BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1111
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 6, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
SB 1111 (Lara) - As Amended: July 1, 2014
Policy Committee: EducationVote:5-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill requires parental consent for referrals of a pupil to
a county community school by a school attendance review board
(SARB), school district, or probation department, except for
situations where a student is expelled or pursuant to a court
order. This bill also establishes the right of a student to
reenroll in his or her former school or another school upon
completion of the term of involuntary transfer to a county
community school. Specifically, this bill:
1)Prohibits a school district upon the recommendation of a
school attendance review board (SARB), from referring a pupil
for placement in a county community school unless the school
district and county office of education determine all of the
following.
a) The community school has space available to enroll the
pupil.
b) The county community school meets the educational needs
of the pupil.
c) The parent, guardian, or responsible adult of the pupil
has not expressly objected to the referral, as specified.
1)Requires the SARB to include in its recommendation a school
option for the pupil that is geographically accessible, as
specified.
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2)Sets forth a process for the school district to address
expressed concerns of the parent, guardian, or responsible
adult of the pupil regarding the alternative placement
recommended by the school district based, as specified.
3)Provides the pupil the right to return to his or her prior
school or another appropriate school within his or her school
district at the end of the semester following the semester
when the act leading to the referral occurred, and continues
this right until the pupil turns 19 years of age.
4)Specifies the appropriateness of placing a child in a county
community school may be examined in the judicial hearing in
which the placement is made or concerns of the placement are
raised.
5)Repeals language that allows districts and county offices of
education to enroll pupils in county community schools on the
basis of the pupil's status as homeless, consistent with
federal law.
6)Specifies, with regard to voluntary placements in county
community schools, the pupil shall not be placed in the school
unless the district determines the placement will promote the
educational interests of the pupil and the county community
school has space available to enroll the pupil. Further
authorizes the parent, guardian or responsible adult to
rescind the request for the placement, and the pupil shall be
immediately reenrolled in the school that the pupil attended
at the time of the referral, or, with the consent of the
parent, guardian, or responsible adult, another appropriate
school.
7)Provides pupils involuntarily transferred to a county
community school the right to reenroll in his or her former
school or another comprehensive school immediately after being
readmitted from the expulsion order, but clarifies that
nothing in this section is intended to limit the school
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placement options that a school district may recommend for a
pupil being readmitted.
8)Specifies, in accordance with existing law, only the governing
board of the school district that issued the initial order or
subsequent order to expel may extend the duration of an
expelled pupil's placement in a county community school.
9)Specifies the classes or programs offered at a county
community school include may include school credit recovery
assistance.
10)Specifies, with regard to an expulsion hearing, upon the
decision of a hearing officer or administrative panel not to
expel a student, the student shall be permitted to return to
the classroom instructional program from which the expulsion
referral was made, unless the parent, guardian or responsible
adult requests another school placement in writing.
FISCAL EFFECT
Potential state reimbursable mandated General Fund/Proposition
98 costs, likely in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars,
for school districts and COEs to meet the requirements of this
bill.
The majority of the requirements in this bill are clarifying, to
provide a nexus between pupils being adjudicated in a court and
their educational placement decisions. However, to the extent
school districts and COEs need to alter their current pupil
referral processes, including revision of the rules and
regulations governing procedures for the expulsion of pupils,
costs will be incurred.
With regard to expulsion hearings, currently, districts are
reimbursed at a rate of $587.16 per hearing to cover the costs
of hearing preparation, conducting the hearing, producing
recommendations, and producing a record of the hearing. In
2010-11, the last year for which complete data is available,
there were 18,649 expulsions in California. It is not clear to
what extent the changes in this bill would affect this existing
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reimbursement.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose. Various civil justice groups, including the American
Civil Liberties Union, support this bill to establish a clear
transfer process in an effort to reduce improper transfers and
ensure that both students and parents have a meaningful say in
the student's academic success. Transfers to county community
schools disproportionally affect students of color who make up
a majority of these schools' populations. According to the
sponsors, while county community schools are only supposed to
be short-term placements, students who have been involuntarily
transferred are either prohibited from returning to a
comprehensive school or are faced with hurdles to returning to
a district school.
2)Related legislation. This bill is substantially similar to SB
744 (Lara) of 2013 except that SB 744 also included provisions
governing community day schools and county community schools.
This bill only makes changes to county community schools. SB
744 was vetoed by Governor Brown, with the following message:
"This bill imposes new and rather specific requirements on
the way local schools handle disruptive students. The
recently enacted Local Control Funding Formula has created
a new regime of greater equity and increased accountability
at the local level. I'm putting my trust in the skill and
good faith of local educators to manage the issues that are
the subject of this bill in a caring and responsible way."
Analysis Prepared by : Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081