CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS

CSA1 Bill Id:AB 982

Author:(Holden)

As Amended Ver:August 27, 2019

Majority vote

SUMMARY:

Requires a teacher, upon the request of a parent or pupil, to provide homework that would otherwise have been assigned, to a pupil who has been suspended for two or more schooldays. States it is not the intent of the Legislature to require a teacher to correct classroom assignments or homework missed while the pupil is suspended, or to add an additional burden to a teacher’s workload.

The Senate Amendments:

Require that if a homework assignment that is requested and turned into the teacher by the pupil is not graded before the end of the academic term, that assignment will not be included in the calculation of the pupil’s overall grade in the class.

COMMENTS:

Student suspensions in California have declined but disparities exist. Overall, the total number of suspensions statewide dropped by 49% from 2011-12 to 2017-18. However, the suspension rate of African American and American Indian/Alaska Native students remains significantly higher than the state average.

A 2018 report by the Community College Equity Assessment Lab and the University of California, Los Angeles, Black Male Institute, Get Out! Black Male Suspensions in California Public Schools reports that 381,845 school suspensions were levied in the 2016-17 school year. The statewide suspension for African American males of 12.8% is 3.6 times greater than that of the statewide rate for all students of 3.6%. While African Americans account for only 5.8% of the state’s public school enrollment, they represent 17.8% of students who are suspended.

This study notes that extensive research in the field of unconscious bias has demonstrated that African American boys are over-exposed to exclusionary discipline due to their racial and gender identity. The authors noted that students who are exposed to suspensions have been found to be at greater risk of dropping out as a result of falling behind on coursework, feeling a lack of belonging, or feeling targeted at school. Secondly, students who are suspended or expelled are significantly less likely to attend college, which impacts their career prospects. Thirdly, a pattern of suspensions leading to expulsion or dropping out limits future economic and career mobility.

According to the Author:

"This bill is vital to ensure that parents, guardians and even foster households can be on the same level when seeking homework for a suspended student. This bill allows the aforementioned person to have authorization in asking for homework assignments on behalf of a suspended student so that these students do not fall even further behind."

Arguments in Support:

The California Association of Black School Educators states, "Students in California who are suspended need additional support when it comes to keeping up in class and being able to request homework assignments is a significant step to preventing academic backsliding. By allowing parents to request homework for their children, it ensures that students have the right to participate in class and not be denied an opportunity for a quality education in California. And, this bill helps students who may feel embarrassed about the suspension and gives reassurance to those seeking positive educational experiences. It is an unfortunate reality that students sometimes make mistakes and/or get in trouble. However, that shouldn’t compromise their ability to learn from the past and maintain a positive academic trajectory. If we abandoned this simple principle, we would simply be creating punitive policies that do more harm than good.

AB 982 grants students the ability to have more control over their academic career; it will serve to help bridge the divide between parents and teachers, and teachers and students."

Arguments in Opposition:

None on file.

FISCAL COMMENTS:

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.

VOTES:

ASM EDUCATION: 6-0-0

YES: O'Donnell, Kiley, Kalra, McCarty, Smith, Weber

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 18-0-0

YES: Gonzalez, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonta, Brough, Calderon, Carrillo, Chau, Diep, Eggman, Fong, Gabriel, Jones-Sawyer, Maienschein, Obernolte, Petrie-Norris, Quirk, Robert Rivas

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0-4

YES: Aguiar-Curry, Bauer-Kahan, Berman, Bigelow, Bloom, Boerner Horvath, Bonta, Brough, Burke, Calderon, Carrillo, Cervantes, Chau, Chen, Chiu, Choi, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Cunningham, Dahle, Daly, Diep, Eggman, Flora, Fong, Frazier, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gloria, Gonzalez, Gray, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Kamlager-Dove, Kiley, Lackey, Levine, Limón, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Obernolte, Patterson, Petrie‑Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Salas, Santiago, Smith, Mark Stone, Ting, Voepel, Waldron, Weber, Wicks, Wood, Rendon

ABS, ABST OR NV: Arambula, Grayson, Mullin, Quirk

SENATE FLOOR: 40-0-0

YES: Allen, Archuleta, Atkins, Bates, Beall, Borgeas, Bradford, Caballero, Chang, Dahle, Dodd, Durazo, Galgiani, Glazer, Lena Gonzalez, Grove, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Hurtado, Jackson, Jones, Leyva, McGuire, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach, Morrell, Nielsen, Pan, Portantino, Roth, Rubio, Skinner, Stern, Stone, Umberg, Wieckowski, Wiener, Wilk

UPDATED:

VERSION: August 27, 2019

CONSULTANT: Debbie Look / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN: 0001876

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: AB 982

Author: Holden (D)

Amended: 8/27/19 in Senate

Vote: 21

SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/5/19

AYES: Leyva, Wilk, Chang, Durazo, Glazer, McGuire, Pan

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 5/2/19 (Consent) - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Pupils: homework assignments for suspended pupils

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

This bill requires a teacher, upon the request of a parent, a legal guardian or other person holding the right to make educational decisions for a pupil, or the affected pupil, to provide homework to the pupil who has been suspended for two or more schooldays, and requires a charter school petition to include procedures to require the same.

Senate Floor Amendments of 8/27/19 resolve chaptering issues with several bills by moving the provisions above, as they related to charter schools, into a new code section.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1) Prohibits a pupil from being suspended or recommended for expulsion unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school determines that the pupil has committed specified acts. (Education Code § 48900)

2) Authorizes a pupil enrolled in any of grades 4 to 12, inclusive, to be suspended from school or recommended for expulsion if the superintendent or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has intentionally engaged in harassment, threats, or intimidation, directed against school district personnel or pupils, that is sufficiently severe or pervasive to have the actual and reasonably expected effect of materially disrupting classwork, creating substantial disorder, and invading the rights of either school personnel or pupils by creating an intimidating or hostile educational environment. (EC § 48900.4)

3) Authorizes school district superintendents and school principals to use discretion to provide alternatives to suspension or expulsion that are age appropriate and designed to address and correct the pupil’s specific misbehavior, as specified. (EC § 48900(v))

4) States that suspension, including supervised suspension, shall be imposed only when other means of correction fail to bring about proper conduct, but authorizes a pupil, including a pupil with exceptional needs, to be suspended upon a first offense for certain acts (not including disrupting 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) or the pupil’s presence causes a danger to persons. (EC § 48900.5)

5) Specifies that other means of correction include, but are not limited to:

a) A conference between school personnel, the pupil’s parent or guardian, and the pupil.

b) Referrals to the school counselor, psychologist, social worker, child welfare attendance personnel, or other school support service personnel for case management and counseling.

