Bill Text: CA SB1235 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Pupils: suspension.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2012-09-26 - In Senate. Consideration of Governor's veto pending. [SB1235 Detail]
Download: California-2011-SB1235-Enrolled.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 1235 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 31, 2012
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 27, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 22, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 20, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 5, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 14, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 18, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Senators Steinberg, Price, and Rubio
(Coauthors: Senators Alquist, Lowenthal, and Vargas)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Dickinson and Swanson)
FEBRUARY 23, 2012
An act to amend Section 48911.2 of the Education Code, relating to
pupils.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1235, Steinberg. Pupils: suspension.
Existing law prohibits the suspension, or recommendation for
expulsion, of a pupil from school unless the school district
superintendent or the school principal determines that the pupil has
committed any of various specified acts. Existing law requires the
school district superintendent or the school principal to immediately
suspend and recommend the expulsion of a pupil who is determined to
have, at school or at a school activity off school grounds,
possessed, sold, or otherwise furnished a firearm, brandished a knife
at another person, unlawfully sold a controlled substance, committed
or attempted to commit a sexual assault or battery, as defined, or
possessed an explosive.
Existing law states that a school should consider implementing a
supervised suspension program or an alternative to the school's
off-campus suspension program that involves a progressive discipline
approach using specified activities if the number of pupils suspended
from school during the prior school year exceeded 30% of the school'
s enrollment.
This bill would instead encourage a school district, commencing
with the 2014-15 school year, to implement, for a minimum of 3 years,
at a school where the number of pupils receiving off-campus
suspensions in the prior school year exceeded 25% of its total
enrollment, or exceeded 25% of a numerically significant pupil
subgroup of that enrollment, as defined, either (A) an evidence-based
system of schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports
that employs school-level information about the behavioral and
academic history of pupils to define and implement systems of support
and interventions at the school, classroom, and individual levels
that is aimed at improving the social, emotional, and academic
success for all pupils, or (B) other schoolwide strategies that are
evidence based and designed to address school climate in order to
create learning environments where teachers can teach and pupils can
learn and to reduce suspensions from classrooms and the school. The
bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to invite
a school that meets or exceeds this threshold percentage of
suspensions to attend a regional forum organized by the
Superintendent to provide assistance and training regarding the
strategies described above, among other things. Commencing with the
2015-16 school year, the bill would decrease the percentage of
enrollment or numerically significant pupil subgroup of enrollment
that triggers an invitation to attend a regional forum each school
year until that percentage is 15% for the 2018-19 school year, in
accordance with a prescribed schedule.
The bill would require the Superintendent annually from the
2014-15 to the 2018-19 school year, inclusive, to notify each local
educational agency that contains at least one school that exceeds the
specified thresholds and provide technical assistance as requested;
to invite the schools that meet or exceed the specified thresholds
applicable to suspensions to send a school leadership team to a
regional forum, with a goal of serving no fewer than 100 schools per
school year; prioritize invitations to schools with the highest rates
of off-campus suspensions; and to provide the State Board of
Education with the names of the schools invited to attend a regional
forum and the annual rate of reduction or increase in each school's
off-campus suspensions. These requirements would be contingent upon
the availability of funds, as specified.
The bill would authorize the State Department of Education to
provide school districts with information regarding schoolwide
evidence-based strategies that could be implemented.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 48911.2 of the Education Code is amended to
read:
48911.2. (a) (1) Commencing with the 2014-15 school year and each
school year thereafter, if the number of pupils receiving off-campus
suspensions from school during the prior school year exceeded 25
percent of the school's total enrollment or exceeded 25 percent of
any numerically significant pupil subgroup of the school's
enrollment, the school district is encouraged to implement, for a
minimum of three years, at least one of the following strategies at
the school for the purpose of reducing the suspension rate or
disproportionality:
(A) An evidence-based system of schoolwide positive behavioral
interventions and supports that employs school-level information
about the behavioral and academic history of pupils to define and
implement systems of support and interventions at the school,
classroom, and individual levels that is aimed at improving the
social, emotional, and academic success for all pupils.
