California School Discipline Laws & Regulations: Data Collection, Review, and Reporting of Discipline Policies and Actions

California School Discipline Laws & Regulations: Data Collection, Review, and Reporting of Discipline Policies and Actions

Category: Monitoring and Accountability
Subcategory: Data Collection, Review, and Reporting of Discipline Policies and Actions
State: California

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California

LAWS

EDC 33126.

(a) The school accountability report card shall provide data by which a parent can make meaningful comparisons between public schools that will enable him or her to make informed decisions on the school in which to enroll his or her children.

(b) The school accountability report card shall include, but is not limited to, assessment of the following school conditions:

(10) Suspension and expulsion rates for the most recent three-year period. [...]

(c) If the Commission on State Mandates finds a school district is eligible for a reimbursement of costs incurred complying with this section, the school district shall be reimbursed only if the information provided in the school accountability report card is accurate, as determined by the annual audit performed pursuant to Section 41020. If the information is determined to be inaccurate, the school district remains eligible for reimbursement if the information is corrected by May 15.

(d) It is the intent of the Legislature that schools make a concerted effort to notify parents of the purpose of the school accountability report cards, as described in this section, and ensure that all parents receive a copy of the report card; to ensure that the report cards are easy to read and understandable by parents; to ensure that local educational agencies with access to the Internet make available current copies of the report cards through the Internet; and to ensure that administrators and teachers are available to answer any questions regarding the report cards.

EDC 48202.

The county board of education of each county may establish, by resolution, the following regulation requiring the reporting of various types of severance of attendance of or by any pupil subject to the compulsory education laws of California or of any one or more of the types of severance enumerated in subdivision (a) below and may require such reporting of any or all of the private and public schools of the county:

(a) The administration of each private school and public school district of the county shall, upon the severance of attendance by any pupil subject to the compulsory education laws of California, whether by expulsion, exclusion, exemption, transfer, suspension beyond 10 schooldays, or other reasons, report such severance to the county superintendent of schools in the jurisdiction. The report shall include names, ages, last known address and the reason for each such severance.

(b) It shall be the duty of the county superintendent of such county to examine such reports and draw to the attention of the county board of education and local district board of education any cases in which the interests of the child or the welfare of the state may need further examination.

(c) After preliminary study of available information in cases so referred to it, the county board of education may, on its own action, hold hearings on such cases in the manner provided in Sections 48915 through 48920 and with the same powers of final decision as therein provided.

EDC 48273.

The governing board of each school district shall adopt rules and regulations to require the appropriate officers and employees of the district to gather and transmit to the county superintendent of schools the number and types of referrals to school attendance review boards and of requests for petitions to the juvenile court pursuant to Section 48263.

EDC 48911.2.

(a) If the number of pupils suspended from school during the prior school year exceeded 30 percent of the school's enrollment, the school should consider doing at least one of the following:

(1) Implement the supervised suspension program described in Section 48911.1.

(2) Implement an alternative to the school's off-campus suspension program, which involves a progressive discipline approach that occurs during the schoolday on campus, using any of the following activities:

(A) Conferences between the school staff, parents, and pupils.

(B) Referral to the school counselor, psychologist, child welfare attendance personnel, or other school support service staff.

(D) Study teams, guidance teams, resource panel teams, or other assessment-related teams.

(b) At the end of the academic year, the school may report to the district superintendent in charge of school support services, or other comparable administrator if that position does not exist, on the rate of reduction in the school's off-campus suspensions and the plan or activities used to comply with subdivision (a).

(c) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage schools that choose to implement this section to examine alternatives to off-campus suspensions that lead to resolution of pupil misconduct without sending pupils off campus. Schools that use this section should not be precluded from suspending pupils to an off-campus site.

EDC 48916.1.

(e)(1) Each school district shall maintain the following data:

(A) The number of pupils recommended for expulsion.

(B) The grounds for each recommended expulsion.

(D) Whether the expulsion order was suspended.

(E) The type of referral made after the expulsion.

(F) The disposition of the pupil after the end of the period of expulsion.

