February 21, 2008

TO:      ACSA Members & Other Interested Parties

FR:      Sherry Skelly Griffith, ACSA Governmental Relations

RE:      New Education Statutes - 2008

Please find below a summary of all statutes now in effect from the 2007 legislative year. Every year the Assembly Education Committee staff prepare a summary of all bills that were introduced with a concise summary. The summary below are only those bills that have been chaptered and are now law by subject. If you wish to view the entire statute for each bill go to: assembly bills - www.assembly.ca.gov and for senate bills -www.senate.ca.gov.

2008 California Education Statutes by Subject

Charter Schools, School Choice and Transfers

• SB 20 (Torlarkson) Charter Schools

Changes requirements related to State Board of Education (SBE) approval of a state charter school providing a statewide benefit, and appropriates funds for the Charter School Family Grant (CFSG) program.

Status: Chapter 215

• SB 170 (Denham) School Attendance: Residency Requirements

Extends from July 1, 2007 to July 1, 2012, the authorization for a pupil to attend school in a district where pupil's parent works, rather than where the pupil and parent reside, and clarifies that at least one parent or guardian must be physically employed by an employer within the attendance boundaries of the district in order for the pupil to attend (or continue to attend) schools in the district through grade 12. 

Status: Chapter 33

• SB 345 (Aanestad) Charter Schools

Authorizes a charter school to pay teacher salaries on alternative schedules in the same manner as a school district, and authorizes chief executive of a charter school, or their designee, to issue work permits for charter school pupils. The bill also contains an urgency clause and authorizes the Center for Advanced Research and Technology operating pursuant to a joint powers agreement between the Clovis Unified School District and the Fresno Unified School District to receive the charter school general-purpose funding for fiscal year 2007-08 for a total average daily attendance (ADA) not to exceed the center's ADA as determined at the second principal apportionment for FY 2006-07.

Status: Chapter 524       

• SB 537 (Simitian) Charter Schools: Report

Requires California Research Bureau to prepare and submit to the Legislature on or before January 8, 2009, a report on the key elements and actual costs of charter school oversight and consult with an advisory panel to ensure technical accuracy.

Status: Chapter 650

Financing Schools

• SJR 3 (Aanestad) Federal Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000: Extension

Urges the 110th Congress to reauthorize or extend the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 to provide long-term, stable funding to allow impacted schools and counties to maintain vital programs.

Status: Resolution Chapter 97

Instructional Materials

• SB 733 (Torlakson) Instructional Materials Funding Realignment Program

Reauthorizes the Instructional Materials Funding Realignment program until July 1, 2013 and requires the program to be administered as if it had been operative at the beginning of the 2007-08 fiscal year.

Status: Chapter 304

Instruction and Curriculum

• AB 347 (Nava) Pupils: High School Exit Examination: Intensive Instruction and Services

Creates urgency statute that requires school districts to provide specific assistance for up to two additional years to pupils who have not passed the high school exit examination by the end of grade 12, in order for those students to attain the proficiency necessary to pass the exit examination. Also places additional noticing requirements on schools, districts, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction. This bill attempts to implement resolution of the Valenzuela v O'Connell exit examination lawsuit.

Status: Chapter 526

• AB 622 (Mullin) High School Equivalency Certificates: Confined Persons

Authorizes Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to grant a waiver to county offices of education to provide up to one hour of General Education Development (GED) test preparation as part of the regular course of instruction during the regular school day to confined or incarcerated students who are at least 17 years of age and have insufficient units of high school credit to graduate by 18 years of age, and requires the SPI to award a California high school equivalency certificate to a pupil who passes the GED test, is confined or incarcerated, and is 17 years old with fewer than 100 units of high school credit.

Status: Chapter 269

• ACR 55 (Mullin) Public Schools: Character Education

Resolves that the Legislature urge the State Board of Education, county offices of education, and local school boards to examine current practices, increase emphasis on character, citizenship and ethics in order to close the achievement and participation gaps so that all pupils are successful, and have the highest ethical standards and practices demonstrated by school officials.

