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SB-274 Suspensions and expulsions: willful defiance: interventions and supports.(2023-2024)



Current Version: 10/08/23 - Chaptered

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SB274:v94#DOCUMENT

Senate Bill No. 274
CHAPTER 597

An act to amend Sections 48900 and 48901.1 of the Education Code, relating to pupil discipline.

[ Approved by Governor  October 08, 2023. Filed with Secretary of State  October 08, 2023. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 274, Skinner. Suspensions and expulsions: willful defiance: interventions and supports.
(1) Existing law prohibits a pupil from being suspended from school or recommended for expulsion, unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed an act from a list of specified acts, including, among other acts, disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties. Existing law authorizes a teacher to suspend any pupil from class for any of the listed acts, including willful defiance, for the day of the suspension and the day following.
Existing law prohibits the suspension of a pupil enrolled in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 5, inclusive, and recommending the expulsion of a pupil enrolled in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, for disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of those school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties. Existing law, until July 1, 2025, prohibits the suspension of a pupil enrolled in any of grades 6 to 8, inclusive, for those acts. Existing law applies these same provisions to charter schools.
This bill would extend the prohibition against the suspension of pupils enrolled in any of grades 6 to 8, inclusive, including those pupils enrolled in a charter school, for disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties to all grades, by 4 years to instead be until July 1, 2029, and, commencing July 1, 2024, would prohibit the suspension of pupils enrolled in any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive, including those pupils enrolled in a charter school, for those acts until July 1, 2029, but would retain a teacher’s existing authorization to suspend any pupil in any grade from class for any of the listed acts, including willful defiance, for the day of the suspension and the day following, as provided.
(2) Existing law authorizes suspension to be imposed only when other means of correction, including, among other things, a conference between school personnel, the pupil’s parent or guardian, and the pupil, or participation in a restorative justice program, fail to bring about proper conduct, except as provided.
This bill would authorize certificated and classified employees, including certificated and noncertificated employees at charter schools, to refer pupils to school administrators for appropriate and timely in-school interventions or supports, from the specified list of other means of correction, for willful defiance, and would require school administrators, including charter school administrators, within 5 business days, to document the actions taken and to place that documentation in the pupil’s record, as specified. The bill would also require the school administrator, by the end of the 5th business day, to inform the referring employee, verbally or in writing, what actions were taken and, if none, the rationale used for not providing any appropriate or timely in-school interventions or supports. By imposing additional duties on public school administrators, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(3) Existing law states the intent of the Legislature that alternatives to suspension or expulsion be imposed against a pupil who is truant, tardy, or otherwise absent from school activities.
This bill would instead prohibit a suspension or expulsion from being imposed against a pupil based solely on the fact that they are otherwise absent from school activities.
(4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

