BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON Public Safety
Senator John Vasconcellos, Chair S
1999-2000 Regular Session B
1
8
3
SB 1831 (Hughes) 1
As Amended April 13, 2000
Hearing date: April 25, 2000 VOTE ONLY
Education Code
SH:mc
SCHOOL SAFETY ACADEMY PILOT PROJECT
HISTORY
Source: Attorney General
Prior Legislation: None
Support: California School Employees Association;
California Federation of Teachers; California
Child, Youth and Family Coalition
Opposition:None known
KEY ISSUES
SHOULD A NEW SCHOOL SAFETY ACADEMY PILOT PROGRAM BE CREATED, TO BE
ADMINISTERED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, FOR THREE ACADEMIES TO
PROVIDE GROUP TRAINING RELATING TO SCHOOL SAFETY FOR 3 YEARS, AS
SPECIFIED?
SHOULD $2,250,000 BE APPROPRIATED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE FOR
(More)
SB 1831 (Hughes)
Page 2
ALLOCATION TO THE SCHOOL SAFETY ACADEMIES AND TO PAY FOR
ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS?
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to create a new School Safety
Academy Pilot Program, to be administered by the Department
of Justice, for three academies to provide group training
relating to school safety for 3 years, as specified, and to
appropriate $2,250,000 to fund the pilot programs.
The California Constitution provides that all students and
staff of public primary, elementary, junior high, and
senior high schools have the inalienable right to attend
campuses, which are safe, secure and peaceful. (Article I,
Section 28(c)) The Legislature recognizes that right in
statute. (Penal Code section 628.5 and Education Code
section 32261)
Existing law creates the School Community Policing
Partnership Act of 1998 to provide financial assistance to
school districts and county offices of education to ensure
safe, secure, and peaceful school campuses as guaranteed by
the California Constitution through the use of a community
policing approach to school crime and safety issues. The
School Community Policing Partnership Grant Program is
administered by the State Department of Education through
the School/Law Enforcement Partnership to (1) develop
application criteria and procedures for local education
agencies; (2) award grants to school districts, county
offices of education, or a consortium of school districts
and county offices of education; (3) evaluate the
effectiveness of the funded projects; and (4) report
biennially to the Legislature and Governor on the results
of the program. (Education Code sections 32296 et seq.)
Existing law creates the School Safety and Violence
Prevention Act for the purpose of promoting school safety
(More)
SB 1831 (Hughes)
Page 3
and emphasizing violence prevention among children and
youth in public schools, grades 8-12. (Education Code
section 32228 et seq.)
Existing law provides for reporting on school crime and
requires all school districts to submit school crime data
to the State Department of Education and requires the DOE
to make that data available, including a report to the
Legislature of a summary of the statewide aggregated data
not later than March 1 of each year for the previous school
year, as specified. (Penal Code sections 628 et. seq.)
Existing law creates the School Violence Prevention and
Response Act of 1999 and the School Violence Prevention and
Response Task Force with responsibilities which include
making recommendations on how to enhance state and local
programs and training to adequately prepare school
districts and county offices of education to meet the
challenges stemming from disruptive and violent acts, or
both, on or near school campuses; these recommendations
shall include a discussion regarding the manner in which
the recommendations may be implemented within existing
resources. (Education Code section 32239.5 et seq.)
Existing law provides that the governing board of any
school district may establish a security department under
the supervision of a chief of security or a police
department under the supervision of a chief of police, as
designated by, and under the direction of, the
superintendent of the school district. School district
police are granted peace officer status, as prescribed.
(Education Code sections 38000 et seq. and Penal Code
section 830.32)
Existing law creates in the State Department of Education
School Safety and Security Resource Unit; the Interagency
School Safety Demonstration Act of 1985; and the School/Law
Enforcement Partnership comprised of the Superintendent of
Public Instruction and the Attorney General and sets forth
various requirements for that partnership, including the
(More)
SB 1831 (Hughes)
Page 4
establishment of statewide interagency school safety cadre.
