School Discipline & Notice 

If the student’s actions are found to be a manifestation of their disability (or suspected disability that the LEA has failed to assess and reasonably should have), the expulsion cannot move forward.

Effective January 1, 2023, LEAs are required (under EC 48853.5 (d)) to provide notice of all disciplinary actions that require parental notice to the student in foster care’s social worker and assigned attorney. In addition, this notice must take place prior to moving forward with a manifestation or expulsion proceeding. If the required notice is not provided, the expulsion can be overturned. Beyond that, the following Ed Code sections should be taken into consideration.

EDUCATION CODE 48900.5: REQUIRED OTHER MEANS OF CORRECTION/EXCEPTIONS: “At the very minimum...students who are threatened with removal from school, depriving them of the fundamental right to a publicly financed education, are entitled to notice of the grounds for the removal and an opportunity to be heard.” (Goss v. Lopez) Suspension shall be imposed only when other means of correction fail to bring about proper conduct. However, a pupil, including an individual with exceptional needs as defined in Section 56026, may be suspended for any of the reasons enumerated in Section 48900 upon a first offense, if the principal or superintendent of schools determines that the pupil violated subdivision (a), (b), (c), (d), or (e) of Section 48900 or that the pupil's presence causes a danger to persons or property or threatens to disrupt the instructional process.

EDUCATION CODE SECTION 48915 states : (a) Mandatory Recommendations, Permissive Expulsions: Except as provided in subdivisions (c) and (e) the principal or the superintendent of schools shall recommend the expulsion of a pupil for any of the following acts committed at school or at a school activity off school grounds, unless the principal or superintendent finds that expulsion is inappropriate, due to the particular circumstance: (1) Causing serious physical injury to another person, except in self-defense. (2) Possession of any knife, explosive, or other dangerous object of no reasonable use to the pupil. (3) Unlawful possession of any controlled substance listed in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 1053) of Division 10 of the Health and Safety Code, except for the first offense for the possession of not more than one avoirdupois ounce of marijuana, other than concentrated cannabis. (For second offense, any amount, expulsion recommendation is mandatory.)(AR 5131.6) (4) Robbery or extortion. (5) Assault or battery, as defined in Sections 240 and 242 of the Penal Code, upon any school employee.

This will need to be determined at the local level.

• A process can be developed whereby local educational agencies (LEAs) are notified when an attorney is appointed, or 

• There can be a central email address for notifications, or

• Other local processes can be developed.

There is no clarification in the law, therefore any disciplinary action where the LEA would notice the parent, education rights holder (ERH), social worker, and attorney must be noticed.

LEAs must follow the same timelines for notifying ERH, social worker, and attorney as they do for notifying a parent.

All LEAs must develop a process where all discipline information is shared with the ERH, attorney, and social worker (and tribal social worker, if applicable). That process may include the teacher being required to provide the notice if that is the local process. All confidentiality requirements must be followed and should be shared with staff and teachers.

The law does not include the assigned probation officer in the stakeholders that receive required notice. This would be a local practice decision. County Counsel may advise if there are concerns.

As written, AB 740 does not mandate data collection or create new reporting requirements for the CDE. The CDE is exploring how best to provide guidance for COEs and LEAs with regard to attorney information. However, this information is not currently available in the CALPADS 5.7 report.

California Education Code does not affect private schools.

Compliance with the notice requirements falls under the UCP process. The California Department of Education will review and determine the outcome of any UCP appeal that it receives.

We are unable to answer questions regarding private Student Information System (SIS) providers. LEAs may work with their SIS providers on this issue if they choose to.