c) Study teams, guidance teams, resource panel teams, or other intervention-related teams that assess the behavior, and develop and implement individualized plans to address the behavior in partnership with the pupil and his or her parents.

d) Referral for a comprehensive psychosocial or psychoeducational assessment, including for purposes of creating an individualized education program, or a 504 plan.

e) Enrollment in a program for teaching prosocial behavior or anger management.

f) Participation in a restorative justice program.

g) A positive behavior support approach with tiered interventions that occur during the schoolday on campus.

h) After-school programs that address specific behavioral issues or expose pupils to positive activities and behaviors, including, but not limited to, those operated in collaboration with local parent and community groups.

i) Community service, as specified. (EC § 48900.5)

6) Authorizes teachers to suspend pupils from class for the day and the following day. If the pupil is to remain on campus during that suspension, the pupil must be under appropriate supervision. Teachers must ask the parent to attend a parent-teacher conference regarding the suspension. Pupils are prohibited from returning to the class from which he or she was suspended, during the period of the suspension, without the concurrence of the teacher and principal. (EC § 48910)

7) Authorizes the principal to assign a pupil suspended from school, but not being considered for expulsion, to a supervised suspension classroom for the entire period of the suspension if the pupil poses no imminent danger or threat to the campus, pupils, or staff, and authorizes a school district to continue to claim apportionments for each pupil assigned to and attending a supervised suspension classroom if all of the following requirements are met:

a) The supervised suspension classroom is staffed as otherwise provided by law.

b) Each pupil has access to appropriate counseling services.

c) The supervised suspension classroom promotes completion of schoolwork and tests missed by the pupil during the suspension.

d) Each pupil is responsible for contacting his or her teacher or teachers to receive assignments to be completed while the pupil is assigned to the supervised suspension classroom and the teacher must provide all assignments and tests that the pupil will miss while suspended. If no classroom work is assigned, the person supervising the suspension classroom must assign schoolwork. (EC § 48911.1)

8) Authorizes the teacher of any class from which a pupil is suspended to require the suspended pupil to complete any assignments and tests missed during the suspension. (EC § 48913)

9) Requires that a pupil with an excused absence be allowed to complete all assignments and tests missed during the absence that can be reasonably provided and, upon satisfactory completion within a reasonable period of time, shall be given full credit. The teacher of the class from which a pupil is absent shall determine which tests and assignments shall be reasonably equivalent to, but not necessarily identical to, the tests and assignments that the pupil missed during the absence. (EC § 48205)

10) Authorizes a petition for the establishment of a charter school to be submitted to the governing board of the school district for review after specified conditions are met. The governing board of the school district is prohibited from denying a petition for the establishment of a charter school unless it makes written factual findings setting forth specific facts to support specific findings, including the procedures by which pupils can be suspended or expelled from the charter school for disciplinary reasons or otherwise involuntarily removed from the charter school for any reason. These procedures, at a minimum, must include an explanation of how the charter school will comply with federal and state constitutional procedural and substantive due process requirements. (EC § 47605)

This bill requires a teacher, upon the request of a parent, a legal guardian or other person holding the right to make educational decisions for a pupil, or the affected pupil, to provide homework to the pupil who has been suspended for two or more schooldays, and requires a charter school petition to include procedures to require the same. Specifically, this bill:

1) Requires a teacher, upon the request of a parent, a legal guardian or other person holding the right to make education decisions for the pupil, or the affected pupil, to provide to a pupil in any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, who has been suspended from school for two or more schooldays the homework that the pupil would otherwise have been assigned.

2) Requires a charter school petition, in addition to the reasonably comprehensive description of the procedures by which pupils can be suspended or expelled from the charter school for disciplinary reasons or otherwise involuntarily removed from the charter school for any reason, to include procedures the require a teacher, upon the request of a parent, a legal guardian or other person holding the right to make education decisions for the pupil, or the affected pupil, to provide to a pupil in any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, who has been suspended from school for two or more schooldays the homework that the pupil would otherwise have been assigned.

3) States that it is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that pupils in any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, who are suspended from school for two schooldays or more, do not fall behind in class assignments or homework, and that it is not the intent of the Legislature to require a teacher to correct classroom assignments or homework missed while the pupil is suspended, or to add an additional burden on a teacher’s workload.

4) Prohibits a homework assignment that is requested pursuant to the bill’s provisions and turned into the teacher by the pupil either upon the pupil’s return to school from suspension or within the timeframe originally prescribed by the teacher, whichever is later, and that is not graded before the end of the academic term, from being included in the calculation of the pupil’s overall grade in the class.

Comments

1) Need for the bill. According to the author’s office, “This bill is trying to solve the problem faced by students who have been suspended and are trying to obtain homework in an effort to stay caught up on classroom activities. This bill allows parents, guardians and persons with legal authority to request homework. Currently, parents, guardians and persons with legal authority to make educational decisions for students are unable to request homework for students.

“Currently under the education code, teachers can refuse homework to suspended students. As defined in the education code, a student is required to ask the teacher for the missed assignments…. African American, Latino, Native American, and Pacific Islander students all lose more days of instruction and have higher rates of suspension compared to the statewide average. Missing days of education is difficult to recover from for suspended students. However, allowing parents and guardians to assist in the process of obtaining homework can improve the relationship between students, teachers and parents.”

1. Suspensions are declining. The initial prohibition for suspending pupils in kindergarten or grades 1-3 for willful defiance took effect January 1, 2015. According to data from the California Department of Education (CDE), 96,421 pupils were suspended for willful defiance in the 2015-16 school year, the first full school year after implementation, which is a decrease of almost 30,000 suspensions for willful defiance over the previous school year. However, data from the 2011-12 to 2017-18 school years reveals that suspensions for disruption or willful defiance, and suspensions overall, have been steadily declining, making it difficult to attribute this decline to the prohibition alone. For example, in the 2011-12 school year there were 709,702 total suspensions. For the 2017-18 school year, overall suspensions were down to 363,406.
2. Pupil engagement is a state priority. One of the eight state priorities for purposes of local control and accountability plans (LCAPs) and the local control funding formula is pupil engagement, as measured by suspension and expulsion rates. In their LCAPs, school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools have to explain what actions they are taking to achieve the goals they’ve set for each state priority, including goals for reducing suspension rates. Given that LCAPs were first implemented for the 2014-15 school year, the reduction in suspensions overall, and for disruption/willful defiance specifically, could also be linked to the pupil engagement priority.
3. Equity concerns in subjective discipline. Data from the CDE shows that equity concerns with subjective discipline persist. For example in 2011-12, African American pupils accounted for 6.8 percent of enrollment, but 18.5 percent of suspensions for willful defiance. Most recently, in 2017-18, African American pupils accounted for 5.6 percent of enrollment, but 15.6 percent of suspensions for willful defiance. Conversely, in 2011-12, white pupils accounted for 25.8 percent of enrollment, but just 19.6 percent of suspensions for willful defiance. Most recently, in 2017-18, white pupils accounted for 23.2 percent of enrollment, but just 20.2 percent of suspensions for willful defiance These disproportionate figures underscore the concerns surrounding willful defiance suspensions and that neither time, the K-3 prohibition against suspensions for willful defiance, or local control funding formula priorities have fully addressed these issues.

