2018 Position Letters - Education

Bills about Children, Youth and Young Adult Rights in Special Education and Higher Education
Legislation

2018 Position Letters - Education

AB 1754 (McCarty) - Support - Pre-K for All

Existing law provides that 3- and 4-year-old children are eligible for the state part-day preschool program if the family meets eligibility requirements, including income eligibility. This bill requires the state to provide all 4-year-old children who meet eligibility requirements with access to early care and education programs.

pdf version 4-19-18 support letter
pdf version 6-25-18 support letter
pdf version 7-13-18 support letter

AB 1894 (Weber) - Support - Campus Restaurant Meals Program

The California’s Restaurant Meals Program (RMP) allows eligible Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cardholders receiving CalFresh benefits to purchase hot prepared foods at participating restaurants using their EBT benefits. Individuals who are homeless, elderly, or have disabilities and are recipients of EBT are eligible to participate in the RMP.

Among other provisions, AB 1894 requires a campus food facility that participates in the RMP to meet all of the requirements for participation in that program. It also expands the CalFresh RMP to all CSU locations regardless of whether or not their county has chosen to participate in the program for the non-student population.

pdf version 3-7-18 support letter
pdf version 3-27-18 support letter
pdf version 4-30-18 support letter
pdf version 5-30-18 support letter
pdf version 6-22-18 support letter
pdf version 7-13-18 support letter
pdf version 9-6-18 request for signature

AB 1951 (O'Donnell) - Oppose - ESSA Implementation

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires states to assess their students' learning. ESSA provides two options to accomplish this goal: 1) mandated use of state-established test(s); or 2) state-allowed district-level choices between the state test and "nationally recognized" tests, including the SAT and ACT.

AB 1951 is another attempt to adopt the second option in California, namely to require the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to identify approved nationally recognized tests and to let districts choose between the state test and those approved nationally recognized tests.

pdf version 4-6-18 oppose letter
pdf version 4-30-18 oppose letter
pdf version 6-15-18 oppose letter
pdf version 7-13-18 oppose letter

AB 2022 (Chu) - Support - Mental Health on School Campus

This bill would require that every school have at least one mental health professional generally accessible to pupils on campus during school hours.

pdf version 4-2-18 support letter
pdf version 6-19-18 support letter
pdf version 7-10-18 support letter

AB 2109 (O’Donnell) - Support if Amended - Temporary Disabilities

There are two problems with the bill: 1) students who have IEPs or 504 Plans (and thus the right to receive FAPE) but develop additional temporary disabilities that are covered by this bill; and 2) students who are not eligible under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), but whose temporary disabilities under this bill (i.e., psychiatric hospitalizations) really should be triggering child find requirements under the IDEA.

pdf version 4-6-18 support if amended letter
pdf version 8-15-18 request for signature

AB 2168 (Thurmond) - Special Education Teacher Mentors

This bill appropriates $2,000,000 in carryover funding from the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish a statewide framework and training and support network for the purpose of training and supporting qualified mentor teachers who will be supporting the new statewide influx of special education teachers in California.

pdf version 4-24-18 support letter

AB 2291 (Chiu) - Support - Bullying

This bill requires school districts to include policies and procedures in their comprehensive school safety plan to address bullying and the prevention of bullying. It requires the Department of Education to post, on its internet web site, online training module and an annually updated list of other online training modules relating to bullying or bullying prevention.

pdf version 3-28-18 support letter
pdf version 4-30-18 support letter
pdf version 5-30-18 support letter
pdf version 6-29-18 support letter
pdf version 9-6-18 request for signature

AB 2580 (Cunningham) – Support - Special Education Due Process

This bill creates more specificity around granting continuances for good cause in special education due process hearings.

pdf version 4-18-18 support if amended letter
pdf version 5-7-18 support letter

AB 2657 (Weber) – DRC Sponsored Bill - Support - Restraint and Seclusion in School

This bill provides minimum protections on the use of restraints and seclusion in schools. The bill does not eliminate these practices, but limits the use of particularly dangerous practices and provides guidance on when and how seclusion and restraints are permissible. This is critically important at a time when California has fallen behind federal guidelines and practices adopted by other states to reduce the use of these dangerous practices and instead implement positive behavior techniques.

pdf version 4-17-18 support letter
pdf version 5-10-18 support letter

AB 2704 (O’Donnell) - Support - Family Empowerment Centers

This bill strengthens the Family Empowerment Centers (FEC) by increasing the FEC base grant size from $150,000 to $223,000, and expanding the number of centers throughout the state.

pdf version 3-22-18 support letter
pdf version 6-14-18 support letter
pdf version 6-29-18 support letter

AB 3223 (Grayson) - Support - Unified English Braille

This bill defines Braille as the system of reading and writing through touch commonly known as Unified English Braille. Proposed amendments, among other things, ensures the use of the Nemeth Code for teaching Braille mathematics. Nemeth Code is a less complex system and works well for teaching mathematics to students who are blind.

pdf version 5-2-18 support letter
pdf version 6-11-18 support letter

SB 354 (Portantino) - DRC Sponsored Bill - Support - IEP Translation

This bill requires a school district to give a parent a copy of the individualized education plan (IEP), and any revisions discussed at an IEP team meeting in the native language of the parent. It must do so within 30 days of the meeting, if requested, or within 30 days of a later request. It requires translation of the documents by a qualified translator in the parent's native language during the planning process for the IEP. It also requires translation of certain underlying documents such as assessments and progress notes, but those are not subject to the 30-day timeline.  SB 354 ensures parents whose native language is not English have timely access to a translated IEP and key documents. This allows for meaningful involvement in their child’s education.

pdf version 5-3-18 support letter
pdf version 8-7-18 support letter
pdf version 9-5-18 request for signature

SB 607 (Skinner) - Support - Suspension/Expulsion

Beginning July 1, 2019, this bill would permanently prohibit the suspension of any pupil in kindergarten or grades 1 to 5, and the expulsion of any pupil in kindergarten or in any of grades 1 to 12, who disrupt school activities or otherwise willfully defied valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties. It would prohibit, until July 1, 2023, the suspension of any pupil or grades 6 to 8, inclusive, for that same act; and make these provisions applicable to charter schools.

pdf version 9-11-18 request for signature

SB 691 (Lara) – Support - Immigrant Educational Equality

Existing law states the policy of the State of California to afford all persons, regardless of  specified characteristic, equal rights and opportunities in postsecondary educational institutions of the state. This bill expressly references immigration status in the specified protected characteristics of existing law.

pdf version 1-8-18 support letter
pdf version 6-12-18 support letter

SB 972 (Portantino) – Support - Suicide Prevention

This bill requires a public school, including a charter school, or a private school that serves pupils in any of grades 7 to 12, that issues pupil identification cards, to have printed on the back of the pupil identification cards the telephone number for a suicide prevention hotline or the Crisis Text Line, or both telephone numbers.

pdf version 3-14-18 support letter

SB 1019 (Beall) – Support - Youth Mental Health and Substance Use Services

This bill links mental health professionals and schools by authorizing schools and mental health networks to enter into partnerships for targeted interventions for pupils with behavioral health needs for the delivery of campus-based services through qualified providers.

pdf version 3-6-18 support letter