Article 3. Waiver Authority of California Education Code >> Division 2. >> Title 2. >> Part 20. >> Chapter 1. >> Article 3.

(a) The governing board of a school district or a county board of education, on a districtwide or countywide basis or on behalf of one or more of its schools or programs, after a public hearing on the matter, may request the State Board of Education to waive all or part of any section of this code or any regulation adopted by the State Board of Education that implements a provision of this code that may be waived, except:
  (1) Article 1 (commencing with Section 15700) and Article 2 (commencing with Section 15780) of Chapter 4 of Part 10.
  (2) Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 16000) of Part 10.
  (3) Chapter 12 (commencing with Section 17000), Chapter 12.5 (commencing with Section 17070.10), and Chapter 14 (commencing with Section 17085) of Part 10.
  (4) Part 13 (commencing with Section 22000), Part 13.5 (commencing with Section 25900), and Part 14 (commencing with Section 26000).
  (5) Section 35735.1.
  (6) Paragraph (8) of subdivision (a) of Section 37220.
  (7) The following provisions of Part 10.5 (commencing with Section 17211):
  (A) Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 17211).
  (B) Article 1 (commencing with Section 17251) to Article 6 (commencing with Section 17365), inclusive, of Chapter 3.
  (C) Sections 17416 to 17429, inclusive; Sections 17459 and 17462 and subdivision (a) of Section 17464; and Sections 17582 to 17592, inclusive.
  (8) The following provisions of Part 24 (commencing with Section 41000):
  (A) Sections 41000 to 41360, inclusive.
  (B) Sections 41420 to 41423, inclusive.
  (C) Sections 41600 to 41866, inclusive.
  (D) Sections 41920 to 42911, inclusive.
  (9) Sections 44504 and 44505.
  (10) Article 3 (commencing with Section 44930) of Chapter 4 of Part 25 and regulations in Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations adopted pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 44930) of Chapter 4 of Part 25.
  (11) Part 26 (commencing with Section 46000).
  (12) Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 48900) and Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 49060) of Part 27.
  (13) Section 51513.
  (14) Chapter 6.10 (commencing with Section 52120) of Part 28, relating to class size reduction.
  (15) Section 52163.
  (16) The identification and assessment criteria relating to any categorical aid program, including Sections 52164.1 and 52164.6.
  (17) Sections 52165, 52166, and 52178.
  (18) Article 3 (commencing with Section 52850) of Chapter 12 of Part 28.
  (19) Section 56364.1, except that this restriction shall not prohibit the State Board of Education from approving any waiver of Section 56364 or 56364.2, as applicable, relating to full inclusion.
  (20) Article 4 (commencing with Section 60640) of Chapter 5 of Part 33, relating to the STAR Program, and any other provisions of Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 60600) of Part 33 that establish requirements for the STAR Program.
  (b) Any waiver of provisions related to the programs identified in Section 52851 shall be granted only pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 52850) of Chapter 12 of Part 28.
  (c) The waiver of an advisory committee required by law shall be granted only pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 52870) of Chapter 12 of Part 28.
  (d) Any request for a waiver submitted by the governing board of a school district or a county board of education pursuant to subdivision (a) shall include a written statement as to both of the following:
  (1) Whether the exclusive representative of employees, if any, as provided in Chapter 10.7 (commencing with Section 3540) of Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code, participated in the development of the waiver.
  (2) The exclusive representative's position regarding the waiver.
  (e) Any request for a waiver submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) relating to a regional occupational center or program established pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 52300) of Chapter 9 of Part 28, that is operated by a joint powers entity established pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 6500) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code, shall be submitted as a joint waiver request for each participating school district and shall meet both of the following conditions:
  (1) Each joint waiver request shall comply with all of the requirements of this article.
  (2) The submission of a joint waiver request shall be approved by a unanimous vote of the governing board of the joint powers agency.
  (f) The governing board of any school district requesting a waiver under this section of any provision of Article 5 (commencing with Section 39390) of Chapter 3 of Part 23 shall provide written notice of any public hearing it conducted pursuant to subdivision (a), at least 30 days prior to the hearing, to each public agency identified under Section 39394.

Notwithstanding Section 33050, the State Board of Education is authorized to waive the provisions of subdivision (a) of Section 46202 only during the 1983-84 fiscal year, and only if the State Board of Education finds that the district requesting the waiver demonstrates that it meets the following criteria:
  (1) The district has experienced an unanticipated growth in number of pupils over the 1982-83 fiscal year.
  (2) There exists an overcrowding of pupils with no reasonable alternative to house pupils without initiating the use of double sessions. Reasonable alternatives to house pupils shall include, but need not be limited to, the use of facilities in adjacent districts, the use of facilities of a county superintendent of schools, the use of facilities of other public agencies, the lease of portable facilities, or the expanded use of double sessions if the district already has double sessions in other schools prior to the increase in the number of pupils.

(a) The state board shall approve any and all requests for waivers except in those cases where the board specifically finds any of the following:
  (1) The educational needs of the pupils are not adequately addressed.
  (2) The waiver affects a program that requires the existence of a schoolsite council and the schoolsite council did not approve the request.
  (3) The appropriate councils or advisory committees, including bilingual advisory committees, did not have an adequate opportunity to review the request and the request did not include a written summary of any objections to the request by the councils or advisory committees.
  (4) Pupil or school personnel protections are jeopardized.
  (5) Guarantees of parental involvement are jeopardized.
  (6) The request would substantially increase state costs.
  (7) The exclusive representative of employees, if any, as provided in Chapter 10.7 (commencing with Section 3540) of Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code, was not a participant in the development of the waiver.
  (b) The governing board of a school district that has requested and received a general waiver under this article for two consecutive years for the same general waiver is not required to reapply annually if the information contained on the request remains current. The state board may require updated information for the request whenever it determines that information to be necessary. This section does not prevent the state board from rescinding a waiver if additional information supporting a rescission is made available to the board. This waiver process shall not apply to waivers pertaining to teacher credentialing, which shall be submitted to the state board annually.

Not less than 30 days prior to any public hearing it conducts pursuant to Section 33050 concerning a request to waive any provision of Article 5 (commencing with Section 39390) of Chapter 3 of Part 23, the State Board of Education shall provide written notice of the hearing to each public agency to which an offer of sale or lease must be made under Section 39394.

(a) If formal action by the State Board of Education on a waiver request is not taken by the second regular meeting of the board following receipt of a complete and documented waiver request by the State Department of Education, the waiver shall be deemed approved for one year, commencing the first day of the following month.
  (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), no provision of Article 5 (commencing with Section 39390) of Chapter 3 of Part 23 shall be waived except by formal action of the State Board of Education.

For the purposes of improving the financial management and reporting practices of school districts and county offices of education, and developing and testing those practices prior to implementation, the Superintendent of Public Instruction may waive for up to three consecutive fiscal years the requirements of current law and the regulations that are in conflict with the proposed improvements. A waiver shall only be available to school districts and county offices of education that volunteer to develop and test the proposed improved financial management and reporting practices.

For purposes of this article, "school district" shall include county offices of education.

The State Department of Education shall annually submit a report to the Governor, Legislature, State Board of Education, and make the report available to the superintendent and board president of each school district and county office of education. This report shall include a description of the number and types of waivers requested of the board, the actions of the board on those requests, and sources of further information on existing or possible waivers.