SB 1241

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law requires the governing board or body of a local educational agency that serves pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, and that serves pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to adopt and maintain a policy on pupil suicide prevention that addresses, among other things, any training on suicide awareness and prevention to be provided to teachers of pupils in all of the grades served by the local educational agency. Existing law, commencing with the 2024–25 school year, encourages local educational agencies to provide that training to those teachers. Existing law requires the State Department of Education to identify one or more evidence-based online training programs that a local educational agency can use to train school staff and pupils as part of the local educational agency's policy on pupil suicide prevention. This bill would separately require the State Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Justice and the California Health and Human Services Agency, to maintain a list of approved training programs for instruction in suicide awareness and prevention and safety training and violence prevention. The bill would require the approved training programs to be evidence based and to include specified information, including, among other information, how to instruct school personnel to identify the signs and symptoms of depression, suicide, and self-harm in pupils, and how to instruct pupils to identify the signs and symptoms of depression, suicide, and self-harm in their peers. The bill would require these approved training programs to be in addition to the above-described evidence-based online training programs that a local educational agency can use to train school staff and pupils as part of the local educational agency's policy on pupil suicide prevention unless the State Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Justice and the California Health and Human Services Agency, determines that the training program satisfies all of the requirements specified in the bill. The bill would require the State Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Justice and the California Health and Human Services Agency, to also maintain a list of approved training programs for instruction in social inclusion, as specified. For each topic, the bill would require the approved training programs to include at least one option that is free or of no cost to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, and would require all of the approved training programs to be posted on the State Department of Education's internet website. The bill would, commencing July 1, 2027, require each school district, county office of education, and charter school serving any of grades 6 to 12, inclusive, to annually provide at least one hour of, or one standard class period per school year of, evidence-based instruction, per topic, based upon the above-described trainings, on each of suicide awareness and prevention, safety training and violence prevention, and social inclusion, except as provided. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Under existing law, each school district and county office of education is responsible for the overall development of a comprehensive school safety plan for each of its schools operating kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, in cooperation with certain local entities. Existing law requires the comprehensive school safety plan to include, among other things, the development of procedures for conducting tactical responses to criminal incidents, including procedures related to individuals with guns on school campuses and at school-related functions and procedures to assess and respond to reports of any dangerous, violent, or unlawful activity that is being conducted or threatened to be conducted at the school, at an activity sponsored by the school, or on a schoolbus serving the school. Existing law prohibits a chartering authority from denying a petition for the establishment of a charter school unless it makes written factual findings supporting at least one of specified bases for denial. One of those bases for denying a petition is if the petition does not contain a reasonably comprehensive description of the development of a school safety plan that includes the same safety topics required in the comprehensive school safety plan of a school district or county office of education. The bill would require each school district, county office of education, and charter school, commencing July 1, 2027, to enter into an agreement with an anonymous reporting program of the local educational agency's choosing, provided that the reporting program satisfies specified requirements, including, among others, that it operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and that it forwards reported information to, and coordinates with, the appropriate school personnel, law enforcement agencies, and other public safety agencies, as identified in a school's adopted school safety plan, as provided. Commencing July 1, 2028, and annually thereafter, the bill would require each local educational agency, at the end of each school year, to submit specified data to the State Department of Education, in a manner prescribed by the State Department of Education, and to the Department of Justice, in manner prescribed by the Department of Justice, disaggregated by school. The bill would require a local educational agency to immediately remove a false report from a pupil's record, as provided. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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.