AB 2109: Pupils: pupils with a temporary disability: individual instruction: pupils who are terminally ill: honorary diplomas.

(1)Existing law requires a pupil with a temporary disability that makes attendance in the regular day classes or alternative education program in which the pupil is enrolled impossible or inadvisable to receive individual instruction provided by the school district in which the pupil is deemed to reside. Existing law requires a pupil with a temporary disability, who is in a hospital or other residential health facility, excluding a state hospital, located outside of the school district in which the pupils parent or guardian resides, to be deemed to have complied with the residency requirements for school attendance in the school district in which the hospital is located.

This bill would instead require a pupil with a temporary disability to receive either individual instruction at home provided by the school district in which the pupil is deemed to reside, or individual instruction in a hospital or other residential health facility, excluding state hospitals, provided by the school district in which the hospital or other residential health facility is located. The bill would authorize a school district or charter school to continue to enroll a pupil with a temporary disability who is receiving individual instruction in a hospital or other residential health facility in order to facilitate the timely reentry of the pupil in his or her prior school after the hospitalization has ended, or in order to provide a partial week of instruction to the pupil, as provided.

The bill would require a school district or charter school to allow a pupil receiving individual instruction who is well enough to return to a school to be allowed to return to the school that he or she attended immediately before receiving individual instruction, if the pupil returns during the school year in which the individual instruction was initiated. The bill would also entitle a pupil who is enrolled in individual instruction in a hospital or other residential health facility for a partial week to attend school in his or her school district of residence, or receive individual instruction provided by the school district of residence in the pupils home, on days in which he or she is not receiving individual instruction in a hospital or other residential health facility, if he or she is well enough to do so. The bill would require a supervisor of attendance, when a pupil with a temporary disability is receiving individual instruction in the home or a hospital or other residential health facility, to ensure that absences from the pupils regular school program are excused until the pupil is able to return to the regular school program. To the extent this bill would impose additional requirements on school districts and charter schools, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

(2)Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district maintaining a high school to confer honorary high school diplomas upon foreign exchange students from other countries who have not completed the course of study ordinarily required for graduation, and who are returning to their home countries following the completion of one academic school year in a school district in the state.

This bill would also authorize the governing board of a school district, a county office of education, and the governing body of a charter school maintaining a high school to confer an honorary high school diploma upon a pupil who is terminally ill.

(3)This bill would also delete obsolete provisions and make clarifying and conforming changes.

(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.