(2) The Superintendent may require a school district to report this data as part of the coordinated compliance review. If a school district does not report outcome data as required by this subdivision, the Superintendent may not apportion any further money to the school district pursuant to Section 48664 until the school district is in compliance with this subdivision. Before withholding the apportionment of funds to a school district pursuant to this subdivision, the Superintendent shall give written notice to the governing board of the school district that the school district has failed to report the data required by paragraph (1) and that the school district has 30 calendar days from the date of the written notice of noncompliance to report the requested data and thereby avoid the withholding of the apportionment of funds.

(f) If the county superintendent of schools is unable for any reason to serve the expelled pupils of a school district within the county, the governing board of that school district may enter into an agreement with a county superintendent of schools in another county to provide education services for the district's expelled pupils.

EDC 52060.

(a) On or before July 1, 2014, the governing board of each school district shall adopt a local control and accountability plan using a template adopted by the state board.

(b) A local control and accountability plan adopted by the governing board of a school district shall be effective for a period of three years, and shall be updated on or before July 1 of each year.

(c) A local control and accountability plan adopted by the governing board of a school district shall include, for the school district and each school within the school district, all of the information specified in the template adopted by the state board pursuant to Section 52064. [...]

(d) All of the following are state priorities for purposes of a school district's local control and accountability plan:

(5) Pupil engagement, as measured by all of the following, as applicable:

(A) School attendance rates.

(B) Chronic absenteeism rates.

(D) High school dropout rates.

(E) High school graduation rates.

(6) School climate, as measured by all of the following, as applicable:

(A) Pupil suspension rates.

(B) Pupil expulsion rates.

(C) Other local measures, including surveys of pupils, parents, and teachers on the sense of safety and school connectedness. [...]

(e) For purposes of the descriptions required by subdivision (b) of Section 52064, the governing board of a school district may consider qualitative information, including, but not limited to, findings that result from school quality reviews conducted pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 52052 or any other reviews.

(f) To the extent practicable, data reported in a local control and accountability plan shall be reported in a manner consistent with how information is reported on the California School Dashboard maintained by the department pursuant to Section 52064.5.

(g) The governing board of a school district shall consult with teachers, principals, administrators, other school personnel, local bargaining units of the school district, parents, and pupils in developing a local control and accountability plan.

(h) A school district may identify local priorities, goals in regard to the local priorities, and the method for measuring the school district's progress toward achieving those goals.

EDC 52066.

(d) All of the following are state priorities for purposes of a county board of education's local control and accountability plan:

(5) Pupil engagement, as measured by all of the following, as applicable:

(A) School attendance rates.

(B) Chronic absenteeism rates. [...]

(6) School climate, as measured by all of the following, as applicable:

(A) Pupil suspension rates.

(B) Pupil expulsion rates.

EDC 60901.

(a) Contingent upon the receipt of federal funds for this purpose, the department, in consultation with the Department of Finance and the Legislative Analyst's Office, shall prepare the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System established pursuant to Section 60900 to include data on a quarterly rate of pupil attendance. Preparation shall include all of the following:

(1) The addition of fields to facilitate the transfer of data.

(2) System development activities including any business rules and definitions that would be needed to improve the quality and consistency of the data.

(3) Processes for the transfer of data from local educational agencies.

(4) Consultation with organizations representing school, district, and county education administrators, classified and certified staff, and parents in order to develop the criteria and frequency of reports on pupil attendance data and other indicators as may be submitted by local educational agencies.

(b) The system shall support local educational agencies in their efforts to identify and support pupils at risk of dropping out and shall be capable of issuing to local educational agencies periodic reports that include, but may not be limited to, district, school, class, and individual pupil reports on both of the following:

(1) Rates of absence.

(2) Chronic absentees.

(c)(1) For purposes of this section, "chronic absentee" means a pupil who is absent on 10 percent or more of the schooldays in the school year when the total number of days a pupil is absent is divided by the total number of days the pupil is enrolled and school was actually taught in the regular day schools of the district, exclusive of Saturdays and Sundays.

(2) Once available, chronic absentee rates shall be incorporated into the annual report on dropouts required pursuant to Section 48070.6.

(d) It is the intent of the Legislature to support the development of early warning systems to enable the identification and support of individual pupils who are at risk of academic failure or dropping out of school. The systems shall encompass the following characteristics:

(1) The utilization of highly predictive indicators, including attendance, course grades or completion, performance on assessments of pupil achievement, suspensions, and expulsions.

