BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 755
AUTHOR: Lieu
INTRODUCED: February 18, 2011
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: May 4, 2011
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : School safety plans.
SUMMARY
This bill 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 at any charter school the district
or county office has authorized.
BACKGROUND
Current law:
1) Requires each school district and county office of
education to be responsible for the overall
development of all comprehensive school safety plans
for its schools. The schoolsite council is required
to write and develop a comprehensive school safety
plan relevant to the needs and resources of that
particular school. (Education Code � 32281)
2) Authorizes the schoolsite council to delegate
responsibility for the development of the school
safety plan to a school safety planning committee,
composed of the principal, one teacher who is a
representative of the recognized certificated employee
organization, one parent whose child attends the
school, one classified employee who is a
representative of the recognized classified employee
organization, and other members if desired. (EC �
32281)
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3) Requires the comprehensive school safety plan to
include (1) an assessment of the current status of
school crime committed on school campuses and at
school-related functions and (2) identification of
appropriate strategies and programs that will provide
or maintain a high level of school safety and detail
procedures for complying with existing laws; disaster
procedures; policies regarding suspension or
expulsion; a discrimination and harassment policy;
and, a safe and orderly environment conducive to
learning. (EC � 32282)
4) Requires the comprehensive school safety plan to be
evaluated at least once a year. (EC � 32282)
5) Requires the schoolsite council or school safety
planning committee to hold a public meeting to allow
public comment, and requires the notification of
specified people and entities prior to this meeting.
Current law requires each school to submit its school
safety plan to the school district or county office of
education for approval and requires a school district
or COE to notify the CDE by October 15 of every year
of any school that is not in compliance. (EC � 32288)
6) Requires each school to include a description of key
elements of the school safety plan in the annual
school accountability report card.
(EC � 32286)
7) Current law requires, if the SPI determines that there
has been a willful failure to make any report required
in school safety plan statutes to do both of the
following:
a) Notify the school district or county office
of education in which the willful failure has
occurred.
b) Make an assessment of up to $2,000 against
that school or county office, which may be done
by deducting funding from the district's or
county office's future apportionment. (EC �
32287).
Charter schools are exempt from most laws governing school
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districts except where specifically noted. Existing law
requires charter schools to comply with the provisions of
its charter and provisions of the Education Code that apply
to charter schools. (EC � 47601 et. seq.)
Current law requires governing boards to grant a charter
unless the petition fails to meet one or more of the
following:
1) The charter school presents an unsound educational
program;
2) The petitioners are demonstrably unlikely to
successfully implement the program described in the
petition;
3) The petition does not contain the number of
required signatures;
4) The petition does not contain an affirmation that
it will be nonsectarian in its programs and policies,
shall not charge tuition, shall not discriminate, and
other affirmations, as specified.
5) The petition does not contain reasonably
comprehensive descriptions of among other elements,
the procedures that the school will follow to ensure
the health and safety of pupils and staff. (EC �
47605)
ANALYSIS
This bill 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 at any charter school the district
or county office has authorized. Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires each school district and county office of
education to be responsible for the overall
development of school safety plans for charter schools
authorized by the school district or county office.
2) Modifies the existing March 1, 2000, deadline for the
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adoption of a school safety plan to instead require
the adoption of a plan by March 1 for the upcoming
school year.
3) Requires the principal or administrator in charge of a
school without a principal to forward by March 31 of
each year the school's safety plan for the upcoming
school year to the superintendent of the school
district or county office of education, or to the
administrator in charge where there is no
superintendent. This bill authorizes the school
district or county office to approve the plan or
determine that the plan does not comply with statutes
and return it to the school for amendment. This bill
requires the principal or administrator in charge to
return an amended plan within 60 days.
4) Modifies the existing requirement that schools
annually report on the status of school safety plans,
to require the status of plans for the upcoming school
year to be accurately reported to the school district
or county office no later than July 31 of each year.
This bill requires the report to include, but is not
limited to, whether or not a school safety plan was
adopted for the upcoming year, the date the school
safety plan was adopted, the date the adopted school
safety plan was forwarded to the school district or
county office of education, and a description of the
safety plan's elements.
5) Requires each school principal or administrator of a
school without a principal to provide written or
electronic notice to each teacher and classified
employee that the adopted school safety plan is
readily available for inspection.
6) Requires each superintendent of a school district or
county office of education, or each administrator in
charge of a district or county office without a
superintendent, to annually provide written
notification, by October 15, to the Superintendent of
Public Instruction (SPI) identifying each school
within the district or county that has not developed a
school safety plan or forwarded the plan to the
district or county office.
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7) Requires the SPI to annually publish, by December 31,
on the California Department of Education's (CDE)
website the name of every school that has not
developed a school safety plan or forwarded the plan
to the district or county office.
8) Requires the SPI, no later than 60 days after
notifying a school district or county office that the
SPI has determined there has been a willful failure to
make any required report, to publish on the CDE's
website the name of every school district and COE that
received the notification, including the date of the
notification.
