California passes education bills to reduce school discipline, hire back retirees

(The Center Square) – The California legislature passed a series of state Department of Education-supported bills, including one aimed at reducing discipline options for students who engage in “willful defiance” against teachers. Critics say lack of discipline in public school classrooms and a lack of tools for teachers to enforce discipline is among the reasons driving teachers out of the profession, which they say is why the legislature also passed a new bill to pay retired teachers to come back and work while still receiving their full retirement benefits.

Currently, all students through 5th grade cannot be suspended and through 12th grade cannot be expelled for “willful defiance” — defined as “disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of school staff.” If signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, SB 274, introduced by State Senator Nancy Skinner, D – East Bay, and co-sponsored by State Superintendent Tony Thurmond would extend an existing exemption to suspension for 6th through 8th grade, and create a new exemption for students in 9th through 12th grade, and extend such provisions to charter schools that had previously been exempt from the prohibition.

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