BILL NUMBER: SB 1396 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 23, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 9, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hancock
FEBRUARY 21, 2014
An act to add Chapter 19 (commencing with Section 53330) to Part
28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, relating to school
climate.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1396, as amended, Hancock. School climate: multitiered
intervention and support program.
Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and
secondary schools in this state, and authorizes local educational
agencies throughout the state to provide instruction to pupils.
This bill would establish a multitiered intervention and support
program. The bill, to the extent that one-time funding is made
available in the Budget Act of 2014, would require the State
Department of Education to apportion funds to a designated county
office of education, selected from applicant county offices of
education, that would be the fiduciary agent for the program. The
bill would require the designated county office of education to
consult with specified organizations and target the funding towards a
statewide professional development effort that would provide
training in multitiered intervention and support to school personnel.
The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to review
the impacts of this professional development effort and report to the
Governor, the State Department of Education, and the Legislature by
June 30, 2017, on specified aspects of the program.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) In many school districts, local policies have addressed safety
and mental health issues in schools with ad hoc and piecemeal
strategies. This is borne out by the very narrow federal and state
laws related to pupil suspension and expulsion that produced reactive
discipline policies and increased pupil exclusion from school. These
practices have resulted in disproportionality in discipline
practices, as reflected in the high number of suspensions and
expulsions among African American and Latino pupils in California.
(b) Restorative justice or restorative practices is a set of
principles and practices grounded in the values of showing respect,
taking responsibility, and strengthening relationships. Restorative
justice focuses on repair of harm and prevention of reoccurrence.
Restorative practices, applied in a schoolwide context, are used to
build a sense of school community and resolve conflict by repairing
harm and restoring positive relationships where pupils and educators
work together to set academic goals, develop core values for the
classroom, and resolve conflicts. Restorative practices can be
incorporated in the tiered framework of schoolwide positive behavior
interventions and supports.
(c) Recent statistics indicate that 20 percent of schoolage youth
experience a functional or significant behavior or mental health
disorder. In contrast, less than 1 percent of pupils are identified
to receive mental health services through the special education
classification of emotional disturbance. These numbers suggest a
significant gap in the need for school-based prevention and
intervention behavioral health services. Schoolwide Positive Behavior
Intervention and Support (SW-PBIS) can fill this gap by providing a
comprehensive and collaborative prevention and intervention framework
for schools to improve academic and behavioral outcomes for all
pupils. Recent research from Orange County has shown that in
districts where SW-PBIS has been implemented there has been a
26-percent drop in in-school suspensions, a 55-percent drop in
out-of-school suspensions, and a 30-percent drop in expulsions.
(d) In order to ensure that all pupils flourish academically,
districts must establish equitable discipline practices and
behavioral interventions that promote positive social-emotional
development and that prevent and respond to negative behaviors in
order to reengage disconnected pupils. School psychologists play a
critical role in implementing school-based educationally related
counseling services and positive behavior systems and supports that
create and reinforce positive school cultures of achievement for all
pupils, including those at risk of academic failure.
(e) The local control funding formula has been passed in an effort
to reform school finance and to direct funding directly to at-risk
pupil populations as outlined in Section 42238.07 of the Education
Code. This section states that the regulations shall require a school
district "to increase or improve services for unduplicated pupils."
Research shows that efforts to improve school climate, safety, and
learning are not separate endeavors. They must be designed, funded,
and implemented as a comprehensive schoolwide approach. School
districts must work to ensure through their local control and
accountability plans that pupils have access to universal, targeted,
and individualized psychological, behavioral, and counseling services
and support that will increase their chances for academic
improvement.
(f) SW-PBIS is a multitiered framework for creating positive
school cultures. SW-PBIS is a decisionmaking framework that guides
selection, integration, and implementation of the best evidence-based
academic and behavioral practices for improving important academic
and behavior outcomes for all pupils. The SW-PBIS approach requires
the implementation of preventative and proactive approaches to
discipline and positive discipline methods. In doing so, SW-PBIS
changes the belief systems and behavior of school staffs, pupils, and
the community, resulting in positive, productive citizens, and safer
schools.
(g) SW-PBIS can support important local control and accountability
plan priority areas by providing local schools and districts with an
evidence-based framework to produce targeted pupil behavioral and
academic outcomes. SW-PBIS provides an operational framework for
achieving these outcomes.
(h) SW-PBIS fosters local control for school climate, academics,
and behavior. SW-PBIS provides an operational framework and a set of
sustainable schoolwide practices for achieving these outcomes. The
schoolwide practices are research based, but are developed and
implemented by the local school team of teachers, parents,
administrators, school psychologists, school counselors, and pupils
to reflect the culture and values of their schools.
(i) SW-PBIS has national support and has been defined, described,
and researched since its introduction in the reauthorization of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997. SW-PBIS research
and training is supported by the Office of Special Education
Programs (OSEP), United States Department of Education, through the
OSEP Technical Assistance Center. School psychologists have been
leaders in SW-PBIS professional development and systems
implementation in schools and districts throughout the state.