A 2018 report by the Community College Equity Assessment Lab and the UCLA Black Male Institute, “Get Out! Black Male Suspensions in California Public Schools” reports that 381,845 school suspensions were levied in the 2016-17 school year, and further noted the following findings, among others:

a) The statewide suspension for Black males of 12.8 percent is 3.6 times greater than that of the statewide rate for all students of 3.6 percent.

b) Since 2011-12, the suspension rates of Black males in California has declined from 17.8 percent to 12.8 percent.

c) While African Americans account for only 5.8 percent of the state’s public school enrollment, they represent 17.8 percent of students who are suspended.

d) The highest suspension disparity by grade level occurs in early childhood education (Grades K-3), where Black males are 5.6 times more likely to be suspended than the state average.

e) The highest percentage of Black male suspensions was for foster youth in grades 7 and 8 at 41.0 percent.

f) The highest total suspensions occurred in large urban counties, including Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Contra Costa counties.

g) The highest suspension rates for Black males occur in rural counties that have smaller Black male enrollments, including Glenn County which led the state in Black male suspensions at 42.9 percent.

h) No other student group experiences this type of disproportionality in discipline in California schools.

Related/Prior Legislation

AB 414 (Carter, 2011-12 Session) would have provided that upon the request of a parent, legal guardian, or the affected pupil, a teacher provide appropriate homework to a pupil in any of grades 4 to 8 who has been suspended from school for three schooldays or less. The bill expressed the intent of the Legislature to ensure that pupils in grades 4 to 8, inclusive, who are suspended for three days or less do not fall behind in class assignments or homework. Specified that it is not the intent of the Legislature to require teachers to correct classroom assignments or homework missed while a pupil is suspended or to add any additional burden on teachers with respect to their workload. The bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 2656 (Brownley, 2007-08 Session) would have required school administrators or counselors to ensure that a pupil who is suspended from school is given all in-class assignments and homework that he or she missed during the suspension and the opportunity to take any tests that will affect his or her grade for that period. The bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

SB 1004 (Margett, 2005-06 Session) would have required a school district to adopt a policy with respect to assignments and homework for suspended pupils. The bill was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger with a statement that the bill was unnecessary because nothing prohibits a school district from adopting such policy.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes

SUPPORT: (Verified 8/26/19)

American Civil Liberties Union of California

California School Boards Association

California State Conference of the NAACP

Disability Rights California

OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/26/19)

None received

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 5/2/19

AYES: Aguiar-Curry, Bauer-Kahan, Berman, Bigelow, Bloom, Boerner Horvath, Bonta, Brough, Burke, Calderon, Carrillo, Cervantes, Chau, Chen, Chiu, Choi, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Cunningham, Dahle, Daly, Diep, Eggman, Flora, Fong, Frazier, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gloria, Gonzalez, Gray, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Kamlager-Dove, Kiley, Lackey, Levine, Limón, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Patterson, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Salas, Santiago, Smith, Mark Stone, Ting, Voepel, Waldron, Weber, Wicks, Wood, Rendon

NO VOTE RECORDED: Arambula, Grayson, Mullin, Quirk

Prepared by: Brandon Darnell / ED. /

8/29/19 11:35:51

**** END ****

 THIRD READING 

Bill No: AB 982

Author: Holden (D)

Amended: 6/12/19 in Senate

Vote: 21

SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/5/19

AYES: Leyva, Wilk, Chang, Durazo, Glazer, McGuire, Pan

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 5/2/19 (Consent) - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Pupils: homework assignments for suspended pupils

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

This bill requires a teacher, upon the request of a parent, a legal guardian or other person holding the right to make educational decisions for a pupil, or the affected pupil, to provide homework to the pupil who has been suspended for two or more schooldays, and requires a charter school petition to include procedures to require the same.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1) Prohibits a pupil from being suspended or recommended for expulsion unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school determines that the pupil has committed specified acts. (Education Code § 48900)

2) Authorizes a pupil enrolled in any of grades 4 to 12, inclusive, to be suspended from school or recommended for expulsion if the superintendent or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has intentionally engaged in harassment, threats, or intimidation, directed against school district personnel or pupils, that is sufficiently severe or pervasive to have the actual and reasonably expected effect of materially disrupting classwork, creating substantial disorder, and invading the rights of either school personnel or pupils by creating an intimidating or hostile educational environment. (EC § 48900.4)

3) Authorizes school district superintendents and school principals to use discretion to provide alternatives to suspension or expulsion that are age appropriate and designed to address and correct the pupil’s specific misbehavior, as specified. (EC § 48900(v))

4) States that suspension, including supervised suspension, shall be imposed only when other means of correction fail to bring about proper conduct, but authorizes a pupil, including a pupil with exceptional needs, to be suspended upon a first offense for certain acts (not including disrupting 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) or the pupil’s presence causes a danger to persons. (EC § 48900.5)

5) Specifies that other means of correction include, but are not limited to:

a) A conference between school personnel, the pupil’s parent or guardian, and the pupil.

b) Referrals to the school counselor, psychologist, social worker, child welfare attendance personnel, or other school support service personnel for case management and counseling.

c) Study teams, guidance teams, resource panel teams, or other intervention-related teams that assess the behavior, and develop and implement individualized plans to address the behavior in partnership with the pupil and his or her parents.

d) Referral for a comprehensive psychosocial or psychoeducational assessment, including for purposes of creating an individualized education program, or a 504 plan.

e) Enrollment in a program for teaching prosocial behavior or anger management.

f) Participation in a restorative justice program.

g) A positive behavior support approach with tiered interventions that occur during the schoolday on campus.

h) After-school programs that address specific behavioral issues or expose pupils to positive activities and behaviors, including, but not limited to, those operated in collaboration with local parent and community groups.

i) Community service, as specified. (EC § 48900.5)

6) Authorizes teachers to suspend pupils from class for the day and the following day. If the pupil is to remain on campus during that suspension, the pupil must be under appropriate supervision. Teachers must ask the parent to attend a parent-teacher conference regarding the suspension. Pupils are prohibited from returning to the class from which he or she was suspended, during the period of the suspension, without the concurrence of the teacher and principal.

