Pupil records: name and gender changes.

Existing law requires school districts to establish, maintain, and destroy pupil records according to regulations adopted by the State Board of Education, and requires those regulations to establish state policy concerning pupil records. Existing law authorizes the parent or guardian of a pupil or former pupil to challenge the content of a pupil record by filing a written request with the superintendent of the school district to correct or remove any information the parent or guardian alleges to be, among other things, inaccurate or misleading. If the superintendent refuses to correct or remove the information, existing law authorizes the parent or guardian to appeal that decision to the governing board of the school district. Existing law requires the governing board to hold, within 30 days of the appeal, a closed session with the parent or guardian and the employee who recorded the information in question, and sustain or deny the appeal. If the governing board sustains a parent's or guardian's request, existing law requires the governing board to order the superintendent to correct, remove, or destroy the information at issue, as provided. Existing law requires records of the administrative appeal proceedings to be maintained in a confidential manner and destroyed one year following the final decision of the governing board of the school district, unless the parent or guardian initiates legal proceedings relative to the disputed information within the prescribed period. This bill would require a school district, charter school, or county office of education to update a former pupil's records to include the pupil's updated legal name or gender if the school district, charter school, or county office of education receives government-issued documentation, as described, demonstrating that the former pupil's legal name or gender has been changed. This bill would require the school district, charter school, or county office of education to reissue specified documents conferred upon, or issued to, the former pupil with the former pupil's updated legal name or gender, if requested by the former pupil. The bill would also require the school district, charter school, or county office of education to add a new document to the former pupil's file documenting specified details of the request and reissuance, as provided. This bill would specify that a former pupil without government-issued documentation demonstrating the former pupil's legal name or gender change may use the process to correct or remove any information recorded in a pupil's record, as described above, to correct records in the former pupil's record with the former pupil's updated name or gender. The bill would require the school district to add a new document to the pupil's or former pupil's record documenting specified details of a sustained name or gender request, as provided. The bill would also require the school district to indefinitely maintain the new document in a confidential manner. By imposing a new duty on school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education, the bill would create 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.