Pupil instruction: retention, grade changes, and exemptions.

(1) Existing law requires the governing board of a school district and a county superintendent of schools to adopt policies regarding pupil promotion and retention, and requires a pupil to be promoted or retained only as provided for in those policies. Until June 30, 2023, existing law makes certain funds available to school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and state special schools for expenditure by August 31, 2022, for certain activities, including offering supplemental instruction and support, as prescribed. For the 2021–22 academic year, this bill would require a school district, county office of education, or charter school to implement a supplemental policy regarding the retention of pupils who, in the 2020–21 academic year, received deficient grades, as specified, for at least 12 of the pupil's coursework, except for pupils enrolled in grade 12 during the 2020–21 academic year. The bill would require a school district, county office of education, or charter school, as part of that policy and within 30 calendar days of receiving a written retention consultation request from a parent, to conduct the consultation with the parent, the pupil, the administrator, and a teacher, and would require the consultation to include a discussion of all available learning recovery options, research on the effects of retention and the benefits of particular interventions and supports, and consideration of the pupil's academic data and any other information relevant to whether retention is in the pupil's best interests, academically and socially. The bill would require a retention decision to be consistent with a pupil's individualized education program. The bill would require, regardless of the retention decision, the pupil to be offered specific interventions and supports. The bill would also require, if the decision is to not retain the pupil, the pupil to be offered access to prior semester courses in which the pupil received a D or F letter grade in the 2020–21 academic year, some other form of credit recovery, or other supports as specified. The bill would require a school district, county office of education, or charter school to notify the requesting parent of its retention decision within 10 calendar days of the consultation. By imposing new duties on school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires the governing board of a school district to prescribe regulations requiring the evaluation of a pupil's achievement for each marking period. When a teacher provides the pupil with a grade for a course, existing law requires the grade, in the absence of clerical or mechanical mistake, fraud, bad faith, or incompetency, to be final. Existing law prohibits the governing board of a school district or the superintendent of the district from ordering a change in the pupil's grade unless the teacher who determined the grade is given an opportunity, to the extent practicable, to be included in all discussions relating to the grade change. This bill would authorize the parent, guardian, or education rights holder of a pupil, or, for a pupil who is 18 years of age or older, the pupil, who was enrolled in high school and enrolled in a course during the 2020–21 school year to apply to the pupil's school district, county board of education, or charter school to change the letter grade for that course to a Pass or No Pass grade on the pupil's transcript. The bill would require the school district, county office of education, or charter school to make the requested change, as specified. The bill would require the California State University, and encourage private postsecondary institutions and the University of California, to accept, and to notify the State Department of Education whether the institution will accept, those changed transcripts for admission purposes. The bill would require the department to develop the application for the grade change request and to provide related assistance to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools. By requiring local educational agencies to perform specified duties regarding the grade change option, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law requires a school district or charter school to exempt certain categories of pupils who transfer between schools any time after completion of the 2nd year of high school, or who participate in a specified newcomer program, from all coursework and other requirements adopted by the governing body of the school district or charter school that are in addition to certain statewide coursework requirements unless the school district or charter school makes a finding that the pupil is reasonably able to complete the graduation requirements of the school district or charter school in time to graduate from high school by the end of the pupil's 4th year of high school. Existing law requires a school district or charter school to take specified actions if it determines the pupil is reasonably able to complete those graduation requirements within the pupil's 5th year of high school. This bill would require a school district, charter school, or county office of education to exempt all pupils who, in the 2020–21 school year, were in their 3rd or 4th year of high school and who are not on track to graduate in 4 years from all coursework and other requirements adopted by the governing body of a school district, charter school, or county office of education that are in addition to the statewide coursework requirements, and to separately provide, for all pupils who, in the 2020–21 school year, were in their 3rd or 4th year of high school and who are not on track to graduate in the 2020–21 or 2021–22 school year, the opportunity to complete the statewide coursework required for graduation, which may include, among other opportunities for completion of the coursework, a 5th year of instruction. By requiring local educational agencies to perform additional duties in complying with the exemption requirements, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) 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. (5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.