(EC § 48910)

7) Authorizes the principal to assign a pupil suspended from school, but not being considered for expulsion, to a supervised suspension classroom for the entire period of the suspension if the pupil poses no imminent danger or threat to the campus, pupils, or staff, and authorizes a school district to continue to claim apportionments for each pupil assigned to and attending a supervised suspension classroom if all of the following requirements are met:

a) The supervised suspension classroom is staffed as otherwise provided by law.

b) Each pupil has access to appropriate counseling services.

c) The supervised suspension classroom promotes completion of schoolwork and tests missed by the pupil during the suspension.

d) Each pupil is responsible for contacting his or her teacher or teachers to receive assignments to be completed while the pupil is assigned to the supervised suspension classroom and the teacher must provide all assignments and tests that the pupil will miss while suspended. If no classroom work is assigned, the person supervising the suspension classroom must assign schoolwork. (EC § 48911.1)

8) Authorizes the teacher of any class from which a pupil is suspended to require the suspended pupil to complete any assignments and tests missed during the suspension. (EC § 48913)

9) Requires that a pupil with an excused absence be allowed to complete all assignments and tests missed during the absence that can be reasonably provided and, upon satisfactory completion within a reasonable period of time, shall be given full credit. The teacher of the class from which a pupil is absent shall determine which tests and assignments shall be reasonably equivalent to, but not necessarily identical to, the tests and assignments that the pupil missed during the absence. (EC § 48205)

10) Authorizes a petition for the establishment of a charter school to be submitted to the governing board of the school district for review after specified conditions are met. The governing board of the school district is prohibited from denying a petition for the establishment of a charter school unless it makes written factual findings setting forth specific facts to support specific findings, including the procedures by which pupils can be suspended or expelled from the charter school for disciplinary reasons or otherwise involuntarily removed from the charter school for any reason. These procedures, at a minimum, must include an explanation of how the charter school will comply with federal and state constitutional procedural and substantive due process requirements. (EC § 47605)

This bill requires a teacher, upon the request of a parent, a legal guardian or other person holding the right to make educational decisions for a pupil, or the affected pupil, to provide homework to the pupil who has been suspended for two or more schooldays, and requires a charter school petition to include procedures to require the same. Specifically, this bill:

1) Requires a teacher, upon the request of a parent, a legal guardian or other person holding the right to make education decisions for the pupil, or the affected pupil, to provide to a pupil in any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, who has been suspended from school for two or more schooldays the homework that the pupil would otherwise have been assigned.

2) Requires a charter school petition’s procedures by which pupils can be suspended to include procedures the require a teacher, upon the request of a parent, a legal guardian or other person holding the right to make education decisions for the pupil, or the affected pupil, to provide to a pupil in any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, who has been suspended from school for two or more schooldays the homework that the pupil would otherwise have been assigned.

3) States that it is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that pupils in any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, who are suspended from school for two schooldays or more, do not fall behind in class assignments or homework, and that it is not the intent of the Legislature to require a teacher to correct classroom assignments or homework missed while the pupil is suspended, or to add an additional burden on a teacher’s workload.

4) Prohibits a homework assignment that is requested pursuant to the bill’s provisions and turned into the teacher by the pupil either upon the pupil’s return to school from suspension or within the timeframe originally prescribed by the teacher, whichever is later, and that is not graded before the end of the academic term, from being included in the calculation of the pupil’s overall grade in the class.

Comments

1) Need for the bill. According to the author’s office, “This bill is trying to solve the problem faced by students who have been suspended and are trying to obtain homework in an effort to stay caught up on classroom activities. This bill allows parents, guardians and persons with legal authority to request homework. Currently, parents, guardians and persons with legal authority to make educational decisions for students are unable to request homework for students.

“Currently under the education code, teachers can refuse homework to suspended students. As defined in the education code, a student is required to ask the teacher for the missed assignments…. African American, Latino, Native American, and Pacific Islander students all lose more days of instruction and have higher rates of suspension compared to the statewide average. Missing days of education is difficult to recover from for suspended students. However, allowing parents and guardians to assist in the process of obtaining homework can improve the relationship between students, teachers and parents.”

1. Suspensions are declining. The initial prohibition for suspending pupils in kindergarten or grades 1-3 for willful defiance took effect January 1, 2015. According to data from the California Department of Education (CDE), 96,421 pupils were suspended for willful defiance in the 2015-16 school year, the first full school year after implementation, which is a decrease of almost 30,000 suspensions for willful defiance over the previous school year. However, data from the 2011-12 to 2017-18 school years reveals that suspensions for disruption or willful defiance, and suspensions overall, have been steadily declining, making it difficult to attribute this decline to the prohibition alone. For example, in the 2011-12 school year there were 709,702 total suspensions. For the 2017-18 school year, overall suspensions were down to 363,406.
2. Pupil engagement is a state priority. One of the eight state priorities for purposes of local control and accountability plans (LCAPs) and the local control funding formula is pupil engagement, as measured by suspension and expulsion rates. In their LCAPs, school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools have to explain what actions they are taking to achieve the goals they’ve set for each state priority, including goals for reducing suspension rates. Given that LCAPs were first implemented for the 2014-15 school year, the reduction in suspensions overall, and for disruption/willful defiance specifically, could also be linked to the pupil engagement priority.
3. Equity concerns in subjective discipline. Data from the CDE shows that equity concerns with subjective discipline persist. For example in 2011-12, African American pupils accounted for 6.8 percent of enrollment, but 18.5 percent of suspensions for willful defiance. Most recently, in 2017-18, African American pupils accounted for 5.6 percent of enrollment, but 15.6 percent of suspensions for willful defiance. Conversely, in 2011-12, white pupils accounted for 25.8 percent of enrollment, but just 19.6 percent of suspensions for willful defiance. Most recently, in 2017-18, white pupils accounted for 23.2 percent of enrollment, but just 20.2 percent of suspensions for willful defiance These disproportionate figures underscore the concerns surrounding willful defiance suspensions and that neither time, the K-3 prohibition against suspensions for willful defiance, or local control funding formula priorities have fully addressed these issues.

A 2018 report by the Community College Equity Assessment Lab and the UCLA Black Male Institute, “Get Out! Black Male Suspensions in California Public Schools” reports that 381,845 school suspensions were levied in the 2016-17 school year, and further noted the following findings, among others:

a) The statewide suspension for Black males of 12.8 percent is 3.6 times greater than that of the statewide rate for all students of 3.6 percent.

b) Since 2011-12, the suspension rates of Black males in California has declined from 17.8 percent to 12.8 percent.

c) While African Americans account for only 5.8 percent of the state’s public school enrollment, they represent 17.8 percent of students who are suspended.

d) The highest suspension disparity by grade level occurs in early childhood education (Grades K-3), where Black males are 5.6 times more likely to be suspended than the state average.

e) The highest percentage of Black male suspensions was for foster youth in grades 7 and 8 at 41.0 percent.

f) The highest total suspensions occurred in large urban counties, including Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Contra Costa counties.

g) The highest suspension rates for Black males occur in rural counties that have smaller Black male enrollments, including Glenn County which led the state in Black male suspensions at 42.9 percent.

h) No other student group experiences this type of disproportionality in discipline in California schools.