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


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) For more than a decade, the Supreme Court, in Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012), and supported by neuroscience research, has recognized that young people are different and, because of the hallmark features of youth, such as “immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate risks and consequences,” are both not as culpable as older people and capable of remarkable change.
(b) Reflecting this reality and emerging science, California law concerning youth, their development, and punishment for their behaviors has been evolving.
(c) In 2014, Assembly Bill 420 of the 2013–14 Regular Session, authored by Assembly Member Roger Dickinson, was passed and signed by Governor Jerry Brown, eliminating willful defiance as a reason to suspend or expel pupils enrolled in grades 1 to 3, inclusive.
(d) In 2019, Senate Bill 419 of the 2019–20 Regular Session, authored by Senator Nancy Skinner, was passed and signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, removing a sunset provision for the prohibition against willful defiance suspensions for 4th and 5th grade pupils and expanding the prohibition to middle school pupils, with a sunset provision for July 1, 2025.
(e) Removing the opportunity for a pupil to be suspended from school for a behavior deemed willfully defiant has a disproportionately beneficial impact on Black pupils. According to a publication from the California School Board Association, California’s Black pupils are suspended at a far higher rate than their peers.
(f) Research confirms that pupils of color, pupils who are homeless, pupils with disabilities, pupils in foster care, and LGBTQIA+ pupils are more likely to be suspended for behavior deemed to be a willfully defiant offense even when harmless.
(g) A 2018 study conducted by professors from the University of California, Los Angeles, and San Diego State University shows willful defiance suspensions represent 15 percent of all suspensions in grades 4 to 12, inclusive, and 21 percent in grades 7 and 8, among Black male pupils.
(h) Suspending pupils can significantly harm children, leading to learning loss, missed school meals, and have countless other harmful social and material consequences.
(i) School suspensions can also result in substantial economic and social costs for families, including other children in the household, their employers, and their communities.
(j) Suspended or expelled pupils are five times more likely to drop out of school and to fall into the so-called school-to-prison pipeline, costing the state an estimated $46,000,000,000 per year.
(k) United States Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona was quoted in an Education Week article stating, “All students deserve access to safe, supportive schools and classrooms. Discrimination and use of exclusionary discipline can negatively impact students’ abilities to learn, grow and thrive… We’re seeking information so that the Department can help schools and educators confront disparities and create inclusive school environments that set all students up for success.”
(l) Ending willful defiance suspensions for all public school children recognizes the unique developmental vulnerabilities of youth, especially youth of color, and supports a school environment where every child has the opportunity to succeed.

SEC. 2.

 Section 48900 of the Education Code is amended to read:

48900.
 A pupil shall not be suspended from school or recommended for expulsion, unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed an act as defined pursuant to any of subdivisions (a) to (r), inclusive:
(a) (1) Caused, attempted to cause, or threatened to cause physical injury to another person.
(2) Willfully used force or violence upon the person of another, except in self-defense.
(b) Possessed, sold, or otherwise furnished a firearm, knife, explosive, or other dangerous object, unless, in the case of possession of an object of this type, the pupil had obtained written permission to possess the item from a certificated school employee, which is concurred in by the principal or the designee of the principal.
(c) Unlawfully possessed, used, sold, or otherwise furnished, or been under the influence of, a controlled substance listed in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11053) of Division 10 of the Health and Safety Code, an alcoholic beverage, or an intoxicant of any kind.
(d) Unlawfully offered, arranged, or negotiated to sell a controlled substance listed in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11053) of Division 10 of the Health and Safety Code, an alcoholic beverage, or an intoxicant of any kind, and either sold, delivered, or otherwise furnished to a person another liquid, substance, or material and represented the liquid, substance, or material as a controlled substance, alcoholic beverage, or intoxicant.
(e) Committed or attempted to commit robbery or extortion.
(f) Caused or attempted to cause damage to school property or private property.
(g) Stole or attempted to steal school property or private property.
(h) Possessed or used tobacco, or products containing tobacco or nicotine products, including, but not limited to, cigarettes, cigars, miniature cigars, clove cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, snuff, chew packets, and betel. However, this section does not prohibit the use or possession by a pupil of the pupil’s own prescription products.
(i) Committed an obscene act or engaged in habitual profanity or vulgarity.
(j) Unlawfully possessed or unlawfully offered, arranged, or negotiated to sell drug paraphernalia, as defined in Section 11014.5 of the Health and Safety Code.
(k) (1) Disrupted school activities or otherwise willfully defied the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties.
(2) Except as provided in Section 48910, a pupil enrolled in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 5, inclusive, shall not be suspended for any of the acts specified in paragraph (1), and those acts shall not constitute grounds for a pupil enrolled in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to be recommended for expulsion.
(3) Except as provided in Section 48910, a pupil enrolled in any of grades 6 to 8, inclusive, shall not be suspended for any of the acts specified in paragraph (1). This paragraph is inoperative on July 1, 2029.
(4) Except as provided in Section 48910, commencing July 1, 2024, a pupil enrolled in any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive, shall not be suspended for any of the acts specified in paragraph (1). This paragraph is inoperative on July 1, 2029.
(5) (A) A certificated or classified employee may refer a pupil to school administrators for appropriate and timely in-school interventions or supports from the list of other means of correction specified in subdivision (b) of Section 48900.5 for any of the acts enumerated in paragraph (1).
(B) A school administrator shall, within five business days, document the actions taken pursuant to subparagraph (A) and place that documentation in the pupil’s record to be available for access, to the extent permissible under state and federal law, pursuant to Section 49069.7. The school administrator shall, by the end of the fifth business day, also inform the referring certificated or classified employee, verbally or in writing, what actions were taken and, if none, the rationale used for not providing any appropriate or timely in-school interventions or supports.
(l) Knowingly received stolen school property or private property.
(m) Possessed an imitation firearm. As used in this section, “imitation firearm” means a replica of a firearm that is so substantially similar in physical properties to an existing firearm as to lead a reasonable person to conclude that the replica is a firearm.
(n) Committed or attempted to commit a sexual assault as defined in Section 261, 266c, 286, 287, 288, or 289 of, or former Section 288a of, the Penal Code or committed a sexual battery as defined in Section 243.4 of the Penal Code.
(o) Harassed, threatened, or intimidated a pupil who is a complaining witness or a witness in a school disciplinary proceeding for purposes of either preventing that pupil from being a witness or retaliating against that pupil for being a witness, or both.
(p) Unlawfully offered, arranged to sell, negotiated to sell, or sold the prescription drug Soma.
(q) Engaged in, or attempted to engage in, hazing. For purposes of this subdivision, “hazing” means a method of initiation or preinitiation into a pupil organization or body, whether or not the organization or body is officially recognized by an educational institution, that is likely to cause serious bodily injury or personal degradation or disgrace resulting in physical or mental harm to a former, current, or prospective pupil. For purposes of this subdivision, “hazing” does not include athletic events or school-sanctioned events.
(r) Engaged in an act of bullying. For purposes of this subdivision, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) “Bullying” means any severe or pervasive physical or verbal act or conduct, including communications made in writing or by means of an electronic act, and including one or more acts committed by a pupil or group of pupils as defined in Section 48900.2, 48900.3, or 48900.4, directed toward one or more pupils that has or can be reasonably predicted to have the effect of one or more of the following:
(A) Placing a reasonable pupil or pupils in fear of harm to that pupil’s or those pupils’ person or property.
(B) Causing a reasonable pupil to experience a substantially detrimental effect on the pupil’s physical or mental health.
(C) Causing a reasonable pupil to experience substantial interference with the pupil’s academic performance.
(D) Causing a reasonable pupil to experience substantial interference with the pupil’s ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or privileges provided by a school.
(2) (A) “Electronic act” means the creation or transmission originated on or off the schoolsite, by means of an electronic device, including, but not limited to, a telephone, wireless telephone, or other wireless communication device, computer, or pager, of a communication, including, but not limited to, any of the following:
(i) A message, text, sound, video, or image.
(ii) A post on a social network internet website, including, but not limited to:
(I) Posting to or creating a burn page. “Burn page” means an internet website created for the purpose of having one or more of the effects listed in paragraph (1).
(II) Creating a credible impersonation of another actual pupil for the purpose of having one or more of the effects listed in paragraph (1). “Credible impersonation” means to knowingly and without consent impersonate a pupil for the purpose of bullying the pupil and such that another pupil would reasonably believe, or has reasonably believed, that the pupil was or is the pupil who was impersonated.
(III) Creating a false profile for the purpose of having one or more of the effects listed in paragraph (1). “False profile” means a profile of a fictitious pupil or a profile using the likeness or attributes of an actual pupil other than the pupil who created the false profile.
(iii) (I) An act of cyber sexual bullying.
(II) For purposes of this clause, “cyber sexual bullying” means the dissemination of, or the solicitation or incitement to disseminate, a photograph or other visual recording by a pupil to another pupil or to school personnel by means of an electronic act that has or can be reasonably predicted to have one or more of the effects described in subparagraphs (A) to (D), inclusive, of paragraph (1). A photograph or other visual recording, as described in this subclause, shall include the depiction of a nude, semi-nude, or sexually explicit photograph or other visual recording of a minor where the minor is identifiable from the photograph, visual recording, or other electronic act.
(III) For purposes of this clause, “cyber sexual bullying” does not include a depiction, portrayal, or image that has any serious literary, artistic, educational, political, or scientific value or that involves athletic events or school-sanctioned activities.
(B) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) and subparagraph (A), an electronic act shall not constitute pervasive conduct solely on the basis that it has been transmitted on the internet or is currently posted on the internet.
(3) “Reasonable pupil” means a pupil, including, but not limited to, a pupil with exceptional needs, who exercises average care, skill, and judgment in conduct for a person of that age, or for a person of that age with the pupil’s exceptional needs.
(s) A pupil shall not be suspended or expelled for any of the acts enumerated in this section unless the act is related to a school activity or school attendance occurring within a school under the jurisdiction of the superintendent of the school district or principal or occurring within any other school district. A pupil may be suspended or expelled for acts that are enumerated in this section and related to a school activity or school attendance that occur at any time, including, but not limited to, any of the following:
(1) While on school grounds.
(2) While going to or coming from school.
(3) During the lunch period whether on or off the campus.
(4) During, or while going to or coming from, a school-sponsored activity.
(t) A pupil who aids or abets, as defined in Section 31 of the Penal Code, the infliction or attempted infliction of physical injury to another person may be subject to suspension, but not expulsion, pursuant to this section, except that a pupil who has been adjudged by a juvenile court to have committed, as an aider and abettor, a crime of physical violence in which the victim suffered great bodily injury or serious bodily injury shall be subject to discipline pursuant to subdivision (a).
(u) As used in this section, “school property” includes, but is not limited to, electronic files and databases.
(v) For a pupil subject to discipline under this section, a superintendent of the school district or principal is encouraged to provide alternatives to suspension or expulsion, using a research-based framework with strategies that improve behavioral and academic outcomes, that are age appropriate and designed to address and correct the pupil’s specific misbehavior as specified in Section 48900.5.
(w) (1) A suspension or expulsion shall not be imposed against a pupil based solely on the fact that they are truant, tardy, or otherwise absent from school activities.
(2) It is the intent of the Legislature that the Multi-Tiered System of Supports, which includes restorative justice practices, trauma-informed practices, social and emotional learning, and schoolwide positive behavior interventions and support, be used to help pupils gain critical social and emotional skills, receive support to help transform trauma-related responses, understand the impact of their actions, and develop meaningful methods for repairing harm to the school community.

