Bill Text: CA AB23 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

---

Bill Title: Educational programs: single gender schools and classes.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)

Status: (Passed) 2017-10-11 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 654, Statutes of 2017. [AB23 Detail]

Download: California-2017-AB23-Amended.html

---

Amended  IN  Assembly  May 30, 2017

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 27, 2017

Amended  IN  Assembly  January 31, 2017

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 23

---

Introduced by Assembly Member Ridley-Thomas
(Coauthor: Senator Mitchell)

December 05, 2016

---

An act to add and repeal Article 4.5 (commencing with Section 232) to of Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, relating to educational programs, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 23, as amended, Ridley-Thomas. Educational programs: single gender schools and instructional programs.

Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to initiate and carry on any program or activity, or to otherwise act in any manner which is not in conflict or inconsistent with, or preempted by, any law and which is not in conflict with the purposes for which school districts are established.

Existing law prohibits discrimination against a person on the basis of, among other things, gender in any program or activity conducted by an educational institution that receives, or benefits from, state financial assistance or enrolls pupils who receive state student financial aid.

This bill bill, until January 1, 2025, would authorize a local educational agency school district with an average daily attendance of 400,000 or more pupils to establish single gender schools and instructional programs programs, and a charter school authorized by a school district with an average daily attendance of 400,000 or more pupils to be established as a single gender school or to establish single gender instructional programs, if certain requirements are met. The bill would require a local educational agency school district that establishes a single gender school or instructional program program, and a charter school established as a single gender school or that establishes a single gender instructional program, to conduct an evaluation certain evaluations at least once every 2 years, as specified. and to report the findings of those evaluations to the Senate Committee on Education and the Assembly Committee on Education.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Digest Key

Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NO   Local Program: NO  

---

Bill Text

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

SECTION 1.

 Article 4.5 (commencing with Section 232) is added to Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, to read:

Article  4.5. Single Gender Schools and Instructional Programs

232.

 The Legislature finds and declares that there is a need to increase the diversity of California’s public educational offerings by making single gender schools and instructional programs available to pupils of each gender who, because of their unique educational needs, will benefit from single gender education that is aligned with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1681 et seq.).

232.2.

 (a) (1) Notwithstanding Section 220 as it relates to discrimination on the basis of gender, a local educational agency school district with an average daily attendance of 400,000 or more pupils may establish single gender schools and instructional programs pursuant to a policy adopted by the governing board of the local educational agency, or the governing body if the local educational agency is a charter school, school district that addresses how the local educational agency school district will ensure compliance with Title IX regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106), as they read on October 25, 2006, including, 2006.

(2) Notwithstanding Section 220 as it relates to discrimination on the basis of gender, a charter school authorized by a school district with an average daily attendance of 400,000 or more pupils may be established as a single gender school or may establish single gender instructional programs pursuant to a policy adopted by the governing body of the charter school that addresses how the charter school will ensure compliance with Title IX regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106), as they read on October 25, 2006.

(b) A policy adopted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, all of the following requirements:

(a)

(1) The single gender aspect of the school or instructional program will serve an important local educational agency school district or charter school objective to do either of the following:

(1)

(A) Improve the educational achievement of its pupils through the local educational agency’s school district’s or charter school’s overall established policy to provide diverse educational opportunities, provided that the single gender nature of the school or instructional program is substantially related to achieving that objective.

(2)

(B) Meet the particular, identified educational needs of its pupils, provided that the single gender nature of the school or instructional program is substantially related to achieving that objective.

(b)

(2) The local educational agency school district or charter school will implement its objective in an evenhanded manner.

(c)

(3) Pupil enrollment in a single gender school or instructional program will be voluntary.

(d) (1)

(4) (A) Except as provided in paragraph (2), subparagraph (B), the local educational agency school district or charter school will provide to pupils of both genders a substantially equal coeducational class, extracurricular activity, or program in the same subject.

(2)Paragraph (1)

(B) Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to a nonvocational charter school that is a single school local educational agency that is not part of a network or chain of charter schools or a charter school management organization that has more than one school.

232.4.

 (a) A local educational agency school district that establishes a single gender school or instructional program program, or a charter school that is established as a single gender school or that establishes a single gender instructional program, pursuant to Section 232.2 shall conduct an evaluation the following evaluations at least once every two years years:

(1) An evaluation to ensure that the single gender aspect of the school or program is based upon genuine justifications and does not rely on overly broad generalizations about the different talents, capacities, or preferences of either gender and that the single gender nature of the school or program is substantially related to the achievement of the important objective for the school or program.

(2) An evaluation that examines whether the single gender school or instructional program has been effective as compared to coeducational schools.

(3) An evaluation of the impact of the single gender school or instructional program on pupils who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, or gender nonconforming.

(b) The school district or charter school shall submit the findings of the evaluations required pursuant to subdivision (a) to the Senate Committee on Education and the Assembly Committee on Education.

232.6.

 This article shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2025, and as of that date is repealed.

SEC. 2.

 This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

In order to authorize, at the earliest possible time, the use of single gender schools and instructional programs that serve important local educational agency school district and charter school objectives, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.