Related/Prior Legislation

AB 414 (Carter, 2011-12 Session) would have provided that upon the request of a parent, legal guardian, or the affected pupil, a teacher provide appropriate homework to a pupil in any of grades 4 to 8 who has been suspended from school for three schooldays or less. The bill expressed the intent of the Legislature to ensure that pupils in grades 4 to 8, inclusive, who are suspended for three days or less do not fall behind in class assignments or homework. Specified that it is not the intent of the Legislature to require teachers to correct classroom assignments or homework missed while a pupil is suspended or to add any additional burden on teachers with respect to their workload. The bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 2656 (Brownley, 2007-08 Session) would have required school administrators or counselors to ensure that a pupil who is suspended from school is given all in-class assignments and homework that he or she missed during the suspension and the opportunity to take any tests that will affect his or her grade for that period. The bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

SB 1004 (Margett, 2005-06 Session) would have required a school district to adopt a policy with respect to assignments and homework for suspended pupils. The bill was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger with a statement that the bill was unnecessary because nothing prohibits a school district from adopting such policy.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes

SUPPORT: (Verified 6/21/19)

American Civil Liberties Union of California

California School Boards Association

California State Conference of the NAACP

Disability Rights California

OPPOSITION: (Verified 6/21/19)

None received

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 5/2/19

AYES: Aguiar-Curry, Bauer-Kahan, Berman, Bigelow, Bloom, Boerner Horvath, Bonta, Brough, Burke, Calderon, Carrillo, Cervantes, Chau, Chen, Chiu, Choi, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Cunningham, Dahle, Daly, Diep, Eggman, Flora, Fong, Frazier, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gloria, Gonzalez, Gray, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Kamlager-Dove, Kiley, Lackey, Levine, Limón, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Patterson, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Salas, Santiago, Smith, Mark Stone, Ting, Voepel, Waldron, Weber, Wicks, Wood, Rendon

NO VOTE RECORDED: Arambula, Grayson, Mullin, Quirk

Prepared by: Brandon Darnell / ED. /

7/2/19 9:28:18

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Senator Connie Leyva, Chair

2019 - 2020 Regular

Bill No: AB 982 Hearing Date: June 5, 2019

Subject: Pupils: homework assignments for suspended pupils

SUMMARY

This bill requires a teacher, upon the request of a parent, a legal guardian or other person holding the right to make educational decisions for a pupil, or the affected pupil, to provide homework to the pupil who has been suspended for two or more schooldays, and requires a charter school petition to include procedures to require the same.

BACKGROUND

Existing law:

1) Prohibits a pupil from being suspended or recommended for expulsion unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school determines that the pupil has committed certain acts, including, among other acts, all of the following:

a) Caused, attempted to cause, or threatened to cause physical injury to another person.

b) Willfully used force or violence upon the person of another, except in self- defense.

c) Possessed, sold, or otherwise furnished a firearm, knife, explosive, or other dangerous object, except as specified.

d) Unlawfully possessed, used, sold, or otherwise furnished, or been under the influence of, a controlled substance, an alcoholic beverage, or an intoxicant of any kind.

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.

i) Committed an obscene act or engaged in habitual profanity or vulgarity.

j) Committed or attempted to commit a sexual assault or committed sexual battery.

k) 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.

l) Engaged in, or attempted to engage in, hazing.

m) Engaged in an act of bullying. (Education Code § 48900)

2) Authorizes a pupil enrolled in any of grades 4 to 12, inclusive, to be suspended from school or recommended for expulsion if the superintendent or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has intentionally engaged in harassment, threats, or intimidation, directed against school district personnel or pupils, that is sufficiently severe or pervasive to have the actual and reasonably expected effect of materially disrupting classwork, creating substantial disorder, and invading the rights of either school personnel or pupils by creating an intimidating or hostile educational environment.

(EC § 48900.4)

3) Authorizes school district superintendents and school principals to use discretion to provide alternatives to suspension or expulsion that are age appropriate and designed to address and correct the pupil’s specific misbehavior, as specified.

(EC § 48900(v))

4) States that suspension, including supervised suspension, shall be imposed only when other means of correction fail to bring about proper conduct, but authorizes a pupil, including a pupil with exceptional needs, to be suspended upon a first offense for certain acts (not including disrupting 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) or the pupil’s presence causes a danger to persons. (EC § 48900.5)

5) Specifies that other means of correction include, but are not limited to:

a) A conference between school personnel, the pupil’s parent or guardian, and the pupil.

b) Referrals to the school counselor, psychologist, social worker, child welfare attendance personnel, or other school support service personnel for case management and counseling.

c) Study teams, guidance teams, resource panel teams, or other intervention-related teams that assess the behavior, and develop and implement individualized plans to address the behavior in partnership with the pupil and his or her parents.

d) Referral for a comprehensive psychosocial or psychoeducational assessment, including for purposes of creating an individualized education program, or a 504 plan.

e) Enrollment in a program for teaching prosocial behavior or anger management.

f) Participation in a restorative justice program.

g) A positive behavior support approach with tiered interventions that occur during the schoolday on campus.

h) After-school programs that address specific behavioral issues or expose pupils to positive activities and behaviors, including, but not limited to, those operated in collaboration with local parent and community groups.

i) Community service, as specified. (EC §48900.5)

6) Authorizes teachers to suspend pupils from class for the day and the following day. If the pupil is to remain on campus during that suspension, the pupil must be under appropriate supervision. Teachers must ask the parent to attend a parent- teacher conference regarding the suspension. Pupils are prohibited from returning to the class from which he or she was suspended, during the period of the suspension, without the concurrence of the teacher and principal. (EC § 48910)

7) Authorizes the principal to assign a pupil suspended from school, but not being considered for expulsion, to a supervised suspension classroom for the entire period of the suspension if the pupil poses no imminent danger or threat to the campus, pupils, or staff, and authorizes a school district to continue to claim apportionments for each pupil assigned to and attending a supervised suspension classroom if all of the following requirements are met:

a) The supervised suspension classroom is staffed as otherwise provided by law.

b) Each pupil has access to appropriate counseling services.

c) The supervised suspension classroom promotes completion of schoolwork and tests missed by the pupil during the suspension.

d) Each pupil is responsible for contacting his or her teacher or teachers to receive assignments to be completed while the pupil is assigned to the supervised suspension classroom and the teacher must provide all assignments and tests that the pupil will miss while suspended. If no classroom work is assigned, the person supervising the suspension classroom must assign schoolwork. (EC 48911.1).

