Bill Text: CA SB1235 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended

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

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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-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 1235	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	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)
   (  Coauthor:   Assembly Member 
 Swanson   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, as amended, 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  2013-14   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  2014-15
  2015-16  school year, the bill would decrease
 by 2% each year  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.
   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.  Section 48911.2 of the Education Code is amended to
read:
   48911.2.  (a) (1) Commencing with the  2013-14 
 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
  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  2014-15   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  2014-15 
 2015-16  school year.
   (B) Twenty-one percent for the  2015-16  
2016-17  school year.
   (C) Nineteen percent for the  2016-17  
2017-18  school year.
   (D)  Seventeen   Fifteen  percent for
the  2017-18   2018-19  school year.

   (E) Fifteen percent for the 2018-19 school year, and each school
year thereafter. 
   (c) (1) For the  2013-14,  2014-15, 2015-16,
2016-17,  and  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  invite
all   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  . 
The 
    (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.