Senate Bill 274 Passes Out of the Assembly Education Committee!

Mid-City CAN's Juvenile Justice team is thrilled that Senate Bill 274 that will end defiance suspensions for K-12 students passed out of the Assembly Education Committee on July 12, 2023! Thank you to Senator Nancy Skinner, Assemblymembers Muratsuchi, McCarty, Lee and Quirk-Silva, our team and coalition for your hard work to advance the bill! We also want to give a shoutout to youth members Ezra and Erik for all amazing effort. Both were in Sacramento last month to lobby with organizer Manuel and the coalition. Erik and Ezra spoke during 8 meetings and later recorded a video to explain why defiance suspensions are ineffective. "The suspensions, instead of helping the students and putting them on the right track, all it did was push them out of the school system leaving them with less than a chance to graduate and an overall worse situation," stated Erik. Click below to view Ezra's and Erik's video:

Thank you Ezra and Erik for your incredible work!

Details of Senate Bill 274

(1) Existing law prohibits a pupil from being suspended from school or recommended for expulsion, unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed an act from a list of specified acts, including, among other acts, disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties. Existing law authorizes a teacher to suspend any pupil from class for any of the listed acts, including willful defiance, for the day of the suspension and the day following.

Existing law prohibits the suspension of a pupil enrolled in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 5, inclusive, and recommending the expulsion of a pupil enrolled in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, for disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of those school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties. Existing law, until July 1, 2025, prohibits the suspension of a pupil enrolled in any of grades 6 to 8, inclusive, for those acts. Existing law applies these same provisions to charter schools.

This bill would extend the prohibition against the suspension of pupils enrolled in any of grades 6 to 8, inclusive, including those pupils enrolled in a charter school, for disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties to all grades, by 4 years to instead be until July 1, 2029, and, commencing July 1, 2024, would prohibit the suspension of pupils enrolled in any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive, including those pupils enrolled in a charter school, for those acts until July 1, 2029, but would retain a teacher’s existing authorization to suspend any pupil in any grade from class for any of the listed acts, including willful defiance, for the day of the suspension and the day following, as provided.

(2) Existing law authorizes suspension to be imposed only when other means of correction, including, among other things, a conference between school personnel, the pupil’s parent or guardian, and the pupil, or participation in a restorative justice program, fail to bring about proper conduct, except as provided.

This bill would authorize certificated and classified employees, including certificated and noncertificated employees at charter schools, to refer pupils to school administrators for appropriate and timely in-school interventions or supports, from the specified list of other means of correction, for willful defiance, and would require school administrators, including charter school administrators, within 5 business days, to document the actions taken and to place that documentation in the pupil’s record, as specified. The bill would also require the school administrator, by the end of the 5th business day, to inform the referring employee, verbally or in writing, what actions were taken and, if none, the rationale used for not providing any appropriate or timely in-school interventions or supports. By imposing additional duties on public school administrators, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

(3) Existing law states the intent of the Legislature that alternatives to suspension or expulsion be imposed against a pupil who is truant, tardy, or otherwise absent from school activities.

This bill would instead prohibit a suspension or expulsion from being imposed against a pupil based solely on the fact that they are otherwise absent from school activities.

(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.

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Juvenile Justice’s Sacramento Lobby Day trip a success

Mid-City CAN’s Juvenile Justice and Youth Council members were in Sacramento for the Alliance for Boys and Men of Color’s (ABMoC) Lobby Day on April 18, 2023. It was an exciting and productive trip for the team, joining over a hundred coalition partners including more than 60 youth, and meeting with state representatives to ask them to support bills that would dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline, provide education equity, community and safety justice, healing, youth leadership, and justice and economic security. 

After a policy briefing with coalition partners, the Juvenile Justice team lobbied for several bills including Senate Bill 274 that would end “defiance” suspensions for K-12 students. “Defiance” can be interpreted as talking too loud, sleeping in class, wearing a hat, and more. SB 274 will focus on keeping kids in school instead of tracking them to the Juvenile Justice system and will also remove suspensions for truancies and tardiness. SB 274 will bring education equity by removing school practices that disproportionately impact BIPOC, LGBTQ, and students with disabilities.

The team also supported Assembly Bill 702 that ensures Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act funds go to community-based organizations to provide programming for youth impacted by the justice system as well as Assembly Bill 1028 that focuses on survivor safety and health, and Assembly Bill 1512 that preserves benefits for foster youth who need the cash aid.  

Overall, Lobby Day was a tremendous success and an invigorating experience for the team working with partners to support youth.