Status: Resolution Chapter 145

• SB 95 (Maldanado) Residential Outdoor Science Program

Establishes eligibility criteria for a residential outdoor science education program and requires Superintendent of Public Instruction to apportion funds, contingent upon appropriation, for economically disadvantaged students up to $10 per day per eligible pupil, for a maximum of 5 days.

Status: Chapter 521

• SB 278 (Lowenthal) Pupils: Excused Absences

Adds attendance at an educational conference on the legislative or judicial processes offered by a nonprofit organization to the justifiable personal reasons for which a pupil may be excused from school upon approval by the school principal and conformance with local standards.

Status: Chapter 204

Pupil Health and Nutrition

• AB 342 (Saldana) Pupil Health: Individuals with Exceptional Needs

Authorizes a person holding a certificate of public health in nursing to assist an individual with exceptional needs, who requires specialized physical health care services during the regular school day.

Status: Chapter 12

• AB 647 (Salas) Tobacco Use Programs

Deletes entitlement funding for grades 4 through 8, deletes supplemental competitive grants used to fund grades 6 through 8, and expands the existing competitive grant program from grades 9 through 12  to grades 6 through 12 for the purpose of providing school-based, anti-tobacco education programs, tobacco intervention and cessation activities under the Tobacco Use Prevention Education programs.

          Status: Chapter 135

• SB 490 (Alquist) Pupil Nutrition: Trans Fats

Prohibits schools and school districts, starting July 1, 2009, from making available, through vending machines or school food establishments, foods containing artificial trans fat, or from using food containing artificial trans fat in the preparation of a food item served to pupils in grades K-12.

Status: Chapter 648

Pupil Performance and Assessment

• AB 1061 (Mullin) School Accountability Report Card

Makes changes to the data elements that school districts must include on the annual school accountability report card for each school in the district, requires either web-based or printed copies to be available to the public on or before February 1 of each year starting in 2008-09, and requires CDE to make changes to the standardized template for the School Accountability Report Card (SARC) and to report by February 1, 2008 to the Legislature and Governor on further improvements that could be made to the SARC.

Status: Chapter 530

• AB 1353 (Huff) Pupil Assessment

Requires that second grade testing under the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program continue until July 1, 2010, and extends the date upon which all related testing, technical requirements, contracting, workbook production, test development, reporting and apportionment provisions become inoperative on the same date. The language in this bill was incorporated into Chapter 174 (SB 80; Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review).

Status: Assembly Education Committee

• SB 219 (Steinberg) Pupil Achievement: Academic Performance Index

Makes changes in the calculation of and in the process for revising the Academic Performance Index by 1) adding data elements to the API;  2) assigning data of each student enrolled in an alternative education program to the API of that student's school and district of residence; and 3) provide an additional charge to the advisory committee examining issues related to the API.

Status: Chapter 731

Pupil Services

• SB 405 (Steinberg) Schools: Curriculum: Opportunities for Pupils

Expands the requirements of Middle and High School Supplemental Counseling program to include a review of a pupil's career goals and the availability of academic and Career Technical Education opportunities, and to provide pupils and their parents information on eligibility for admission to a four-year institution of postsecondary education.

Status: Chapter 732

Safe Schools and Pupil Protection

• AB 394 (Emmerson) Safe Schools: Discrimination and Harassment

Establishes the Safe Place to Learn Act, and requires the California Department of Education to monitor local educational agencies adherence to anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies through Categorical Program Monitoring process. Requires CDE to develop a model handout describing the rights, obligations, and policies addressing bias-related discrimination and harassment in schools, and requires the handout to be posted on internet.

Status: Chapter 566

Special Education

• AB 216 (Bass) Special Education: Nonpublic, Nonsectarian Schools

Provides that nonpublic, nonsectarian schools (NPS)  shall provide pupils in Kindergarten through grade 8 access to state-adopted, standards-based, core curriculum and instructional materials; requires an NPS to provide pupils in grades 9 through 12 access to standards-based, core curriculum and instructional materials used by any local educational agency (LEA) that contracts with the NPS.

