Article 1. General Provisions of California Education Code >> Division 2. >> Title 2. >> Part 20. >> Chapter 3. >> Article 1.

There is in the state government a State Department of Education. Any reference to the Department of Education shall be deemed to be a reference to the State Department of Education, unless the context otherwise requires.

The Department of Education shall be administered through:
  (a) The State Board of Education which shall be the governing and policy determining body of the department.
  (b) The Director of Education in whom all executive and administrative functions of the department are vested and who is the executive officer of the State Board of Education.

The Department of Education shall be conducted under the control of an executive officer known as the Director of Education.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction is ex officio Director of Education.

The provisions of Article 2 (commencing with Section 11180), Chapter 2, Part 1, Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, shall govern and apply to the conduct of the Department of Education in every respect as if such provisions were herein set forth at length.

Wherever in Article 2 (commencing with Section 11180), Chapter 2, Part 1, Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, the term "head of the department," or similar designation occurs, it shall, for the purposes of Section 33304, of this code mean the Director of Education.

The Department of Education is the successor to, and is vested with all the duties, powers, purposes, responsibilities, and jurisdiction of the State Board of Education as they existed on July 30, 1921, of the board of directors of the California School for the Deaf and the Blind, and of the several officers, deputies, and employees of such bodies and offices.

The Department of Education shall be in possession and control of all records, books, papers, offices, equipment, supplies, moneys, funds, appropriations, land, and other property, real or personal, now or hereafter held for the benefit of the bodies, offices, and officers whose duties, powers, purposes, responsibilities, and jurisdiction are transferred to and vested in the Department of Education.

The Department of Education shall administer and enforce all laws now or hereafter imposing any duty, power, or function upon any of the bodies, offices, officers, deputies, or employees transferred to the Department of Education under the provisions of Section 33306.

The State Department of Education shall adopt guidelines to be disseminated to parents or guardians of pupils that describe the procedures that a parent or guardian can follow in filing a complaint of child abuse, as defined in Section 11165.6 of the Penal Code, with the school or a child protective services agency against a school employee or other person that commits an act of child abuse, as defined in Section 11165.6 of the Penal Code, against a pupil at a schoolsite.

(a) Program guidelines issued by the State Department of Education shall be designed to serve as a model or example, and shall not be prescriptive. Program guidelines issued by the department shall include written notification that the guidelines are merely exemplary, and that compliance with the guidelines is not mandatory.
  (b) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall review all program guidelines prepared by the State Department of Education prior to issuance to local education agencies. The superintendent shall approve the proposed guidelines only if he or she determines that all of the following conditions are met:
  (1) The guidelines are necessary.
  (2) The department has the authority to issue the guidelines.
  (3) The guidelines are clear and appropriately referenced to, and consistent with, existing statutes and regulations.

In addition to the Division of Libraries of the Department of Education, established by law, the State Board of Education may, upon recommendation of the Director of Education, establish such divisions as in the judgment of the board are necessary for the proper transaction of the business of the department.

The State Department of Education may sell any educational materials and directories related to its scope and duties.

When the Department of Education fixes the price of any publication, it shall specify the class of persons or institutions that may receive copies of the publication free of charge.

Any county, or any school district, in this state may purchase the publications described in Sections 33309 to 33313, inclusive, from the Department of Education.

All moneys received from the sale of materials pursuant to Section 33310 of the Education Code shall be deposited in the State Treasury to the credit of the fund against which the cost of printing the publication was charged.

The State Board of Education may, upon recommendation of the Director of Education, establish in the Department of Education a school library consultant service to assist and advise local school districts in the establishment, development, and improvement of school libraries in the elementary and secondary schools of the state.

The State Department of Education shall do all of the following:
  (a) Revise and update budget manuals, forms and guidelines.
  (b) Cooperate with federal and state agencies in prescribing rules and regulations, and instructions required by those agencies.
  (c) Assess the needs and methods of collecting and disseminating financial information.
  (d) Conduct workshops and conferences for the purpose of training school district and county personnel.
  (e) Provide consultant services to colleges and universities on courses of instruction relative to school budgets and accounting practices.
  (f) For purposes of Section 44421.5, report to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing the identity of any certificated person who knowingly and willfully reports false fiscal expenditure data relative to the conduct of any educational program. This requirement applies only if, in the course of his or her normal duties, a representative of the State Department of Education discovers information that gives him or her reasonable cause to believe that false fiscal expenditure data relative to the conduct of any educational program has been reported.

The Department of Education shall cooperate with the Educational Management and Evaluation Commission and shall as requested by the commission:
  (a) Prepare and compile agenda items and research materials for the commission.
  (b) Prepare and direct the execution of any provisions of agreements entered into by the commission for the formulation of a program budgeting and accounting system.
  (c) Organize pilot projects for testing any program budgeting and accounting system.
  (d) Recommend any change or revision of law necessary to effectuate any program budgeting and accounting system.
  (e) Promote any program of budgeting and accounting system through cooperative working arrangements with interested public and private agencies and associations.
  (f) Coordinate the budgeting and accounting activities of interested public and private agencies and associations.

(a) The Department of Education shall report the test results of all state-mandated testing programs to the individual school districts by not later than September 15th following the testing.
  (b) The district superintendent may publicly report the results of a state-mandated testing program as they affect the district at the first regularly scheduled meeting of the governing board of the district after the statewide results have been presented to the State Board of Education.

(a) In addition to the dropout rate the department compiles pursuant to the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), the department shall compile an attrition rate for high school pupils in the state pursuant to the formula specified in subdivision (b).
  (b) The attrition rate is the difference between the number of pupils who enrolled in grade 9 in a particular year and the number of pupils who, four years later, receive a diploma of graduation from high school, divided by the number of pupils who enrolled in grade 9 in the particular year.

The State Department of Education shall encourage and assist school districts to improve and monitor the health of their pupils. The department shall provide guidance and assist school districts to secure the voluntary assistance of local health professionals, schools of medicine, schools of public health, schools of nursing, voluntary health agencies, and other appropriate entities in order to provide pupil health screening and appropriate medical referrals as well as to provide valuable health information to pupils and their parents. The department shall encourage school districts to contact and cooperate with the State Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health Board, with local maternal, child, and adolescent health boards, and child health and disability prevention programs established pursuant to Article 6 (commencing with Section 124025) of Chapter 3 of Part 2 of Division 106 of the Health and Safety Code. As part of this assistance, the State Department of Education shall provide information and guidance to schools that request the information and guidance, to establish "Health Days" in order to provide screenings for common health problems among pupils as well as to provide information to pupils and parents on prevention of illness, proper nutrition, and other aspects of good health. The Health Days should be organized and staffed by school nurses working in cooperation with volunteers from schools of medicine, schools of public health, schools of nursing, voluntary health agencies, health professionals, local maternal, child, and adolescent health boards, and other appropriate entities. All medical screenings and services conducted pursuant to this section shall be conducted in accordance with Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 49400) of Part 27.

The State Department of Education shall prepare materials on driver attitude and motivation that focus on the reduction of driving violations with particular emphasis on aggressive driving behavior and behavior commonly known as "road rage" and shall make these materials available to school districts to use in connection with programs of automobile driving education, at the option of the school district.

The State Department of Education may encourage among school districts, county boards of education, and county superintendents of schools the implementation of the authority granted to those agencies by Section 35160, including the rendering to those agencies, upon request, advisory opinions on whether a program, activity, or course of action is authorized by Section 35160. The department may publish and disseminate those opinions.