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 the 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