BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1264
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Date of Hearing: January 15, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
AB 1264 (Conway) - As Amended: January 6, 2014
SUBJECT : Comprehensive school safety plans: tactical response
plans
SUMMARY : Makes various changes to the comprehensive school
safety plans. Specifically, this bill :
1)Expands the definition of "tactical response to criminal
incidents" to include a plan to safeguard against incidents
that include a firearm, explosive, or other deadly weapon.
2)Requires a school district or county office of education (COE)
to publicly announce its adoption or update of a tactical
response plan, but does not require disclosure of those
portions of the plan that may be kept private.
3)Requires the comprehensive school safety plan to include a
tactical response plan as specified in existing law.
4)Requires the auditor's report of a local educational agency's
(LEA) annual financial audit to include, commencing in the
2015-16 fiscal year, a summary of the extent to which the LEA
has complied with the requirement that each of its schools
develop a comprehensive school safety plan.
5)Makes minor, clarifying changes.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Specifies that the schoolsite council or a school safety
planning committee is responsible for developing the
comprehensive school safety plan. (Education Code Section
(EC) 32281)
2)Specifies that the comprehensive school safety plan shall
include an assessment of the current status of school crime
committed on school campuses and at school-related functions
and identification of appropriate strategies and programs that
will provide or maintain a high level of school safety and
address the school's procedures for complying with existing
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laws related to school safety, including child abuse reporting
procedures; disaster procedures; an earthquake emergency
procedure system; policies regarding pupils who commit
specified acts that would lead to suspension or expulsion;
procedures to notify teachers of dangerous pupils; a
discrimination and harassment policy; the provisions of any
schoolwide dress code; procedures for safe ingress and egress
of pupils, parents, and school employees to and from school; a
safe and orderly environment conducive to learning; rules and
procedures on school discipline; and hate crime reporting
procedures. (EC 32282)
3)Requires the comprehensive school safety plan to be evaluated
at least once a year. (EC 32282)
4)Requires the comprehensive school safety plan to be submitted
to the school district or COE for approval and requires a
school district or COE to notify the California Department of
Education (CDE) by October 15 of every year of any school that
is not in compliance. (EC 32288)
5)Provides that if the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) determines that there has been a willful failure to make
any report, the SPI shall notify and assess no more than
$2,000 against that school district or COE. (EC 32287)
6)Authorizes the portions of a school safety plan that include
tactical responses to criminal incidents to be developed by
school district or COE administrators in consultation with law
enforcement officials and with a representative of an
exclusive bargaining unit of school district or COE employees,
if he or she chooses to participate. Authorizes the school
district or COE to elect not to disclose those portions of the
comprehensive school safety plan that include tactical
responses to criminal incidents. (EC 32281)
7)Defines "tactical responses to criminal incidents" as steps
taken to safeguard pupils and staff, to secure the affected
school premises, and to apprehend the criminal perpetrator or
perpetrators. (EC 32281)
8)Specifies that a governing board of a school district or COE
is not precluded from conferring in a closed session with law
enforcement officials to approve a tactical response plan.
Requires any vote to approve the tactical response plan to be
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announced in open session following the closed session. (EC
32281)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Existing law requires each school to develop a school
safety plan that includes processes, procedures, and policies to
ensure student and staff safety at a school site. The
components of the plan range from daily processes, such as
procedures for safe ingress and egress of pupils, parents and
school employees; to disaster and emergency procedures such as
those during and after earthquakes; to behavioral policies such
as discrimination and harassment policies. The school safety
plan is developed by a school site council or a school safety
planning committee. Current law requires a school to submit the
school safety plan to the school district or COE for approval
and requires the school district or COE to annually notify the
CDE of any schools that have not complied with the requirement
to develop a school safety plan. The SPI is authorized to
impose a fine of not more than $2,000 against a school district
or COE for any willful failure to make any required report.
According to the CDE, there has been no report of noncompliance
by schools and no district or COE has been fined for willfully
failing to report a school that has not developed a school
safety plan. It is unclear whether this is because there has
been no violation and every school in the state has developed
its school safety plan, or whether districts or COEs have not
reported schools that have not developed their school safety
plans.
Tactical Response Plan . In 2011, AB 680 (Block), Chapter 438,
Statutes of 2011, authorized school districts and COEs to choose
to allow administrators, in consultation with law enforcement
agencies, to develop a tactical response plan, approve the plan
in closed session and announce the vote in open session
following the closed session. The bill was sponsored by San
Diego Unified School District with concerns that because the
school safety plan is a public document and subject to the
California Public Records Act, exposing the tactical response
plan to public review would give those with criminal intent an
advantage in the event of a violent situation, which would
compromise the safety of students and staff. The bill was
drafted in consultation with law enforcement and first amendment
rights representatives.