(Education Code sections 32251, 32260, 32262, 32290)
Existing law states the intent of the Legislature that all
California public schools, in kindergarten, and grades 1 to
12, inclusive, operated by school districts, in cooperation
with local law enforcement agencies, community leaders,
parents, pupils, teachers, administrators, and other
persons who may be interested in the prevention of campus
crime and violence, develop a comprehensive school safety
plan that addresses the safety concerns identified through
a systematic planning process. Law enforcement agencies
include local police departments, county sheriffs' offices,
school district police or security departments, probation
departments, and district attorneys' offices. A "safety
plan" means a plan to develop strategies aimed at the
prevention of, and education about, potential incidents
involving crime and violence on the school campus.
(Education Code section 35294)
Existing law contains Legislative findings and declarations
that include that the education mission of schools may be
thwarted when school campuses are not safe, secure, and
peaceful and effective school management can improve school
safety and decrease violence and criminal behavior.
Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature that the
Commission on Teacher Credentialing adopt standards that
address the principles of school safety in the preparation
of future classroom teachers, school administrators, school
counselors, and other pupil personnel service providers as
a condition for licensing these prospective practitioners.
(Education Code section 44276.1)
Existing law requires a school site plan which shall
contain numerous requirements, including improved school
environment as measured by indicators such as (A) the
incidence among pupils of absenteeism, suspension,
expulsion, and dropouts and the incidence and costs of
school violence, vandalism, and theft of school or private
property while participating in school activities.
(More)
SB 1831 (Hughes)
Page 5
(Education Code section 52015)
Existing law establishes the Commission on Peace Officers
Standards and Training with staffing support from the
Attorney General. Duties of POST include establishing
minimum standards and training requirements relating to
specified peace officers and developing and implementing
programs to increase the effectiveness of law enforcement
and when such programs involve training and education
courses to cooperate with and secure the cooperation of
state-level officers, agencies, and bodies having
jurisdiction over systems of public higher education in
continuing the development of college-level training and
education programs. (Penal Code sections 13500 et seq.)
This bill does the following:
1.Requires that the Department of Justice, in consultation
with the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and
Training, establish a three year School Safety Academy
Pilot Project utilizing the school safety academies. The
School Safety Academy Pilot Project is to be administered
by the Department of Justice, through the Crime and
Violence Prevention Center, for the purpose of providing
comprehensive school safety training for those
responsible for school safety and school community
violence prevention, as specified.
2.Defines "school safety academies" to mean training
facilities chosen by the Department through a competitive
process established by this bill.
3.States that each academy is to provide training to
juvenile specialists, school district police officers,
school resource officers, school security officers,
school administrators, campus supervisors and monitors,
parent volunteers, and others responsible for school
safety and school community violence prevention
4.The Department of Justice shall establish minimum
(More)
SB 1831 (Hughes)
Page 6
standards, funding schedules, and procedures for awarding
grants, as specified, including convening an advisory
workshop for direction and technical assistance.
5.The Department shall fund applicants that propose to
establish an academy in southern California, in northern
California, or in central California, or any combination
of the three.
6.The Department is to provide funding to the school safety
academies to develop and implement integrated,
comprehensive school safety training for those
responsible for school safety and school community
violence prevention, with the training to include, but
not be limited to, the following:
(A) Role of school police officers.
(B) Role of school administrators.
(C) Role of campus security and safety
personnel.
(D) School and community relations.
(E) School crime reporting.
(F) Conflict resolution and youth mediation.
(G) Crisis intervention and response.
(H) Juvenile justice system.
(I) Diversity training.
(J) Role of probation and parole officers.
(AA) Effective school safety strategies and
planning.
(BB) Role of law enforcement on school campuses.
(CC) Role of child protective services workers.
(DD) Hate crimes.
1.Requires each safe school academy conduct between four
and six sessions each year to consist of a maximum of 30
participants in each session.
2.Requires each school safety academy develop a specialty
that will advance school community policing practices.
