BILL NUMBER: AB 203INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Brownley JANUARY 27, 2011 An act to amend Section 53300 of the Education Code, relating to school intervention. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 203, as introduced, Brownley. Public schools: parent empowerment: school intervention. Existing law requires a local educational agency to implement one of several specified interventions for a school not identified as a persistently lowest achieving school that, after one full school year, fails to meet specified criteria and has a specified percentage of parents and legal guardians of pupils sign a petition requesting the local educational agency to implement at least one of the specified interventions. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions. The bill also would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would establish parameters for these provisions to ensure that parents and legal guardians of pupils have access to information regarding these provisions, and to establish a uniform process for gathering and verifying signatures. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would establish parameters for the Parent Empowerment Program to ensure that parents and legal guardians of pupils have access to appropriate and adequate information regarding the program and the options for reforms, and to establish a uniform process for gathering and verifying signatures. SEC. 2. Section 53300 of the Education Code is amended to read: 53300. For any school not identified as a persistently lowest-achieving school under Section 53201 which, after one full school year, is subject to corrective action pursuant to paragraph (7) of Section 1116(b) of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.) and continues to fail to make adequate yearly progress, and has an Academic Performance Index score of less than 800, and where at least one-half of the parents or legal guardians of pupils attending the school, or a combination of at least one-half of the parents or legal guardians of pupils attending the school and the elementary or middle schools that normally matriculate into a middle or high school, as applicable, sign a petition requesting the local educational agency to implement one or more of the four interventions identified pursuant to paragraphs (1) to (4), inclusive , of subdivision (a) of Section 53202 or the federally mandated alternative governance arrangement pursuant to Section 1116(b)(8)(B)(v) of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), the local educational agency shall implement the option requested by the parents and legal guardians unless, in a regularly scheduled public hearing, the local educational agency makes a finding in writing stating the reason it cannot implement the specific recommended option and instead designates in writing which of the other options described in this section it will implement in the subsequent school year consistent with requirements specified in federal regulations and guidelines for schools subject to restructuring under Section 1116(b)(8) of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.) and regulations and guidelines for the four interventions identified pursuant to paragraphs (1) to (4), inclusive, of subdivision (a) of Section 53202 .