(2) A thorough validation process to ensure the predictive reliability of the systems.

(3) Periodic reports that inform principals, teachers, and parents in a manner that enables timely identification and support of individual pupils who are at risk of academic failure or dropping out.

(e) When the system established pursuant to Section 60900 is prepared to accept data on a quarterly rate of pupil attendance, a local educational agency may submit data to the department on a quarterly rate of pupil attendance and other indicators as identified by the department. It is the intent of the Legislature that schools identified on the list of persistently lowest-achieving schools will fully utilize the early warning systems described in subdivision (d).

(f) A local educational agency that reports attendance data for pupils to the system established pursuant to Section 60900 may request, and the department shall provide, the early warning report described in subdivision (d) up to four times each school year.

(g) The department shall notify local educational agencies that reporting pupil attendance and chronic absentee data pursuant to this section is voluntary. The notice shall include a description of the benefits of reporting pupil attendance and chronic absentee data in fostering the development of effective supports and interventions for at-promise pupils.

(h) This section shall not be implemented unless federal funds are appropriated specifically for the purposes of this section.

REGULATIONS

§ 700. Definitions.

(a) "Aggregated data," means the information contained on all of the completed California Safe Schools Assessment School Crime and Incident Reporting Forms (July 1, 2001) collected during each reporting period by the school district or county office of education from each school, program, or camp within the jurisdiction of the superintendent of the respective school district or county office of education.

§ 701. School crime and incident reporting procedures.

(a) All school district superintendents and county office of education superintendents who operate educational programs are required to submit to the California Department of Education safe school assessment reports that contain specific numerical data on the incidents of crime, including hate crimes or hate motivated incidents, occurring on their respective school campuses. Each school district or county office of education shall utilize the following procedure to report crime and hate motivated incident data from school or program sites to the respective school district or county office of education superintendent, and to the California Department of Education:

(1) Each administrator of a school site or county office of education program, or designee, shall complete a California Safe Schools Assessment School Crime and Incident Reporting Form (July 1, 2001) for each incident of crime, including hate crime or hate motivated incidents. The information on the form includes, but is not limited to, identification of the crime or hate motivated incident, victim characteristics, suspect characteristics, if known at the time of the incident, and the actual or estimated dollar loss to the school district or county office of education resulting from a criminal act directed against property of the school district or county office of education. The site or program administrator shall use the crime and hate motivated incident classification definitions as specified above in Section 700(b) and (d) and the reporting guidelines as specified below in Section 702(a) to determine if a crime or an incident is reportable for the purposes of the Safe Schools Assessment Program.

(2) The site or program administrator, or designee, shall retain on file for not less than three years the individual reports of crimes and hate moviated incidents on which the aggregate data is based, and any other required documentation, as specified below in Section 702(b).

(3) Each month the data regarding reportable school crimes and hate motivated incidents shall be reported to the designated person at the respective school district or county office of education.

(4) Any school district that has its own police department may have the chief of its police force or other administrator of the police department prepare the California Safe Schools Assessment School Crime and Incident Reporting Form (July 1, 2001) for its schools and submit the aggregated data to the California Department of Education.

(5) On or before February 1 and August 1 of each year, the respective school district or county office of education superintendent, or designee, shall aggregate the school crime and hate motivated incident data reported by schools or programs within their jurisdiction and report the aggregated data to the California Department of Education.

(6) Beginning February 1, 1997 and thereafter, if a school district or county office of education chooses to submit its data to the California Department of Education in an electronic format, it must do so in a format designated by the California Department of Education. For the purposes of this section, an electronic format includes, computer disk, modem transfer, or other electronic means.

(b) Reportable crimes and hate motivated incidents occurring at a school in the jurisdiction of another school district or county office of education shall be reported by the education agency in which the crime or hate motivated incident occurred.

§ 702. Guidelines for reporting and required documentation.

Site or program administrators and school district and county office of education superintendents shall use (1) crime and hate motivated incident classifications based on existing statutes, as specified above in Section 700(b) and (d), (2) reporting guidelines as specified in subsection (a) below, and (3) guidelines for required documentation as specified in subsection (b) below to complete the reporting procedures as specified above in Section 701.