(More)
SB 1831 (Hughes)
Page 7
3.Requires the Department (a) after two years of operation
and every year thereafter, to provide the Governor and
the Legislature with an annual report describing the
progress and effectiveness of the school safety academies
and (b) to evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot
project by contracting with an independent evaluator to
develop and deliver a final evaluation report to the
Legislature and the Governor on or before January 31,
2005; the pilot project authority is repealed on January
1, 2006.
4.Appropriates $2.250 million for the three-year pilot
program with the Department of Justice authorized to use
up to 5% of that total for administration.
5.Makes related changes.
COMMENTS
1. Need for This Bill
According to the sponsor:
There is no single training center or institution in
California for those individuals responsible for
school safety to train together. Current school
safety training programs are discipline-based and,
therefore, fragmented statewide. While there are many
individual school safety training programs being
offered by various training systems, no one entity has
brought all of the appropriate school safety personnel
together to train them at the same time. Many areas
related to school community policing and violence
prevention, including collaboration with other
agencies and conflict resolution/youth mediation are
not covered in current training. Furthermore, school
safety personnel without peace officer status,
teachers or parents volunteering on school campuses
cannot take POST courses.
(More)
SB 1831 (Hughes)
Page 8
The academies will provide comprehensive training to
all individuals who work in or around a school campus.
Additionally, the academies would provide
cross-training between disciplines which increases the
opportunities for interagency school partnerships and
enhances school safety.
2. How Would This Bill Work?
Discussions with the sponsor had indicated an expectation
that the regional academies will present 4 or more classes
per year, with approximately 30 attendees per class. The
expectation would be to develop a formal accreditation
which would result in attendees being given a certificate
which might meet any continuing education credits which may
apply to any of the attendees. Attendance would be
subsidized by the academies. ( The April 13, 2000,
amendments do specify that each academy shall conduct
between 4 to 6 sessions per year with up to 30 participants
at each .)
The analysis of this bill for the April 4, 2000, hearing
mentioned several issues which have no been addressed in
the latest set of amendments.
For example, it appeared in the previous versions of this
bill to be entirely up to the regional academies to develop
a curriculum, including each to provide training for rural
school areas; the April 13 amendments create an advisory
workshop to aid in the design of the curriculums.
The appropriate role for the Commission on Peace Officer
Standards and Training may not have been clear in the
previous version of this bill; ( the April 13 amendments
specify that the role of POST is one of "consultation"
rather than the previous "cooperation." )
This bill assigns no role to the Department of Education or
the Superintendent of Public Instruction (see Comment 4
below regarding SB 1580 which would appropriate $100
(More)
SB 1831 (Hughes)
Page 9
million to the Superintendent for school safety grants with
participation by the Attorney General); would consultation
with those offices and others take place regardless of any
language in the bill? (NOTE: The April 13 amendments
require the Department to convene an advisory workshop with
specified experts, which includes school safety and
education experts, which could include persons from the
Department of Education and the Superintendent's office.)
3. Are Provisions in the Penal and Education Codes
Pertaining to School Safety Focussed?
The California Constitution and the Education and Penal
Codes set forth a variety of rights, goals, and programs
aimed at achieving school safety.
The sponsor of this bill suggests a need for focussed
training statewide. This bill adds another component to
the mix of school safety efforts statewide. As noted
above, existing law creates the School Community Policing
Partnership Act of 1998 to provide financial assistance to
school districts and county offices of education to ensure
safe, secure, and peaceful school campuses as guaranteed by
the California Constitution through the use of a community
policing approach to school crime and safety issues.
The School Community Policing Partnership Grant Program is
administered by the State Department of Education through
the School/Law Enforcement Partnership to (1) develop
application criteria and procedures for local education
agencies; (2) award grants to school districts, county
offices of education, or a consortium of school districts
and county offices of education; (3) evaluate the
effectiveness of the funded projects; and (4) report
biennially to the Legislature and Governor on the results of
the program. (Education Code sections 32296 et seq.) It
may be that the existing partnership Act could be augmented
to carry out the implementation of this bill, since there is
an already existing school/law enforcement relationship.
