Senate Bill No. 1396

Introduced by Senator Hancock

February 21, 2014

An act to add Chapter 19 (commencing with Section 53330) to Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, relating to school climate.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1396, as introduced, Hancock. School climate: Schoolwide Positive Behavior Intervention and Support program.

Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state, and authorizes local educational agencies throughout the state to provide instruction to pupils.

This bill would establish the Schoolwide Positive Behavior Intervention and Support program. The bill, to the extent that one-time funding is made available in the Budget Act of 2014, would require the State Department of Education to apportion funds to a designated county office of education, selected from applicant county offices of education, that would be the fiduciary agent for the program. The bill would require the designated county office of education to consult with specified organizations and target the funding towards a statewide professional development effort that would provide training in schoolwide positive behavior and support to school personnel.

The bill would require the Legislative Analyst’s Office to review the impacts of this professional development effort and report to the Governor and the Legislature by June 30, 2016, on specified aspects of the program.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(a) In many school districts, local policies have addressed safety
and mental health issues in schools with ad hoc and piecemeal
strategies. This is borne out by the very narrow federal and state
laws related to pupil suspension and expulsion that produced
reactive discipline policies and increased pupil exclusion from
school. These practices have resulted in disproportionality in
discipline practices, as reflected in the high number of suspensions
and expulsions among African American and Latino pupils in
California.

(b) Recent statistics indicate that 20 percent of schoolage youth
experience a functional or significant behavior or mental health
disorder. In contrast, less than 1 percent of pupils are identified to
receive mental health services through the special education
classification of emotional disturbance. These numbers suggest a
significant gap in the need for school-based prevention and
intervention behavioral health services. Schoolwide Positive
Behavior Intervention and Support (SW-PBIS) can fill this gap by
providing a comprehensive and collaborative prevention and
intervention framework for schools to improve academic and
behavioral outcomes for all pupils. Recent research from Orange
County has shown that in districts where SW-PBIS has been
implemented there has been a 26-percent drop in in-school
suspensions, a 55-percent drop in out-of-school suspensions, and
a 30-percent drop in expulsions.

(c) In order to ensure that all pupils flourish academically,
districts must establish equitable discipline practices and behavioral
interventions that promote positive social-emotional development
and that prevent and respond to negative behaviors in order to
reengage disconnected pupils. School psychologists play a critical
role in implementing school-based educationally related counseling
services and positive behavior systems and supports that create
and reinforce positive school cultures of achievement for all pupils,
including those at risk of academic failure.

(d) The local control funding formula has been passed in an
effort to reform school finance and to direct funding directly to
at-risk pupil populations as outlined in Section 42238.07 of the
Education Code. This section states that the regulations shall
require a school district “to increase or improve services for
unduplicated pupils.” Research shows that efforts to improve
school climate, safety, and learning are not separate endeavors.
They must be designed, funded, and implemented as a
comprehensive schoolwide approach. School districts must work
to ensure through their local control and accountability plans that
pupils have access to universal, targeted, and individualized
psychological, behavioral, and counseling services and support
that will increase their chances for academic improvement.

(e) SW-PBIS is a multitiered framework for creating positive
school cultures. SW-PBIS is a decisionmaking framework that
guides selection, integration, and implementation of the best
evidence-based academic and behavioral practices for improving
important academic and behavior outcomes for all pupils. The
SW-PBIS approach requires the implementation of preventative
and proactive approaches to discipline and positive discipline
methods. In doing so, SW-PBIS changes the belief systems and
behavior of school staffs, pupils, and the community, resulting in
positive, productive citizens, and safer schools.

(f) SW-PBIS can support important local control and
accountability plan priority areas by providing local schools and
districts with an evidence-based framework to produce targeted
pupil behavioral and academic outcomes. SW-PBIS provides an
operational framework for achieving these outcomes.

(g) SW-PBIS fosters local control for school climate, academics,
and behavior. SW-PBIS provides an operational framework and
a set of sustainable schoolwide practices for achieving these
outcomes. The schoolwide practices are research-based, but are
developed and implemented by the local school team of teachers,
parents, administrators, school psychologists, school counselors,
and pupils to reflect the culture and values of their schools.

(h) SW-PBIS has national support and has been defined,
described, and researched since its introduction in the
reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
of 1997. SW-PBIS research and training is supported by the Office
of Special Education Programs (OSEP), United States Department
of Education, through the OSEP Technical Assistance Center.
School psychologists have been leaders in SW-PBIS professional
development and systems implementation in schools and districts
throughout the state.