(a) Reporting guidelines

The site or program administrator or designee shall report a crime or hate motivated incident when it has been determined that a reportable crime or hate motivated incident, as specified above in Section 700(b) and (d), has been committed on a school location, as specified above in Section 700(f). If more than one crime or hate motivated incident is committed during an occurrence, the most serious crime or incident in the judgment of the site or program administrator or designee shall be reported. The suspect(s) need not be apprehended for a crime or hate motivated incident to be reportable. The site or program administrator or designee may consult with local law enforcement to confirm that the occurrences reported on the forms are crimes or hate motivated incidents as defined in statute.

(b) Required documentation

The school district or county office of education superintendent responsible for reporting school crime and hate motivated incident data shall make available, for not less than three years from the date the report was submitted, supporting data which verifies information contained on the California Safe Schools Assessment School Crime and Incident Reporting Form (July 1, 2001). Such data shall include, but not be limited to, reports to local law enforcement officers and suspension and expulsion reports which have been reported to the respective local governing board, for the crime classifications specified in Education Code section 48915(a) through (d); and insurance claims, maintenance records, and other documents to verify economic loss, if applicable. In addition, staff should be available to participate in interviews during site visits from the California Department of Education.

§ 704. Certification of report.

Each school district or county office of education superintendent or designee shall certify to the best of their knowledge and belief that the information in each crime and hate motivated incident reporting form is true, accurate, and complete prior to submission to the California Department of Education.

§ 705. Failure to submit or intentionally submitting misleading data.

School districts or county offices of education failing to submit a report or intentionally submitting misleading data may be sanctioned by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The sanction is withholding a dollar amount not to exceed one-half of the annual salary of the superintendent of either the reporting school district or the county office of education from the school district's or county office of education's next state funding apportionment.

§ 11992. Provisions.

(a) A California public elementary or secondary school is "persistently dangerous" if, in each of three consecutive fiscal years, one of the following criteria has been met:

(1) For a school of fewer than 300 enrolled students, the number of incidents of firearm violations committed by non-students on school grounds during school hours or during a school-sponsored activity, plus the number of student expulsions for any of the violations delineated in subsection (b) is greater than three.

(2) For a larger school, the number of incidents of firearm violations committed by non-students on school grounds during school hours or during a school-sponsored activity, plus the number of student expulsions for any of the violations delineated in subsection (b) is greater than one per 100 enrolled students or a fraction thereof.

(b) Applicable violations include:

(1) Assault or battery upon a school employee (Education Code section 48915(a)(5));

(2) Brandishing a knife (Education Code section 48915(c)(2));

(3) Causing serious physical injury to another person, except in self-defense (Education Code section 48915(a)(1));

(4) Hate violence (Education Code section 48900.3);

(5) Possessing, selling or furnishing a firearm (Education Code section 48915(c)(1));

(6) Possession of an explosive (Education Code section 48915(c)(5));

(7) Robbery or extortion (Education Code section 48915(a)(4));

(8) Selling a controlled substance (Education Code section 48915(c)(3)); and

(9) Sexual assault or sexual battery (Education Code section 48915(c)(4)).

(c) In instances where a student committed a violation enumerated in subsection (b) for which expulsion proceedings would have been instituted, but is no longer a student and therefore cannot be expelled, that violation must be reported in the total number of incidents and expulsions referenced in subsection (a).

§ 11993. Definitions.

(k) An "incident" of a firearm violation by non-student(s) for the purpose of section 11992 is an event on school grounds during school hours, or at a school-sponsored activity, involving a person or persons not enrolled in the school who unlawfully brings or possesses a handgun, rifle, shotgun, or other type of firearm. An event shall be counted as a single incident when it happens at the same time in the same location, regardless of the number of non-students involved. School site administrators or designees are responsible for documenting the incident and reporting the incident to the local educational agency (LEA) staff who are responsible for collecting expulsion data.

§ 11994. Data collection.

Local educational agencies (LEAs) will submit to the California Department of Education (CDE) the number of incidents of non-student firearm violations and student expulsions specified in section 11992 above for determining persistently dangerous schools. The CDE will use the information collected to determine if a school site meets the criteria in this subchapter. If an LEA contests the CDE's determination that one or more of its schools is persistently dangerous, the LEA may appeal that determination to the State Board of Education based on incorrect data or circumstances that caused the school to be identified as persistently dangerous, but actually increased student and teacher safety at the school.