Operational Plan - Relevant Education and State Codes

OPERATIONAL PLAN - RELEVANT EDUCATION AND STATE CODES

Reference nolo.com for comprehensive code directory. Also reference local municipal codes.

STATE EDUCATIONAL CODES

Does CDE license private schools?
No. In California, no state agency licenses, regulates, or oversees private schools, except for non-public schools as described in #10, above. A private school is a business or nonprofit entity that is required to comply with requirements imposed by the jurisdiction, county, city, or other locality in which it is located, such as zoning, health and safety codes, fire codes, or other local ordinances.

Ref: http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/ps/rq/psfaq.asp#a11

EC Section 48200 is the statute for compulsory education.

48200. Children between ages 6 and 18 years (Compulsory public school attendance)

Each person between the ages of 6 and 18 years not exempted under the provisions of this chapter or Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 48400) is subject to compulsory full-time education. Each person subject to compulsory full-time education and each person subject to compulsory continuation education not exempted under the provisions of Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 48400) shall attend the public full-time day school or continuation school or classes and for the full time designated as the length of the schoolday by the governing board of the school district in which the residency of either the parent or legal guardian is located and each parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of the pupil shall send the pupil to the public full-time day school or continuation school or classes and for the full time designated as the length of the schoolday by the governing board of the school district in which the residence of either the parent or legal guardian is located.

Unless otherwise provided for in this code, a pupil shall not be enrolled for less than the minimum schoolday established by law.

AFFIDAVIT

California private schools serving kindergarten through grade twelve are required by state law to file an informational affidavit with the Professional Development and Curriculum Support Division of the CDE each year between October 1 and October 15. Full-time private schools with physical addresses in California should file on the CDE Filing the Private Schools Affidavit Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/ps/rq/affidavit.asp. In the 2007–08 school year, 3,480 private elementary schools and high schools (with six or more students), enrolling 564,734 students, filed affidavits. This affidavit is not a license. The affidavit is necessary for the pupil’s exemption from public school and for the school to be eligible to receive the appropriate records from the pupil’s last school. School districts have the responsibility to ensure that all school-age children in the district either are in attendance at a public school or are legally exempt.

33190. Affidavit by persons conducting private school instruction; publication of school list

Every person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation offering or conducting private school instruction on the elementary or high school level shall between the first and 15th day of October of each year, commencing on October 1, 1967, file with the Superintendent of Public Instruction an affidavit or statement, under penalty of perjury, by the owner or other head setting forth the following information for the current year.

(a) All names, whether real or fictitious, of the person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation under which it has done and is doing business.
(b) The address, including city and street, of every place of doing business of the person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation within the State of California.
(c) The address, including city and street, of the location of the records of the person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation, and the name and address, including city and street, of the custodian of such records.
(d) The names and addresses, including city and street, of the directors, if any, and principal officers of the person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation.
(e) The school enrollment, by grades, number of teachers, coeducational or enrollment limited to boys or girls and boarding facilities.
(f) That the following records are maintained at the address stated, and are true and accurate:

(1) The records required to be kept by section 48222.
(2) The courses of study offered by the institution.
(3) The names and addresses, including city and street, of its faculty, together with a record of the educational qualifications of each.

(g) Criminal record summary information has been obtained pursuant to section 44237. Whenever two or more private schools are under the effective control or supervision of a single administrative unit, such administrative unit may comply with the provisions of this section on behalf of each of the schools under its control or supervision by submitting one report.

Filing pursuant to this section shall not be interpreted to mean, and it shall be unlawful for any school to expressly or impliedly represent by any means whatsoever, that the State of California, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Board of Education, the State Department of Education, or any division or bureau of the Department, or any accrediting agency, has made any evaluation, recognition, approval, or endorsement of the school or course unless this is an actual fact.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall prepare and publish a list of private elementary and high schools to include the name and address of the school and the name of the school owner or administrator.

CURRICULUM

51210. Areas of study(Grades K-6)

The adopted course of study for grades 1 to 6, inclusive, shall include instruction, beginning in grade 1 and continuing through grade 6, in the following areas of study:

(a) English, including knowledge of, and appreciation for literature and the language, as well as the skills of speaking, reading, listening, spelling, handwriting, and composition.

(b) Mathematics, including concepts, operational skills, and problem solving.

(c) Social sciences, drawing upon the disciplines of anthropology, economics, geography, history, political science, psychology, and sociology, designed to fit the maturity of the pupils. Instruction shall provide a foundation for understanding the history, resources, development, and government of California and the United States of America; the development of the American economic system including the role of the entrepreneur and labor; the relations of persons to their human and natural environment; eastern and western cultures and civilizations; contemporary issues; and the wise use of natural resources.