(i) (1) SW-PBIS emphasizes four integrated elements:

(A) Data for decisionmaking.

(B) Measurable outcomes supported and evaluated by data.

(C) Practices with evidence that these outcomes are achievable.

(D) Systems that efficiently and effectively support
implementation of these practices.

(2) These four elements are guided by six core principles, as
follows:

(A) Develop a continuum of scientifically based behavior and
academic interventions and supports.

(B) Use data to make decisions and solve problems.

(C) Arrange the environment to prevent the development and
occurrence of problem behavior; increase supervision where
needed.

(D) All school staff teach and encourage prosocial skills and
behaviors in all settings on campus, and before and after school.

(E) Implement evidence-based behavioral practices with fidelity
and accountability.

(F) Screen universally and monitor pupil performance and
progress continuously.

(j) Schools that have established and maintained SW-PBIS
systems with integrity have teaching and learning environments
that are less reactive, aversive, punitive, dangerous, and
exclusionary, are more engaging, responsive, preventive,
productive, and participatory, address classroom management and
disciplinary issues such as attendance, cooperation, participation,
and meeting positive expectations, improve support for pupils
whose behavior requires more specialized or intensive assistance
for emotional and behavioral disorders and mental health issues,
and maximize academic engagement and achievement for all
pupils.

SEC. 2.  

Chapter 19 (commencing with Section 53330) is added
to Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, to read:

 

Chapter  19. Schoolwide Positive Behavior Intervention
and Support

 

53330.  

(a) To the extent that one-time funding is made
available in the Budget Act of 2014, the department shall apportion
funds to a designated county office of education to be the fiduciary
agent for the Schoolwide Positive Behavior Intervention and
Support (SW-PBIS) program. The designated county office of
education shall be chosen by the Superintendent from county
offices that apply for designation under this chapter. The designated
county office of education shall be in charge of establishing specific
professional development activities that will lead to statewide
professional development support structures allowing for the
development and expansion of SW-PBIS efforts in each region of
the state.

(b) This professional development and outreach effort shall
build upon existing statewide organizations, networks, and regional
organizations that are providing services related to SW-PBIS and
other mental health approaches. The goal would be to organize
SW-PBIS trainings and resources to be disseminated on a regional
basis. These trainings, associated materials, and research shall
educate participants on how to have SW-PBIS support local control
and accountability plan strategic goals in alignment with a
multitiered support system framework.

(c) The designated county office of education shall consult with
the K-12 Student Mental Health Initiative, the National Alliance
on Mental Health Illness, the California Technical Assistance
Center on SW-PBIS, the California County Superintendents
Educational Services Association, the California Mental Health
Directors Association, the United Advocates for Children and
Families, and other nonprofit agencies throughout the state. The
designated county office of education shall also select an advisory
committee made up of stakeholders and mental health professionals
who have participated in the development and expansion of
SW-PBIS programs to assist in the planning and implementation
of this project.

(d) Within the context of a state-level plan, funding shall be
targeted to all of the following critical activities:

(1) Explaining the importance of linking SW-PBIS efforts with
local control funding formula planning.

(2) Creating broad exposure to SW-PBIS, which would include
pamphlets, videos, Internet Web site creation, webinars, and
newsletters.

(3) Creating regional conferences on SW-PBIS implementation
that would provide free training for teachers, school psychologists,
and administrators.

(4) Establishing stipends for release time for school personnel
attending these workshops.

(5) Developing best practices of current district-level SW-PBIS
systems and ensure that these best practices are widely
disseminated.

(6) Establishing a cohort of trainers that can be available to
work directly with local school districts seeking to implement
SW-PBIS.

(7) Establishing a repository for the collection and dissemination
of SW-PBIS best practices.

(e) The designated county office of education, working in
cooperation with the Department of Finance, the State Department
of Education, and the Legislative Analyst, shall analyze the relevant
data on the success of SW-PBIS at both the state and national
levels, and shall establish a set of best practices to be made
available to school districts and consortia of districts to expand
current mental health programs and to use as the foundation of
addressing school discipline issues including school violence,
suspensions, expulsions, and bullying.

(f) The Legislative Analyst’s Office shall review the impacts
of this professional development effort and shall report to the
Governor and the Legislature by June 30, 2016, on the breadth
and best practices of the training.