BILL NUMBER: SB 1235 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 5, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 14, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 18, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Senators Steinberg, Price, and Rubio
(Coauthors: Senators Alquist, Lowenthal, and Vargas)
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Swanson)
FEBRUARY 23, 2012
An act to amend Section 48911.2 of the Education Code, relating to
pupils.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1235, as amended, Steinberg. Pupils: suspension.
(1) Existing law prohibits the suspension, or recommendation for
expulsion, of a pupil from school unless the school district
superintendent or the school principal determines that the pupil has
committed any of various specified acts. Existing law requires the
school district superintendent or the school principal to immediately
suspend and recommend the expulsion of a pupil who is determined to
have, at school or at a school activity off school grounds,
possessed, sold, or otherwise furnished a firearm, brandished a knife
at another person, unlawfully sold a controlled substance, committed
or attempted to commit a sexual assault or batter
battery , as defined, or possessed an explosive.
Existing law states that a school should consider implementing a
supervised suspension program or an alternative to the school's
off-campus suspension program that involves a progressive discipline
approach using specified activities if the number of pupils suspended
from school during the prior school year exceeded 30% of the school'
s enrollment.
This bill would instead require a school district, commencing with
the 2013-14 school year, to implement, for a minimum of 3 years, at
a school where the number of pupil pupils
receiving off-campus suspensions in the prior school year
exceeded 25% of its enrollment, or a numerically significant pupil
subgroup of that enrollment, as defined, either (a)
(A) an evidence-based system of schoolwide
positive behavioral interventions and supports that employs
school-level information about the behavioral and academic history of
pupils to define and implement systems of support and interventions
at the school, classroom, and individual levels that is aimed at
improving the social, emotional, and academic success for all pupils,
or (b) (B) other schoolwide strategies
that are evidence based and designed to address school climate in
order to create learning environments where teachers can teach and
pupils can learn and to reduce suspensions from classrooms and the
school. Commencing with the 2014-15 school year, the bill would
require a decrease of by
2% per each year the percentage
of enrollment or numerically significant pupil subgroup of enrollment
whose suspension that triggers this
requirement until it is 15% , in accordance with a prescribed
schedule . By requiring a school district to implement one of
these strategies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local
program.
The bill would authorize the State Department of Education to
provide school district districts with
information regarding schoolwide evidence-based strategies that could
be implemented.
The bill would require a school at which one of the strategies is
implemented to report to the superintendent of the school district,
the county superintendent of schools, and the Superintendent of
Public Instruction on the rate of reduction in the school's
suspensions and the strategy used to address the matter.
(2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 48911.2 of the Education Code is amended to
read:
48911.2. (a) Commencing with the 2013-14 school year and each
school year thereafter, if the number of pupils suspended
receiving off-campus suspensions from school
during the prior school year exceeded 25 percent of the school's
enrollment or of any numerically significant pupil subgroup of the
school's enrollment, the school district shall implement, for a
minimum of three years, at least one of the following strategies at
the school for the purpose of reducing the suspension rate or
disproportionality:
(1) An evidence-based system of schoolwide positive behavioral
interventions and supports that employs school-level information
about the behavioral and academic history of pupils to define and
implement systems of support and interventions at the school,
classroom, and individual levels that is aimed at improving the
social, emotional, and academic success for all pupils.
(2) Other schoolwide strategies that are evidence based and
designed to address school climate in order to create learning
environments where teachers can teach and pupils can learn and to
reduce suspensions from classrooms and the school. The department may
provide information regarding additional schoolwide strategies that
meet the criteria for evidence-based strategies.
(b) (1) Commencing with the 2014-15 school
year, the percentage of a school's enrollment, or of any numerically
significant pupil subgroup of a school's enrollment, whose suspension
triggers the requirements in subdivision (a) shall be reduced by 2
percent per year until it is 15 percent , in accordance with the
percentages listed in paragraph (2) .
(2) (A) Twenty-three percent for the 2014-15 school year.
(B) Twenty-one percent for the 2015-16 school year.
(C) Nineteen percent for the 2016-17 school year.
(D) Seventeen percent for the 2017-18 school year.
(E) Fifteen percent for the 2018-19 school year, and each school
year thereafter.
(c) At the end of the academic year, the school shall report to
the superintendent of the school district on the rate of reduction in
the school's off-campus suspensions and the strategies or activities
used to comply with subdivisions (a) and (b). The school district
shall report this information on an annual basis at a regularly
scheduled meeting of the governing board and to the Superintendent
and the county superintendent of schools. The Superintendent shall
publish, on an annual basis, a list of all schools that trigger the
requirements in subdivision (a) , and shall include the
annual rate of reduction in each school's out-of-school
off-campus suspensions.
(d) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage all schools
to examine alternatives to off-campus suspensions that lead to
resolution of pupil misconduct without sending pupils off campus.
Schools that use strategies described in this section should not be
precluded from suspending pupils to an off-campus site.
(e) A school district may use any appropriate state or federal
funding sources to support the evidence-based schoolwide strategies
required to be implemented at schools that meet the criteria
described in subdivisions (a) and (b).
(f) (1) For purposes of this section, a numerically significant
pupil subgroup includes the subgroups listed in paragraph (2) ,
consistent with paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 52052,
and that meet both meet at least one
of the following criteria:
(A) The subgroup consists of at least 50
100 pupils enrolled at the school.
(B) The subgroup consists of at least 50 pupils,
and constitutes at least 15 percent of the total population of
pupils enrolled at the school , but if a subgroup does not
constitute that percentage, the subgroup consists of at least 100
pupils enrolled at the school .
(2) (A) Racial and ethnic subgroups.
(B) Socioeconomically disadvantaged pupils.
(C) English learners.
(D) Pupils with disabilities.
SEC. 2. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local
agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant
to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.