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This bill expands the definition of "tactical responses to
criminal incidents" from "steps taken to safeguard pupils and
staff, to secure the affected school premises, and to apprehend
the criminal perpetrator or perpetrators" to " steps taken to
safeguard pupils and staff, to secure the affect school
premises, and to apprehend the criminal perpetrator or
perpetrators, including, but not limited to, a plan to safeguard
against incidents that include a firearm, explosive, or other
deadly weapon." The bill also requires the school district or
COE to publicly announce its adoption or update of a tactical
response plan, but clarifies that the school district or COE is
not required to disclose the portions of the plan that may be
kept private. Since existing law already requires the approval
of a tactical response plan to be announced in open session
following a closed session, this new subdivision appears to be
duplicative. Staff recommends striking this provision and
incorporating, in existing law, the requirement to publicly
announce any update to the plan and the clarification that the
school district or COE is not required to disclose the portions
of the plan that may be kept private.
This bill inserts into the list of components that are required
of the school safety plan a requirement to develop a tactical
response plan as provided for in AB 680. The author states that
the provisions under AB 680 simply authorize the development of
a tactical response plan to be developed in closed session, but
do not require it.
School safety plan compliance . The bill requires, commencing in
the 2015-16 fiscal year, the auditor's report of a LEA's annual
financial audit to include a summary of the extent to which the
LEA has complied with the requirement that each of its schools
develop a comprehensive school safety plan. This provision was
identical to a provision in earlier versions of SB 49 (Lieu).
The current version of SB 49 simply requires the CDE to monitor
compliance using an existing monitoring framework. The bill was
held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file in
2013.
The funds for developing school safety plan was incorporated
into a mandates block grant as part of the 2012-13 budget, which
already includes a compliance monitoring process. Staff
recommends striking this provision. If the author wishes to
determine whether all schools have developed a school safety
plan, the author may wish to consider requiring a one-time
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status report by superintendents and COEs to provide the CDE
with an update of the status of the development of the school
safety plan at each school under their jurisdictions, or model
SB 49's provisions requiring the CDE to monitor compliance using
an existing monitoring framework.
Related legislation . AB 549 (Jones-Sawyer), Chapter 422,
Statutes of 2013, encourages all comprehensive school safety
plans, to the extent that resources are available, to include
clear guidelines for the roles and responsibilities of mental
health professionals, community intervention professionals,
school counselors, school resource officers, and police officers
on school campus, if the school district uses these people.
SB 49 (Lieu), held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee
suspense file in 2013, updates the date by which each school
must adopt its comprehensive school safety plan; requires each
principal to provide a written or electronic notice to each
teacher and classified employee of that school that the adopted
school safety plan is readily available for inspection;
requires, no later than October 15, 2014 and every third year
thereafter, each superintendent of a school district or county
office of education to provide written notification to the SPI
identifying each school within the school district or county
that has not complied with the requirement to develop a
comprehensive school safety plan or included the information
about the school safety plan on the school accountability report
card; and, requires the CDE to monitor compliance using an
existing monitoring framework.
SB 634 (Price), held in the Senate Appropriations Committee
suspense file in 2013, requires a comprehensive school safety
plan to establish minimum requirements and standards for schools
to follow when conducting school safety drills and reviewing
school emergency and crisis response plans, requires all school
districts and COEs to incorporate specified safety drills into
their school safety plan, and requires each school to conduct
school evacuation drills and at least one law enforcement school
lockdown drill during each school year.
Prior related legislation . AB 496 (Alejo) requires the
comprehensive school safety plan 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
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operation. The bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee suspense file in 2011.
AB 680 (Block), Chapter 438, Statutes of 2011, authorizes a
school district or COE, in consultation with law enforcement
officials, to choose not to have its schoolsite council develop
and write those portions of its comprehensive school safety plan
that include tactical responses to criminal incidents that may
result in death or serious bodily injury at the schoolsite and
authorizes, instead, school district and COE administrators to
write those portions of the school safety plan.
SB 755 (Lieu) makes a number of changes to the comprehensive
school safety plan, including extending the requirement to
develop a school safety plan to charter schools and imposing a
fine of between $250 and $1,000 on any principal, administrator
at a school without a principal, and any superintendent of a
school district or county office of education for failing to
develop a school safety plan or failing to make specified
reporting requirements. The bill was held in the Senate
Education Committee by the author in 2012.
AB 2501 (Lieu) makes a number of changes to comprehensive school
safety plan, including extending the requirement to develop a
school safety plan to charter schools and imposing a fine of
between $250 and $1,000 on any principal, administrator at a
school without a principal, and any superintendent of a school
district or county office of education for failing to develop a
school safety plan or failing to make specified reporting
requirements. The bill was held in this Committee by the author
in 2010.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087
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