8) Authorizes the teacher of any class from which a pupil is suspended to require the suspended pupil to complete any assignments and tests missed during the suspension. (EC 48913)

9) Requires that a pupil with an excused absence be allowed to complete all assignments and tests missed during the absence that can be reasonably provided and, upon satisfactory completion within a reasonable period of time, shall be given full credit. The teacher of the class from which a pupil is absent shall determine which tests and assignments shall be reasonably equivalent to, but not necessarily identical to, the tests and assignments that the pupil missed during the absence. (EC § 48205)

10) Authorizes a petition for the establishment of a charter school to be submitted to the governing board of the school district for review after specified conditions are met. The governing board of the school district is prohibited from denying a petition for the establishment of a charter school unless it makes written factual findings setting forth specific facts to support specific findings, including the procedures by which pupils can be suspended or expelled from the charter school for disciplinary reasons or otherwise involuntarily removed from the charter school for any reason. These procedures, at a minimum, must include an explanation of how the charter school will comply with federal and state constitutional procedural and substantive due process requirements.

ANALYSIS

This bill requires a teacher, upon the request of a parent, a legal guardian or other person holding the right to make educational decisions for a pupil, or the affected pupil, to provide homework to the pupil who has been suspended for two or more schooldays, and requires a charter school petition to include procedures to require the same. Specifically, this bill:

1) Requires a teacher, upon the request of a parent, a legal guardian or other person holding the right to make education decisions for the pupil, or the affected pupil, to provide to a pupil in any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, who has been suspended from school for two or more schooldays the homework that the pupil would otherwise have been assigned.

2) Requires a charter school petition’s procedures by which pupils can be suspended to include procedures the require a teacher, upon the request of a parent, a legal guardian or other person holding the right to make education decisions for the pupil, or the affected pupil, to provide to a pupil in any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, who has been suspended from school for two or more schooldays the homework that the pupil would otherwise have been assigned.

3) States that it is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that pupils in any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, who are suspended from school for two schooldays or more, do not fall behind in class assignments or homework, and that it is not the intent of the Legislature to require a teacher to correct classroom assignments or homework missed while the pupil is suspended, or to add an additional burden on a teacher’s workload.

STAFF COMMENTS

1) Need for the bill. According to the author’s office, “This bill is trying to solve the problem faced by students who have been suspended and are trying to obtain homework in an effort to stay caught up on classroom activities. This bill allows parents, guardians and persons with legal authority to request homework. Currently, parents, guardians and persons with legal authority to make educational decisions for students are unable to request homework for students.

Currently under the education code, teachers can refuse homework to suspended students. As defined in the education code, a student is required to ask the teacher for the missed assignments…. African American, Latino, Native American, and Pacific Islander students all lose more days of instruction and have higher rates of suspension compared to the statewide average. Missing days of education is difficult to recover from for suspended students. However, allowing parents and guardians to assist in the process of obtaining homework can improve the relationship between students, teachers and parents.”

1. Suspensions are declining. The initial prohibition for suspending pupils in kindergarten or grades 1-3 for willful defiance took effect January 1, 2015. According to data from the California Department of Education (CDE), 96,421 pupils were suspended for willful defiance in the 2015-16 school year, the first full school year after implementation, which is a decrease of almost 30,000 suspensions for willful defiance over the previous school year. However, data from the 2011-12 to 2017-18 school years reveals that suspensions for disruption or willful defiance, and suspensions overall, have been steadily declining, making it difficult to attribute this decline to the prohibition alone. For example, in the 2011-12 school year there were 709,702 total suspensions. For the 2017-18 school year, overall suspensions were down to 363,406.
2. Pupil engagement is a state priority. One of the eight state priorities for purposes of local control and accountability plans (LCAPs) and the local control funding formula is pupil engagement, as measured by suspension and expulsion rates. In their LCAPs, school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools have to explain what actions they are taking to achieve the goals they’ve set for each state priority, including goals for reducing suspension rates. Given that LCAPs were first implemented for the 2014-15 school year, the reduction in suspensions overall, and for disruption/willful defiance specifically, could also be linked to the pupil engagement priority.
3. Equity concerns in subjective discipline. Data from the CDE shows that equity concerns with subjective discipline persist. For example in 2011-12, African American pupils accounted for 6.8 percent of enrollment, but 18.5 percent of suspensions for willful defiance. Most recently, in 2017-18, African American pupils accounted for 5.6 percent of enrollment, but 15.6 percent of suspensions for willful defiance. Conversely, in 2011-12, white pupils accounted for 25.8 percent of enrollment, but just 19.6 percent of suspensions for willful defiance. Most recently, in 2017-18, white pupils accounted for 23.2 percent of enrollment, but just 20.2 percent of suspensions for willful defiance These disproportionate figures underscore the concerns surrounding willful defiance suspensions and that neither time, the K-3 prohibition against suspensions for willful defiance, or local control funding formula priorities have fully addressed these issues.

A 2018 report by the Community College Equity Assessment Lab and the UCLA Black Male Institute, “Get Out! Black Male Suspensions in California Public Schools” reports that 381,845 school suspensions were levied in the 2016-17 school year, and further noted the following findings, among others:

a) The statewide suspension for Black males of 12.8 percent is 3.6 times greater than that of the statewide rate for all students of 3.6 percent.

b) Since 2011-12, the suspension rates of Black males in California has declined from 17.8 percent to 12.8 percent.

c) While African Americans account for only 5.8 percent of the state’s public school enrollment, they represent 17.8 percent of students who are suspended.

d) The highest suspension disparity by grade level occurs in early childhood education (Grades K-3), where Black boys are 5.6 times more likely to be suspended than the state average.

e) The highest percentage of Black male suspensions was for foster youth in grades 7 and 8 at 41.0 percent.

f) The highest total suspensions occurred in large urban counties, including Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Contra Costa counties.

g) The highest suspension rates for Black males occur in rural counties that have smaller Black male enrollments, including Glenn County which led the state in Black male suspensions at 42.9 percent.

h) No other student group experiences this type of disproportionality in discipline in California schools.

