School safety: hate- and bias-related events.

Existing law authorizes the suspension or expulsion from school of a pupil in any of grades 4 to 12, inclusive, if the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil caused, attempted to cause, threatened to cause, or participated in an act of, hate violence, as defined. Existing law requires the State Board of Education, at the request of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to take certain actions aimed at discouraging the development of discriminatory attitudes in schools and at preventing and responding to hate violence as long as the actions do not result in a state mandate or an increase in costs to a state or local program. Existing law requires school districts and county offices of education to be responsible for the overall development of a comprehensive school safety plan for each of its schools operating a kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive. This bill would require the State Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Justice and relevant experts in the field, including physical, developmental, and intellectual disability experts, mental health experts, and civil rights groups, to create training materials and guidelines on how to prevent, recognize, and respond to hate- and bias-related events in schools, for use in the training of school administrators and staff. The bill would require these training materials and guidelines to be made available on the department's internet website, and would require the department to provide an electronic notification of the availability of the training materials and guidelines to all schools that serve kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive. The bill would require the training materials and guidelines to be included in a school's comprehensive school safety plan. To the extent the bill would impose new duties on school districts and county offices of education, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires a petition for the establishment of a charter school to contain, among other things, reasonably comprehensive descriptions of the procedures that the charter school will follow to ensure the health and safety of pupils and staff, including through the development of a school safety plan that includes certain safety topics. Existing law requires a charter school's school safety plan to be updated annually. This bill would require a charter school's school safety plan to also include the training materials and guidelines developed by the department pursuant to this bill. To the extent the bill would impose new duties on charter schools, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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.