School safety: Safe Place to Learn Act.

Existing law establishes the system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state, and provides for the establishment of local educational agencies to operate these schools and provide instruction to pupils. Existing law states the policy of the State of California to afford all persons in public schools, regardless of their disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other specified characteristic, equal rights and opportunities in the educational institutions of the state. Existing law, the Safe Place to Learn Act, requires the State Department of Education, as part of its regular monitoring and review of a local educational agency, to assess whether the local educational agency has, among other things, adopted a policy that prohibits discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying, as specified, and has publicized that policy to pupils, parents, employees, agents of the governing board, and the general public. This bill would provide that these and related provisions apply to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools. Existing law also requires the department to assess whether the local educational agency has provided to certificated schoolsite employees who serve pupils in any of grades 7 to 12, inclusive, information on existing schoolsite and community resources related to the support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning pupils, or related to the support of pupils who may face bias or bullying on the basis of religious affiliation or perceived religious affiliation, as specified. This bill would additionally require the department to assess whether the local educational agency has provided that information related to the support of pupils who may face bias or bullying on the basis of actual or perceived disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, race, ethnicity, or national origin. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to post, and annually update, on the department's Internet Web site and provide to each school district a list of statewide resources, including community-based organizations, that provide support to youth, and their families, who have been subjected to school-based discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or bullying, on the basis of religious affiliation, nationality, race, or ethnicity, or perceived religious affiliation, nationality, race, or ethnicity. This bill would additionally require that list to include resources that provide support to youth, and their families, who have been subjected to those things on the basis of disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation, or perceived disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation. Existing law requires the department's Internet Web site to include a list of statewide resources for youth who have been affected by gangs, gun violence, and psychological trauma caused by violence at home, at school, and in the community. This bill would require the department's Internet Web site to also include model trainings and curricula that include tools and methods for addressing intergroup conflict and promoting positive intergroup relations. The bill would require a school operated by a school district or county office of education and a charter school, within the first 6 months of the 2019–20 school year and once every 5 years thereafter, as part of a regularly scheduled staff meeting or professional development event, to provide in-service training to certificated schoolsite employees who serve pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, on tools and methods for addressing intergroup conflict and promoting positive intergroup relations, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. The bill would require that a newly hired certificated schoolsite employee complete this training within 6 months of employment. The bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2031, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2032. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.