As noted by the Assembly Education Committee, “This study notes that extensive research in the field of unconscious bias has demonstrated that Black boys are over-exposed to exclusionary discipline due to their racial and gender identity. The authors noted that students who are exposed to suspensions have been found to be at greater risk of dropping out, as a result of falling behind on coursework, feeling a lack of belonging, or feeling targeted at school. Secondly, students who are suspended or expelled are significantly less likely to attend college, which impacts their career prospects. Thirdly, a pattern of suspensions leading to expulsion or dropping out limits future economic and career mobility. Finally, suspensions and expulsions have been found to be a direct pathway into the criminal justice system, often referred to as the “‘school to prison pipeline.’”

5) Does this bill accomplish its purpose? This bill states that it is not the intent of the Legislature to require teachers to correct classroom assignments or homework missed while the pupil is suspended, or to add an additional burden on a teacher’s workload. As the bill does not require that the homework be graded, or that a student receive credit for homework assignments completed while suspended from school, it is unclear if the bill fulfills the author’s intent to prevent students from falling behind. Accordingly, staff recommends that the bill be amended to prohibit the calculation of a pupil’s overall grade from including ungraded homework assignments requested pursuant to this provision and returned to teacher by the pupil upon their return from suspension or within the timeframe originally prescribed by the teacher, whichever is later.

6) Prior legislation. AB 414 (Carter, 2011-12 Session) would have provided that upon the request of a parent, legal guardian, or the affected pupil, a teacher provide appropriate homework to a pupil in any of grades 4 to 8 who has been suspended from school for three schooldays or less. This bill expressed the intent of the Legislature to ensure that pupils in grades 4 to 8, inclusive, who are suspended for three days or less do not fall behind in class assignments or homework. Specifies that it is not the intent of the Legislature to require teachers to correct classroom assignments or homework missed while a pupil is suspended or to add any additional burden on teachers with respect to their workload. This bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 2656 (Brownley, 2007-08 Session) would have required school administrators or counselors to ensure that a pupil who is suspended from school is given all in-class assignments and homework that he or she missed during the suspension and the opportunity to take any tests that will affect his or her grade for that period. Also would have required each classroom teacher to clearly communicate to the pupil and his or her parents or guardians the in-class assignments, tests, and homework that the pupil missed during the suspension. This bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

SB 1004 (Margett, 2005-06 Session) would have required a school district to adopt a policy with respect to assignments and homework for suspended pupils. The bill was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger with a statement that the bill was unnecessary because nothing prohibits a school district from adopting such policy.

SUPPORT

California School Boards Association

California State Conference of the NAACP

Disability Rights California

OPPOSITION

None received

-- END --

Date of Hearing: April 24, 2019

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Lorena Gonzalez, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 982

Author:(Holden) – As Amended Ver:April 3, 2019

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: Yes

SUMMARY:

This bill requires a teacher at school districts, charter schools and county offices of education to provide to students in 1st through 12th grades who has been suspended for two or more schooldays the homework the student would otherwise have been assigned, at the request of the student or their parent. The bill also states that it is not the intent of the Legislature to require a teacher to correct classroom assignments or homework missed while the pupil is suspended.

FISCAL EFFECT:

Minor costs for teachers to provide suspended students homework they otherwise would have been assigned had they not been suspended. If the Commission on State Mandates determines the bill’s requirements to be a reimbursable state mandate, the state would need to reimburse these costs.

COMMENTS:

1. Background. Current law authorizes a teacher of any class from which a student is suspended to require the suspended pupil to complete assignments and tests missed during the suspension. Nothing in current law prohibits a student or parent from requesting homework or a teacher from providing homework to suspended students. However, current law does not explicitly require teachers to provide to those students homework they missed during suspension.

According to a 2018 report by the Community College Equity Assessment Lab and the UCLA Black Male Institute, 381,845 school suspensions were enforced in the 2016-17 school year.

Analysis Prepared by: Natasha Collins / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: March 27, 2019

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Patrick O'Donnell, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 982 (

Author:Holden) – As Introduced Ver:February 21, 2019

SUBJECT: Pupils: homework assignments for suspended pupils

SUMMARY: Requires a teacher to provide homework to a pupil who has been suspended for two or more schooldays. Specifically, this bill:

1. Expresses the intent of the Legislature to ensure that pupils in any of grades one to 12, who are suspended from school for two schooldays or more, do not fall behind in class assignments or homework.
2. Requires a teacher to provide appropriate homework to a pupil in any of grades one to 12, who has been suspended from school for two or more schooldays, upon the request of the parent, legal guardian, or other person holding the educational rights for the pupil; or the affected pupil.
3. States that it is not the intent of the Legislature to require a teacher to correct classroom assignments or homework missed while the pupil is suspended, or to add an additional burden on a teacher’s workload.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Authorizes the teacher of any class from which a pupil is suspended to require the suspended pupil to complete any assignments and tests missed during the suspension. (EC 48913)
2. Specifies that a pupil suspended from school, but not being considered for expulsion, may be assigned by the principal to a supervised suspension classroom for the entire period of the suspension if the pupil poses no imminent danger or threat to the campus, pupils, or staff (EC 48911.1).
3. 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, determines that the pupil has committed any of the following offenses:

• Causing, attempting to cause, or threatening to cause physical injury to another person; or willfully using force or violence upon another person, except in self-defense.
• Possessing, selling, or otherwise furnishing a firearm, knife, explosive, or other dangerous object, unless the student had obtained prior written permission to possess the item.
• Unlawfully possessing, using, selling or otherwise furnishing a controlled substance.
• Unlawfully offering, arranging or negotiating to sell a controlled substance, alcoholic beverage, or an intoxicant of any kind.
• Committing or attempting to commit robbery or extortion.
• Causing or attempting to cause damage to school property or private property.
• Stealing or attempting to steal school property or private property.
• Possessing or using tobacco, or products containing tobacco or nicotine products.
• Committing an obscene act or engaging in habitual profanity or vulgarity.
• Unlawfully possessing or unlawfully offering, arranging or negotiating to sell drug paraphernalia.
• Disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties (grades 4-12 only).
• Knowingly receive stolen school property or private property.
• Possessing an imitation firearm.
• Committing or attempting to commit a sexual assault or sexual battery.
• Harassing, threatening or intimidating a pupil who is a complaining witness or a witness in a school disciplinary proceeding in order to prevent the pupil from being a witness or retaliating against that pupil for being a witness, or both.
• Unlawfully offering, arranging to sell, or negotiating to sell the prescription drug Soma.
• Engaging in or attempting to engage in hazing.
• Engaging in the act of bullying, including, but not limited to, bullying committed by means of an electronic act (EC 48900).

