Major Legislative Victory in California!
JOINT LEGISLATIVE VICTORY NEWSFLASH – October 10, 2012
From: Roy Hanson — Family Protection Ministries and Mike Smith — HSLDA
Bill: AB 1799 (as amended 6/27/12) – Transferring Pupil Records
Author: State Assemblymember Steven Bradford
Position: Strongly Supported
Status: Signed by the Governor! A Tremendous Victory!!
Homeschool students may on occasion transfer from one school to another [e.g. out of, into, or between Private School Satellite Programs (PSPs), or, out of or into a public school program]. The California Education Code (Section 48608) requires the pupil’s old school of enrollment to transfer the pupil’s permanent school records (commonly known as the cumulative or “cum” file) to the new school of enrollment when the pupil transfers.
The request to transfer the records is made by the pupil’s new school of enrollment.
If you are enrolling your child in a PSP, the PSP administrator makes the request for your child’s records. See Withdrawing Your Child for details on how and when to do this either for the PSP administrator or for parents who have established their own private school in their home.
AB 1799, which was recently signed by the Governor, made a change to this law that goes into effect this coming January. Beginning January 1, 2013, records of transferring students must be forwarded to the new school of enrollment within 10 schooldays of the time the request for those records is received by the pupil’s former school.
Specifically, this law now states, “… the pupil’s permanent record or a copy of it shall be transferred by the former public school or private school no later than 10 schooldays following the date the request is received from the … school where the pupil intends to enroll.” The new law also defines a “school day” as “… a day upon which the school is in session or non-holiday weekdays during the summer break.”
We supported this bill because prior to this legislation there was no deadline for a pupil’s former school to release school records to the pupil’s new school. Sometimes parents withdrawing from public schools have experienced problems getting their child’s pupil records from their former school. AB 1799 will be especially helpful for parents trying to withdraw their child from a public school to begin homeschooling.