(j) (1) SW-PBIS emphasizes four integrated elements:
(A) Data for decisionmaking.
(B) Measurable outcomes supported and evaluated by data.
(C) Practices with evidence that these outcomes are achievable.
(D) Systems that efficiently and effectively support
implementation of these practices.
(2) These four elements are guided by six core principles, as
follows:
(A) Develop a continuum of scientifically based behavior and
academic interventions and supports.
(B) Use data to make decisions and solve problems.
(C) Arrange the environment to prevent the development and
occurrence of problem behavior; increase supervision where needed.
(D) All school staff teach and encourage prosocial skills and
behaviors in all settings on campus, and before and after school.
(E) Implement evidence-based behavioral practices with fidelity
and accountability.
(F) Screen universally and monitor pupil performance and progress
continuously.
(k) Schools that have established and maintained SW-PBIS systems
with integrity have teaching and learning environments that are less
reactive, aversive, punitive, dangerous, and exclusionary, are more
engaging, responsive, preventive, productive, and participatory,
address classroom management and disciplinary issues such as
attendance, cooperation, participation, and meeting positive
expectations, improve support for pupils whose behavior requires more
specialized or intensive assistance for emotional and behavioral
disorders and mental health issues, and maximize academic engagement
and achievement for all pupils.
SEC. 2. Chapter 19 (commencing with Section 53330) is added to
Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, to read:
CHAPTER 19. MULTITIERED INTERVENTION AND SUPPORT
53330. (a) To the extent that one-time funding is made available
in the Budget Act of 2014, the department shall apportion funds to a
designated county office of education to be the fiduciary agent for a
multitiered intervention and support program that includes, but is
not limited to, the Schoolwide Positive Behavior Intervention and
Support program. The designated county office of education shall be
chosen by the Superintendent from county offices that apply for
designation under this chapter. The designated county office of
education shall be in charge of establishing specific professional
development activities that will lead to statewide professional
development support structures allowing for the development and
expansion of multitiered intervention and support efforts ,
including the incorporation of restorative practices,
in each region of the state.
(b) This professional development and outreach effort shall build
upon existing statewide organizations, networks, and regional
organizations that are providing services related to multitiered
intervention and support and other mental health approaches. The goal
would be to organize multitiered intervention and support trainings
and resources to be disseminated on a regional basis. These
trainings, associated materials, and research shall educate
participants on how to have multitiered intervention and support
program support local control and accountability plan strategic goals
in alignment with a multitiered support system framework.
(c) The designated county office of education shall consult with
the Regional K-12 Student Mental Health Initiative, the National
Alliance on Mental Health Illness, the California Technical
Assistance Center on Schoolwide Positive Behavior Intervention and
Support, the California County Superintendents Educational Services
Association, the California Mental Health Directors Association, the
United Advocates for Children and Families, and other nonprofit
agencies throughout the state. The designated county office of
education shall also select an advisory committee made up of
stakeholders and mental health professionals who have participated in
the development and expansion of multitiered intervention and
support programs to assist in the planning and implementation of this
project.
(d) The designated county office of education, in the
implementation of this chapter, shall consider and include, as
appropriate, available resources for multitiered intervention and
support.
(e) Within the context of a state-level plan, funding shall be
targeted to all of the following critical activities:
(1) Explaining the importance of linking multitiered intervention
and support efforts with local control funding formula planning.
(2) Creating broad exposure to multitiered intervention and
support, which would include pamphlets, videos, Internet Web site
creation, webinars, and newsletters.
(3) Creating regional conferences on multitiered intervention and
support implementation that would provide free training for teachers,
school psychologists, and administrators.
(4) Establishing stipends for release time for school personnel
attending these workshops.
(5) Developing best practices of current district level
multitiered intervention and support systems based on the analysis
pursuant to subdivision (f) and ensure that these best practices are
widely disseminated.
(6) Establishing a cohort of trainers that can be available to
work directly with local school districts seeking to implement
multitiered intervention and support programs.
(7) Establishing a repository for the collection and dissemination
of multitiered intervention and support best practices.
(f) The designated county office of education, working in
cooperation with the Department of Finance, the State Department of
Education, and the Legislative Analyst, shall analyze the relevant
data on the success of multitiered intervention and support programs
at both the state and national levels, and shall establish a set of
best practices to be made available to school districts and consortia
of school districts to expand schoolwide multitiered intervention
and supports to address academic and behavioral issues and to use as
a foundation for the annual goals and state priorities, such as pupil
engagement and school climate, to which may
be included in local control and accountability plans.
(g) The Legislative Analyst's Office shall review the impacts of
this professional development effort and shall report to the
Governor, the State Department of Education, and the Legislature by
June 30, 2017, on the breadth and best practices of the training.