SEC. 3.

 Section 48901.1 of the Education Code is amended to read:

48901.1.
 Notwithstanding Section 47610 or any other law, the following provisions apply to charter schools:
(a) A pupil enrolled in a charter school in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 5, inclusive, shall not be suspended on the basis of having disrupted school activities or otherwise willfully defied the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties, and those acts shall not constitute grounds for a pupil enrolled in a charter school in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to be recommended for expulsion.
(b) A pupil enrolled in a charter school in any of grades 6 to 8, inclusive, shall not be suspended on the basis of having disrupted school activities or otherwise willfully defied the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties. This subdivision is inoperative on July 1, 2029.
(c) Except as provided in Section 48910, commencing July 1, 2024, a pupil enrolled in a charter school in any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive, shall not be suspended for any of the acts specified in paragraph (1). This paragraph is inoperative on July 1, 2029.
(d) (1) A certificated or noncertificated employee may refer a pupil to charter school administrators for appropriate and timely in-school interventions or supports from the list specified in subdivision (b) of Section 48900.5 for any of the acts enumerated in paragraph (1).
(2) A charter school administrator shall, within five business days, document the actions taken pursuant to paragraph (1) and place that documentation in the pupil’s record to be available for access, to the extent permissible under state and federal law, pursuant to Section 49069.7. The charter school administrator shall, by the end of the fifth business day, also inform the referring certificated or noncertificated employee, verbally or in writing, what actions were taken and, if none, the rationale used for not providing any appropriate or timely in-school interventions or supports.

SEC. 4.

 If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.