9) Requires each principal or administrator in charge of
a school without a principal to keep and maintain a
copy of the most recent school safety plan for that
school. This bill requires each superintendent of a
school district or a county office, or each
administrator in charge of a district or county office
without a superintendent, to keep and maintain a copy
of the most recent school safety plan and a copy of
every notification sent to the SPI of schools that
have not developed school safety plans.
10) Requires all books, documents, records, and other
papers kept and maintained to be open for inspection
and copying on business days, excluding legal
holidays, during the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.,
within 48 hours of a written, verbal, or electronic
request by a law enforcement agency.
11) Creates an infraction punishable by a fine between
$250 and $1,000 for each person who knowingly violates
the requirement that principals and superintendents
maintain copies of school safety plans.
12) Creates an infraction punishable by a fine between
$250 and $1,000 for each principal or administrator in
charge of a school without a principal who knowingly
violates #2-#5 above.
13) Creates an infraction punishable by a fine between
$250 and $1,000 for each superintendent of a school
district or county office, and each administrator in
charge of a district or county office without a
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superintendent, who knowingly violates #6 above.
14) Requires the prosecuting agency, before charging a
person with an infraction, to provide a written notice
of correction to the person. This bill prohibits the
infraction from being charged if the person delivers
written proof of correction to the prosecuting agency
within 60 days of delivery of the notice.
15) Modifies the requirement that all safety-related plans
and materials be readily available for inspection to
strike "public" and instead specify that plans are to
be available for inspection by law enforcement and
school employees.
16) Modifies the list of people and entities that must be
notified about the public meeting prior to adoption of
a school safety plan to strike reference to the local
mayor and a representative of the student body
government. This bill also strikes reference to the
list of people and entities that the schoolsite
council or school safety planning committee is
encouraged to notify.
17) Strongly encourages the schoolsite council to consult
with a representative of a law enforcement agency to
review the plan.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Purpose of the bill . According to the author, "The
recent lockdown of nine Los Angeles schools in
response to a reported armed gunman in the vicinity
exposed vast differences in the way many of the
schools dealt with the emergency situation. According
to the School District's Chief of Police, thousands of
students were kept in classrooms without food, water
or access to restrooms longer than necessary (as much
as 5 hours), causing frustrated parents to complain
about the district's handling of the situation. Those
present at the command center remarked that some of
the schools were woefully unprepared and improvising
on the spot. The Los Angeles police blamed individual
schools for failing to develop their own plans for
managing emergencies. The current enforcement
mechanism, self-reporting by school districts, has
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proven to be completely ineffective. Despite numerous
acts of non-compliance over the past 10 years, no
school district has ever reported a non-complying
school and no school district has ever been fined."
2) Author's amendments . The author wishes to amend this
bill as follows:
a) Remove provisions relative to the infraction
and fines.
b) Require existing financial and compliance
audits to include information about the
development of a school safety plan, and
specifically require the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI) to withhold the next principal
apportionment (as provided by current law) if the
audit determines that there has been
noncompliance and the district or county
superintendent has failed to notify the SPI of
schools that have not complied.
c) Delete the requirement that school districts
and county offices of education that authorize a
charter school be responsible for the development
of school safety plans at those charter schools.
d) Require a school district or county office
to ensure a charter petition includes a school
safety plan prior to approving or renewing a
charter
3) Related legislation . AB 496 (Alejo) requires the
comprehensive school safety plan also to include a
protocol for ensuring that all school personnel have
access to classrooms and other school facilities
during a disaster or other emergency if a school
restricts that access during regular hours of school
operation. AB 496 is scheduled to be heard in the
Assembly Education Committee on April 13, 2011.
AB 269 (Ma) among other things, requires a charter school
to comply with all laws governing the health and
safety of pupils and school employees. AB 269 is
scheduled to be heard in the Assembly Education
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Committee on April 27, 2011.
AB 925 (Lara and Alejo) requires a charter school to comply
with laws allowing all school employees the right to
inspect personnel records, laws outlining specified
rights and benefits for classified employees, and laws
that permit the use of personal services contracting
for all services currently or customarily performed by
classified school employees. AB 925 passed the
Assembly PERSS Committee on a 4-2 vote and is
scheduled to be heard in the Assembly Education
Committee on April 13, 2011.
SB 433 (Liu) requires a charter school to comply with laws
governing school districts relating to the suspension
and expulsion of pupils. SB 433 is pending in this
Committee.
4) Prior legislation . AB 2501 (Lieu) 2010 was identical
to this bill. AB 2501 was never heard.
AB 2639 (Lieu, 2008) among other things, would have
required each school district or county office of
education to annually submit to the Department of
Education a report that includes a list of schools
within its jurisdiction that have and have not
developed a school safety plan. AB 2639 was held on
the Senate Appropriations Committee's suspense file.
AB 810 (Lieu, 2007) among other things, would have
required the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to
suspend the credential of a principal or administrator
for one year if he or she does not correct the
noncompliance with school safety plan requirements
within 30 days of receiving notification from the
Superintendent of Public Instruction. AB 810 was held
on the Assembly Appropriations Committee's suspense
file.
SUPPORT
California State Sheriff's Association
City of Los Angeles
OPPOSITION
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None on file.