(B) Other schoolwide strategies that are evidence based and
designed to address school climate in order to create learning
environments where teachers can teach and pupils can learn and to
reduce suspensions from classrooms and the school. The department may
provide information regarding additional schoolwide strategies that
meet the criteria for evidence-based strategies.
(2) The Superintendent shall invite a school to which this
subdivision applies to send a school leadership team to an annual
regional forum, as described in subdivision (c).
(b) (1) Commencing with the 2015-16 school year, if the number of
pupils receiving off-campus suspensions exceeds the percentage of a
school's total enrollment, or exceeds the percentage of any
numerically significant pupil subgroup of a school's enrollment as
set forth in paragraph (2), the Superintendent shall invite the
school to send a school leadership team to an annual regional forum,
as described in subdivision (c).
(2) (A) Twenty-three percent for the 2015-16 school year.
(B) Twenty-one percent for the 2016-17 school year.
(C) Nineteen percent for the 2017-18 school year.
(D) Fifteen percent for the 2018-19 school year.
(c) (1) For the 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19
school years, inclusive, the Superintendent shall provide technical
assistance and training at no more than three annual regional forums
each year for schools that exceed the thresholds described in
subdivisions (a) and (b). The purposes of the regional forums shall
include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(A) Providing training regarding implementation of schoolwide
evidence-based strategies described in subdivision (a).
(B) Using data to create positive school climates and to assist
with data-based decisionmaking.
(C) Sharing resources and evidence-based practices, engaging
community, and building capacity for alternatives to off-campus
suspensions.
(D) Identifying gaps and weaknesses in services.
(E) Identifying and sharing solutions and best practices at the
local level and exposing schools to other school leaders, experts,
and educators in California and nationally who are successfully
implementing the evidence-based strategies described in subdivision
(a).
(F) Evaluating the efficacy of strategies adopted.
(2) On an annual basis, the Superintendent shall do all of the
following:
(A) Notify each local educational agency that contains a school or
schools that exceed the thresholds in subdivisions (a) and (b) and
provide technical assistance as requested to those schools.
(B) Invite schools that exceed the thresholds in subdivisions (a)
and (b) to send a school leadership team that includes the school
principal and other administrators responsible for implementing
alternatives to excessive suspensions to the applicable regional
forum, with a goal of serving no fewer than 100 schools per school
year.
(C) Prioritize invitations to schools with the highest rates of
off-campus suspensions.
(D) The Superintendent shall annually provide to the state board
the names of the schools that exceed the thresholds in subdivisions
(a) and (b), the names of those schools invited to attend a regional
forum, and the annual rate of reduction or increase in each school's
off-campus suspensions.
(3) For schools that exceed the thresholds in subdivisions (a) and
(b), the department also shall provide technical assistance
regarding implementation of the schoolwide evidence-based strategies
described in subdivision (a).
(4) The requirements of this subdivision are contingent upon the
availability of funds. The Superintendent may use any appropriate
state, federal, or private funding sources to support the activities
described in this subdivision, and shall seek private funding to
supplement any state or federal funds made available for this
purpose.
(d) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage all schools
to examine alternatives to off-campus suspensions that lead to
resolution of pupil misconduct without sending pupils off campus and
to address disproportionate rates of off-campus and in-school
suspensions. Schools that use strategies described in this section
should not be precluded from suspending pupils to an off-campus site.
(e) A school district may use any appropriate state, federal, or
private funding sources to support the evidence-based schoolwide
strategies required to be implemented at schools that meet the
criteria described in subdivisions (a) and (b).
(f) (1) For purposes of this section, a numerically significant
pupil subgroup includes the subgroups listed in paragraph (2),
consistent with paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 52052,
and that meet at least one of the following criteria:
(A) The subgroup consists of at least 100 pupils enrolled at the
school.
(B) The subgroup consists of at least 50 pupils, and constitutes
at least 15 percent of the total population of pupils enrolled at the
school.
(2) (A) Racial and ethnic subgroups.
(B) Socioeconomically disadvantaged pupils.
(C) English learners.
(D) Pupils with disabilities.
(E) Gender-based subgroups.
