
Crime Victims United of California
PeaceBuilders
The Child Abuse Prevention Center
Letters from Individuals
OPPOSITION
American Civil Liberties Union of California
Equality California
GSA Network
National Center for Lesbian Rights