(d) Science, including the biological and physical aspects, with emphasis on the processes of experimental inquiry and on the place of humans in ecological systems.

(e) Visual and performing arts, including instruction in the subjects of dance, music, theatre, and visual arts, aimed at the development of aesthetic appreciation and the skills of creative expression.

(f) Health, including instruction in the principles and practices of individual, family, and community health.

(g) Physical education, with emphasis upon the physical activities for the pupils that may be conducive to health and vigor of body and mind, for a total period of time of not less than 200 minutes each 10 schooldays, exclusive of recesses and the lunch period.

(h) Other studies that may be prescribed by the governing board.

EXEMPTIONS

Children who are instructed in private, full-time day schools are exempt from public school attendance (California Education Code [EC] Section 48222). Private schools must offer instruction in the several branches of study required in the state’s public schools. If a private school does not file an Affidavit, the CDE will have no record of this school, and the students attending the private school will not be exempt from compulsory public school attendance.

48222. Attendance in Private School (Local district authority over exemption)

Children who are being instructed in a private full-time day school by persons capable of teaching shall be exempted. Such school shall, except under the circumstances described in Section 30, be taught in the English language and shall offer instruction in the several branches of study required to be taught in the public schools of the state. The attendance of the pupils shall be kept by private school authorities in a register, and the record of attendance shall indicate clearly every absence of the pupil from school for a half day or more during each day that school is maintained during the year.

Exemptions under this section shall be valid only after verification by the attendance supervisor of the district, or other person designated by the board of education, that the private school has complied with the provisions of section 33190 requiring the annual filing by the owner or other head of a private school of an affidavit or statement of prescribed information with the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The verification required by this section shall not be construed as an evaluation, recognition, approval, or endorsement of any private school or course.

While the vast majority of EC sections apply only to public schools, certain sections do apply to private education and private schools. Selected EC sections that pertain to private schools are listed below.[1]

Redondo Beach School District:

The District has established instructional time allotments for each grade based on parameters set by the state. The student school year is 180 days. Actual instructional hours, per week, for the different grade levels are:

Kindergarten 16.7 hours

Grades 1 and 2 23.8 hours

Grades 3 through 6 25.4 hours

Grades 7 and 8 27.7 hours

Grades 9 through 12 28.4 hours

EC Section 44237 provides the prohibition against hiring persons who have been convicted of certain crimes.

Fingerprints; private school employees; criminal record information; list of teachers with revoked or suspended credentials; fees; confidentiality

(Note: This section is excerpted. To read the entire section, see EC 44237 [Outside Source].)

(a) Every person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation offering or conducting private school instruction on the elementary or high school level shall require each applicant for employment in a position requiring contact with minor pupils who does not possess a valid credential issued by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing or is not currently licensed by another state agency that requires a criminal record summary that directly relates to services provided in a facility described in this section and has background clearance criteria that meets or exceeds the requirements of this section, to submit two sets of fingerprints prepared for submittal by the employer to the Department of Justice for the purpose of obtaining criminal record summary information from the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

(b)

(1) As used in this section, "employer" means every person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation offering or conducting private school instruction on the elementary or high school level.

(2) As use in this section, "employment" means the act of engaging the services of a person, who will have contact with pupils, to work in a position at a private school at the elementary or high school level on or after September 30, 1997, on a regular, paid full-time basis, regular, paid part-time basis or paid full- or part-time seasonal basis.

(3) As used in this section, "applicant" means any person who is seriously being considered for employment by an employer.

(4) This section does not apply to a secondary school pupil working at the school he or she attends or a parent or legal guardian working exclusively with his or her children.

EC Section 49068 governs the transfer of student records.

Parents of currently enrolled or former pupils have an absolute right to access to any and all pupil records related to their children that are maintained by school districts or private schools. The editing or withholding of any of those records, except as provided for in this chapter, is prohibited.

Each school district shall adopt procedures for the granting of requests by parents for copies of all pupil records pursuant to Section 49065, or to inspect and review records during regular school hours, provided that the requested access shall be granted no later than five business days following the date of the request. Procedures shall include the notification to the parent of the location of all official pupil records if not centrally located and the availability of qualified certificated personnel to interpret records if requested.

EC Section 48904(b) governs the withholding of student records under certain circumstances.

EC Section 51210 outlines course of study requirements for public schools grades one through six.