Status: Chapter 382

• AB 485 (Solorio) Special Education: Nonpublic, Nonsectarian Schools and Agencies: Certification Revocation

Prohibits a nonpublic, nonsectarian school or agency for which certification has been revoked, from being eligible to apply for recertification of the school or agency for 2 years following date of revocation.

Status: Chapter 233

• AB 685 (Karnette) Special Education

Makes technical changes to several provisions of the Education Code and the Government Code regarding special education, so as to conform to new federal regulations regarding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004.

Status: Chapter 56

• AB 1663 (Evans) Special Education: Conformance to Federal Law

Makes various revisions to state special education statues to bring them in conformance with federal changes enacted through the 2004 reauthorization of the individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) and related federal regulations that became effective on October 13, 2006.

Status: Chapter 454

• SCR 40 (Ackerman) Speech-Language Pathologists: Shortage

Requests Governor and state agencies to work together to alleviate the shortage of speech-language pathologists in the state, and makes legislative findings and declarations related to the increase in the number of children with autism.

The Teaching Profession

• AB 469 (Horton) Teacher Credentialing: Credential Applications

Requires Commission on Teacher Credentialing to process an application within 50 business days, either electronically or by printed copy, in order to ensure the timely processing of an application for a credential.

Status: Chapter 133

• SB 112 (Scott) Teachers

Exempts retired teachers from the California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST) requirement if they have previously taken and passed the CBEST or achieved a passing score on any of the Graduate Record Examinations, the SAT Reasoning Test, or the ACT plus Writing Test. Also specifies that retired teachers do not need to participate in induction programs for new teachers.

Status: Chapter 191

• SB 193 (Scott) Teacher Credentialing: Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program

Makes various administrative changes to the Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program, such fingerprint clearance from the Commission on Teach Credentialing and changes to the repayment process for those who are unable to finish the program. The bill also increases the amount funded per participant from $3,000 to $3,500.

          Status: Chapter 554

• SB 196 (Machado) Teacher Credentialing: District Interns

Deletes the sunset date for the issuance of district intern credentials that authorize instruction to pupils with mild and moderate disabilities, thereby extending this authorization indefinitely.'

Status: Chapter 73

• SB 232 (Ducheny) Instructional Strategies: Subject Matter Projects

Extends the sunset on the California Subject Matter Projects from June 30, 2007 to June 30, 2012 and requires the University of California to provide a final report to the Governor, along with the appropriate policy and fiscal committee of the Legislature, on or before January, 1 2011.

• SB 280 (Scott) Teacher Credentialing: Basic Skills Proficiency

Requires out-of-state-prepared teacher to meet the basic skills proficiency (CBEST) requirement within one year of receiving a California credential and requires intern teachers to complete pre-service teacher training prior to instructing students. Also requires, to the extent possible, that the experienced teacher assigned to mentor a teacher intern be assigned to teach at the same schoolsite.

Status: Chapter 345

• SB 859 (Scott) Teacher Credentialing: Visiting Faculty Permits

Creates the Visiting Faculty Permit, issued by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC), to authorize individuals with college teaching experience to teach in departmentalized classes. Requires the CTC to issue a preliminary single subject credential, professional clear single subject credential or a certificate to teach English learners, to Visiting Faculty Permit holders who satisfy specified requirements.

          Status: Chapter 723

Other Legislation

• AB 428 (Carter) High School Curriculum: Notification Regarding College Preparatory Courses

Requires each school district offering grades 9 through 12, as part of the annual notification required by existing law, to provide parents and pupils with written notification relating to the admission requirements for California's public universities, including a list of Internet Web sites that offer information about college admission requirements, courses satisfying those requirements, and information about meeting with school counselors.

Status: Chapter 527

• AB 774 (Houston) Physical Education: Volunteer Instructors

Authorizes a school district and county office of education to establish a registry of volunteer after-school physical recreation instructors.  Prohibits schools from counting volunteers instruction toward physical education course high school graduation requirements or toward the required instructional minutes of physical education.

Status: Chapter 162

• SB 601 (Torlarkson) Teachers: Physical Education

Expands the data required to be collected by the California Department of Education through the Categorical Program Monitoring process, and modifies the exemption from physical education for students who pass the physical fitness test.

Status: Chapter 720