LEG UPDATE: Three school discipline reform bills thought dead – revived

SI&A Cabinet Report | http://bit.ly/OgkNGX

Friday, July 06, 2012 :: Last-minute reconsideration saved three key bills reforming school discipline practices in advance of the Legislature’s summer recess deadline today.

AB 1729 by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, which will create a new pathway for the use of alternatives to suspension and expulsion, passed out of the state Senate’s Education Committee Tuesday after failing last week.

Also given a second life was AB 2242 by Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento, which is intended to address the “overuse” of out-of-school suspensions for minor offenses. According to the author, the bill would limit punishment of incidents of 'willful defiance' to in-school suspensions with appropriate instruction and access to existing mental health providers.

And AB 2537 by Assemblyman Manuel Perez, D-Coachella, will give more discretion to school principals on the expulsion of a pupil caught selling a controlled substance.