Whereas, in 2013, the California Legislature passed AB 420, which prohibited pupil willful-defiance suspensions statewide for grades K-3 until July 2018, and furthermore the ban on K-3 suspensions was made permanent in a 2018-19 budget trailer bill; and 

Whereas, in 2019, SB 419 extended the existing ban on pupil willful-defiance suspensions to grades 4 and 5 statewide, with the prohibition on such suspensions for grades 6 through 8 sunsetting in June 2025; and

Whereas, school staff may also refer a pupil for any of the acts enumerated in California Education Code Section 48900 to the principal or the designee of the principal for consideration of a suspension from the school; and

Whereas, the California Legislature has mandated that alternatives to suspension shall be assigned to students for willful defiance and disruption resulting in numerous behavioral intervention policies and programs throughout California’s public-school districts; and

Whereas, school staff, school administrators, and parents/guardians/education decision-makers are partners in supporting positive student behavioral improvement and must communicate systemically, in a timely manner, and clearly in order to maintain safe and appropriate learning environments on school campuses; and

Whereas, it has been clinically proven with numerous studies that student behavioral interventions are only effective when they are appropriate and closely tied in time to inappropriate behaviors; and   

Whereas, no legislative mandate has been made regarding clear, timely, and systemic communication between school staff, school administrators, and parents/guardians/education decision- makers resulting in some districts and school campuses disjointedly failing to implement positive behavioral interventions; 

Therefore, be it resolved, that the CFT advocate for and sponsor and/or support legislation that requires California’s public-school administrators to communicate in writing with school staff who refer students for behavioral intervention regarding what intervention(s) were applied and the rationale for the applied intervention(s) to referred pupils within three (3) instructional days, and, where appropriate, administrators communicate with parents/guardians/education decision- makers within one (1) to three (3) instructional days that a referral for behavior intervention has been made by school staff.

• Submitted by PreK-12 Education Issues Committee