1. Specifies that a pupil in kindergarten through 3rd grade cannot be suspended for disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of school personnel and that these acts shall not serve as grounds for any pupil from kindergarten through 12th grade to be recommended for expulsion. (EC 48900 (k))
2. Specifies additional grounds for suspension or recommendations for expulsion:

• Committing sexual harassment (grades 4 through 12 only).
• Causing or attempting to cause, threatening to cause, or participating in an act of hate violence (grades 4 through 12 only).
• Engaging in harassment, threats, or intimidation against school district personnel or pupils that have the effect of disrupting classwork, creating substantial disorder and invading the rights of either school personnel or pupils by creating an intimidating or hostile educational environment (grades 4 through 12 only).
• Making a terroristic threat against school officials or school property, or both. (EC 48900.2, 48900.3, 48900.4, 48900.7)

1. Requires that a suspension only be imposed when other means of correction fail to bring about proper conduct. Specifies that other means of correction may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• A conference between school personnel, the pupil's parent or guardian, and the pupil.
• Referrals to the school counselor, psychologist, social worker, child welfare attendance personnel, or other school support service personnel for counseling.
• Study teams, guidance teams, resource panel teams, or other intervention-related teams that assess the behavior, and develop and implement individualized plans to address the behavior in partnership with the pupil and his or her parents.
• Referral for a comprehensive psychosocial or psychoeducational assessment.
• Enrollment in a program for teaching prosocial behavior or anger management.
• Participation in a restorative justice program.
• A positive behavior support approach with tiered interventions that occur during the schoolday on campus.
• After school programs that address specific behavioral issues or expose pupils to positive activities and behaviors. (EC 48900.5)

1. Encourages a school which has demonstrated an expulsion rate over 30% for the prior year, to consider implementing alternatives to off-campus suspensions that lead to resolution of pupil misconduct without sending the pupil off campus, including in-school suspensions, a progressive discipline approach using conferences between school staff, pupils and parents; referral to the school counselor, school psychologist, child welfare attendance personnel, or other school support service staff; detention; or study teams, guidance teams, resource panel teams, or other assessment-related teams. Does not preclude schools from suspending pupils to an off-campus site. (EC 48911.2)
2. Requires that a pupil with an excused absence be allowed to complete all assignments and tests missed during the absence that can be reasonably provided and, upon satisfactory completion within a reasonable period of time, shall be given full credit. The teacher of the class from which a pupil is absent shall determine which tests and assignments shall be reasonably equivalent to, but not necessarily identical to, the tests and assignments that the pupil missed during the absence. (EC 48205)

FISCAL EFFECT: The Office of Legislative Counsel has keyed this bill as a possible state-mandated local program.

COMMENTS:

Need for the bill. According to the author, “this bill is vital to ensure that parents, guardians and even foster households can be on the same level when seeking homework for a suspended student. This bill allows the aforementioned person to have authorization in asking for homework assignments on behalf of a suspended student so that these students do not fall even further behind.”

Student suspensions in California have declined but disparities exist. According to data from CDE’s Dataquest website, the following table shows changes in student suspensions statewide over the past six years:

Overall, the total number of suspensions statewide has dropped by 49%. However, the suspension rate of African American and American Indian/Alaska Native students remains significantly higher than the state average.

A 2018 report by the Community College Equity Assessment Lab and the UCLA Black Male Institute, “Get Out! Black Male Suspensions in California Public Schools” reports that 381,845 school suspensions were levied in the 2016-17 school year, and further noted the following findings, among others:

• The statewide suspension for Black males of 12.8% is 3.6 times greater than that of the statewide rate for all students of 3.6%.
• Since 2011-12, the suspension rates of Black males in California has declined from 17.8% to 12.8%.
• While African Americans account for only 5.8% of the state’s public school enrollment, they represent 17.8% of students who are suspended.
• The highest suspension disparity by grade level occurs in early childhood education (Grades K-3), where Black boys are 5.6 times more likely to be suspended than the state average.
• The highest percentage of Black male suspensions was for foster youth in grades 7 and 8 at 41.0%.
• The highest total suspensions occurred in large urban counties, including Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Contra Costa counties.
• The highest suspension rates for Black males occur in rural counties that have smaller Black male enrollments, including Glenn County which led the state in Black male suspensions at 42.9%.
• No other student group experiences this type of disproportionality in discipline in California schools.

This study notes that extensive research in the field of unconscious bias has demonstrated that Black boys are over-exposed to exclusionary discipline due to their racial and gender identity. The authors noted that students who are exposed to suspensions have been found to be at greater risk of dropping out, as a result of falling behind on coursework, feeling a lack of belonging, or feeling targeted at school. Secondly, students who are suspended or expelled are significantly less likely to attend college, which impacts their career prospects. Thirdly, a pattern of suspensions leading to expulsion or dropping out limits future economic and career mobility. Finally, suspensions and expulsions have been found to be a direct pathway into the criminal justice system, often referred to as the “school to prison pipeline”

The potential impact of this bill is unclear. This bill does not address the rates of suspension per se, but does recognize the negative impact of loss of instructional time during a suspension, which can contribute to achievement gaps. The bill would require teachers to provide homework to a pupil who has been suspended for two or more days. However, the bill also states that it is not the intent of the Legislature to require teachers to correct classroom assignments or homework missed while the pupil is suspended, or to add an additional burden on a teacher’s workload. As the bill does not require that the homework be graded, or that a student receive credit for homework assignments completed while suspended from school, it is unclear if the bill fulfills the author’s intent to prevent students from falling behind. The committee may wish to consider whether this bill is necessary as nothing in current law prevents a pupil or parent from requesting homework, that is being assigned to the entire class, from a teacher when a student is suspended.

Prior and related legislation. AB 414 (Carter) of the 2011-12 Session would have provided that upon the request of a parent, legal guardian, or the affected pupil, a teacher provide appropriate homework to a pupil in any of grades 4 to 8 who has been suspended from school for three schooldays or less. This bill expressed the intent of the Legislature to ensure that pupils in grades 4 to 8, inclusive, who are suspended for three days or less do not fall behind in class assignments or homework. Specifies that it is not the intent of the Legislature to require teachers to correct classroom assignments or homework missed while a pupil is suspended or to add any additional burden on teachers with respect to their workload. This bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 2656 (Brownley) of the 2007-08 Session would have required school administrators or counselors to ensure that a pupil who is suspended from school is given all in-class assignments and homework that he or she missed during the suspension and the opportunity to take any tests that will affect his or her grade for that period. Also would have required each classroom teacher to clearly communicate to the pupil and his or her parents or guardians the in-class assignments, tests, and homework that the pupil missed during the suspension. This bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

SB 1004 (Margett) of the 2005-06 Session, would have required a school district to adopt a policy with respect to assignments and homework for suspended pupils. The bill was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger with a statement that the bill was unnecessary because nothing prohibits a school district from adopting such policy.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Disability Rights California

Opposition

None on file

Analysis Prepared by: Debbie Look / ED. / (916) 319-2087