(NOTE: See the Senate Committee on Education analysis of SB
(More)
SB 1831 (Hughes)
Page 10
1580 (Alpert) from that committee's March 29, 2000, hearing
for a discussion under staff comments of the possibly
confusing nature of at least the somewhat duplicative bills
on school safety from the 1999 session.)
DOES THIS BILL ACCOMPLISH THE GOAL OF PROVIDING THE FOCUS
ARGUABLY NOW MISSING IN TRAINING TO ACHIEVE SCHOOL SAFETY?
SHOULD THIS NEW PILOT PROGRAM BE CREATED WITHIN THE
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE?
4. Related Legislation
(More)
SB 1831 (Hughes)
Page 11
SB 1580 (Alpert and Speier) would expand the present intent
of the Legislature that public schools with kindergarten
and grades 1 to 7, have access to supplemental resources to
establish programs and strategies that promote school
safety and emphasize violence prevention among children and
youth in the public schools, to include kindergarten and
grades 1 to 12, inclusive. SB 1580 calls for the
Superintendent of Public Instruction to award grants - with
the Attorney General participating in the evaluation
process - and appropriates $100,000,000 for that purpose.
SB 1580 is in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
5. Most Recent Amendments; Additional drafting Issues the
Author May Wish to Consider
The April 13, 2000, amendments to this bill make a number
of changes, including the deletion of three specified
locations for the new "school safety academies" and the
addition of a competitive process for the selection of the
academies, as follows:
(b) The Department of Justice shall establish minimum
standards, funding schedules, and procedures for
awarding grants, that shall include, but not be
limited to, all of the following:
(1) Demonstrated ability to administer a
comprehensive multidiscipline training program.
(2) Demonstrated ability to develop and implement a
training plan that provides comprehensive school
safety training to law enforcement, education, social
service agencies, youth organizations, probation,
community, and other school safety personnel.
(3) Demonstrated knowledge of law enforcement and
education statutes, policies and procedures, the
juvenile justice system, and school safety issues and
strategies.
(c) Based upon the competitive selection process, the
department shall fund applicants that propose to
establish an academy in southern California, in
SB 1831 (Hughes)
Page 12
northern California, or in central California, or any
combination of the three.
(d) The Department of Justice shall convene a
workshop comprised of school safety experts
representing each funded academy, education,
probation, law enforcement, school police, social
services, mental health, school security, school
administrators, and parents, and shall include an
evaluator The workgroup shall do all of the
following:
(1) Provide direction and technical assistance for
the development of the academy curriculum and the
delivery of training.
(2) Ensure that all current training systems will be
included and that existing training will not be
duplicated.
(3) Assist with the development of an official school
safety certification for the project.
(4) Provide technical assistance regarding obtaining
training credits, individual discipline certification,
and a reimbursement for expenses.
(5) Provide ongoing technical assistance to the
School Safety Academy Pilot Project for the three year
pilot period.
The April 13 amendments also include that each academy
shall conduct between four and six session each year with a
maximum of 30 participants at each session; that a yearly
report to the Governor and Legislature shall be made - in
addition to the final evaluation; that the amount of money
appropriated shall be $2.250 million rather than $4.836
million; and that the maximum amount the Department may use
for "administration" of the project is 5% of each year's
appropriation to the programs rather than simply 7%.
The sponsor may wish to also consider amendments to address
the following additional issues: (1) this bill now refers
to the "Crime and Violence Prevention Center" which exists
administratively within the Department of Justice, but that
Center does not appear in statutes, so the sponsor could
SB 1831 (Hughes)
Page 13
consider defining that Center in this bill or adding
"within the Department" after Center on page 2, line 11;
(2) this bill requires a final report on or before January
1, 2005, and a yearly report is now required after two
years of operation, but it may not be clear whether that
refers to operation of the academies or operation of this
bill which sets the process in motion, so additional
clarification of the yearly reporting requirements may at
some point be appropriate; and (3) the funding in this bill
appears to be intended for a three year period but the
money appropriated is not "without regard to fiscal year"
so it is possibly unclear whether or not additional money
in future state budgets would be needed to implement the
full three year period, thus the sponsor may wish to
clarify that at some point, if necessary.
***************