BILL NUMBER: AB 1281INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Portantino FEBRUARY 27, 2009 An act to add Section 49062.5 to the Education Code, relating to pupil data. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1281, as introduced, Portantino. Pupil data: California School Racial Equality Designation Act. (1) Existing law establishes the public elementary and secondary school system in this state. Under this system, school districts throughout the state provide instruction to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, at the public elementary and secondary schools. This bill would enact the California School Racial Equality Designation Act. The bill would express findings and declarations of the Legislature relating to the collection of data on the race or ethnicity of persons who identify themselves as members of more than one race. The bill would require any public elementary or secondary school in this state that directly, or by contract, collects demographic data on the race or ethnicity of its pupils to provide forms that offer respondents the option to select one or more racial designations pursuant to prescribed federal guidelines and to ensure that the data is tabulated and reported as specified. The bill would require public elementary schools, as well as local educational agencies, to comply as early as reasonably feasible when updating forms, software, hardware, or information collection procedures pursuant to the bill, but in no event later than the commencement of the fall semester of the 2010-11 academic year. Because this bill would impose new duties on local educational agencies, it would constitute a state-mandated local program. (2) 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 these statutory provisions. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 49062.5 is added to the Education Code, to read: 49062.5. (a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the California School Racial Equality Designation Act. (b) The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the following: (1) The State of California currently has the largest population of people among the 50 states who checked more than one race in the 2000 Census, which provided the first-ever option for respondents to identify themselves as members of more than one race, and this population of Californians who identify themselves as such is rapidly growing. (2) Many California public elementary and secondary school forms currently require that pupils or their parents choose only a single race when racial classifications are required, and this forces them to deny a significant part of their heritage and choose between their parents. Information collected in this manner often deprives the state of accurate data with which to meet the needs of its diverse communities. These children need to see a place for them on forms, using dignified, clear, and consistent terminology deemed most appropriate by the multiracial community. (3) It is in the best interests of the State of California to collect accurate biracial and multiracial data relating to children in the California public schools, as 42 percent of persons who chose more than one race on the 2000 Census were under the age of 18 and fall into the age range of elementary and secondary school pupils. Demographic classifications should be sensitive to the needs of interracial families and multiracial children so that they can embrace their entire heritage in future years. (4) Respect for individual dignity should guide the processes and methods for collecting and encoding data on race and equality. (5) Since 1997, the "Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity" of the federal Office of Management and Budget have required federal agencies to ensure that individuals have the option of selecting one or more ethnic or racial designations on federal government forms requesting this information. (6) This is the ideal time to close the gap in disparity in proper terminology for biracial and multiracial children. This timing coincides with the changes in federal guidelines. School is usually the place where children first see and understand appropriate terminology for themselves and their peers. Ten states have adopted a true multiracial classification in addition to a large number of individual school districts in other states. The treatment of California's pupil population in this regard should be proactive and progressive on this issue. (c) Any public elementary or secondary school in this state that directly, or by contract, collects demographic data on the race or ethnicity of its pupils shall do all of the following: (1) Provide forms that offer respondents the option to select one or more racial designations pursuant to guidelines of the United States Department of Education, and designate written instructions such as: "Choose one; or, if you consider yourself to be biracial or multiracial, choose two or more." (2) Ensure, in cases where data on the race and ethnicity of pupils are reported to any other state agency, board, or commission, that those data are neither tabulated nor reported without all of the following: (A) The number or percentage of respondents who identify with each racial designation alone and not in combination with any other ethnic or racial designation. (B) The number or percentage of respondents who identify with each ethnic or racial designation, whether alone or in combination with other ethnic or racial designations. (C) The number or percentage of respondents who identify with multiple ethnic or racial designations, reported as "biracial or multiracial (two or more races)." (D) For civil rights monitoring and enforcement, complying with the rules for multiple race response allocation issued by the federal Office of Management and Budget Bulletin No. 00-02 in cases of state or federally mandated actions related to an ethnic or a racial community, or to assessing disparate impacts or discriminatory patterns. In these cases, the requirements of subparagraph (C) shall not be considered to be satisfied without concurrent compliance with subparagraphs (A) and (B), as well as this subparagraph. (d) Each local educational agency or public elementary or secondary school that is required to comply with subdivision (c) shall comply as soon as reasonably feasible when updating forms, software, hardware, or information collection procedures, and in no event later than the commencement of the fall semester of the 2010-11 academic year. (e) Each public elementary or secondary school shall offer an opportunity to its pupils and staff, and encourage them, to reidentify their race or ethnicity using the new forms developed pursuant to this section as soon as these forms are available. SEC. 2. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.