Legislative

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AB 1651

This CASP-sponsored bill allows LEPs to supervise Board of Behavioral Sciences associates (interns) while they are providing Educationally Related Mental Health Services in school settings. Authored by Assembly member Jose Medina of Riverside, the bill was signed into law on September 20, 2019.

 

CASP Legislative Update

CASP follows a number of bills introduced each session in the state Legislature. The CASP Legislative Committee reviews and makes recommendations to the CASP Board of Directors on bills that may affect school-based mental health services and how CASP members do their jobs. Below is the list of legislation the Legislative Committee is following. The status recorded on these bills is as of September 18, 2019.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

The Federal Administration has begun to rollback protections enjoyed by approximately 80,000 students in California, as well as many young workers. Here are some articles and documents that may assist school psychologists as they work with these students and their families.
Then list in the following order using the full titles of each document:

 

Dyslexia and Assembly Bill 1369 – Guidelines Now Available

In November 2015, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 1369, requiring “the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop program guidelines for dyslexia to be used to assist regular education teachers, special education teachers and parents to identify and assess pupils with dyslexia and to plan, provide, evaluate and improve educational services … to pupils with dyslexia.”

These guidelines are now available. More information regarding the Dyslexia Guidelines can be found on the CDE website.

CASP had objected to one paragraph that implied that school psychologists do not know about dyslexia. However, after CASP objected to that paragraph, a new version of the Dyslexia Guidelines has been placed online with language that explains the role of the school psychologist when reading disorders are suspected. CASP would like to thank the state Department of Education for making this change to the guidelines.

CASP has also developed this position paper to clarify how state and federal laws and regulations related to Dyslexia, phonological processing and other reading disorders should be practiced in the schools. Access this paper.

About CASP’s Legislative Platform

The purpose of the 2017-2019 Legislative Platform is to support the Vision and Mission of CASP by establishing the Association’s legislative agenda for the upcoming legislative sessions. The Bylaws and Strategic Plan of CASP call for a legislative platform to be developed and adopted by the Board of Directors at the beginning of each two-year legislative session.

This platform provides the foundation and scope of CASP’s legislative efforts. The platform does not list every issue the Association is concerned about or involved in, but rather it describes those issues that the Board of Directors, Legislative Committee and the membership deem to be CASP’s priority issues for the 2017-2019 Legislative Sessions.

CASP publishes the Association’s Legislative Platform biannually. Historically and continuing to the present day, CASP has supported legislation to improve the education and related services for the children of all California schools. This includes all children in both general and special education programs.

Learn more about CASP’s Legislative Platform

Alumni Club

The Alumni Club is a new mechanism for raising money for the CASP Political Action Committee. It’s also a way for CASP’s retired, leading and other interested members to have a role in securing the future of the profession. All Alumni Club members are recognized for their efforts.

To learn more, see the CASP Alumni Club page.

Legislative & Regulatory Items of Interest

Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) & School Psychologists

2016

2014-2015

Advocacy

Never has there been a time when grassroots/legislative advocacy was as important as it is today. As federal, state and local government budgets become more constrained, competition for limited public resources will continue to increase. It is critical, therefore, that school psychologists serve as advocates on behalf of their field and for the children they serve.

As the only professionals offering behavorial and mental health services for school aged individuals, school psychologists have an excellent opportunity to influence federal, state and local education policies. Through some easy and low-time consuming advocacy methods, school psychologists can have significant impacts on public policy outcomes. By providing valuable information to policy-makers in an insightful and honest manner, school psychologists can become respected participants in the policy process.

Mental Health

This section is designed to guide you through AB 114.

Background

On June 30, 2011 AB 114 was signed into law. Under AB 114, several sections of Chapter 26.5 of the California Government Code (GC) were amended or rendered inoperative, thereby ending the state mandate on county mental health agencies to provide mental health services to students with disabilities. With the passage of AB 114, it is clear that school districts are now solely responsible for ensuring that students with disabilities receive special education and related services, including some services previously arranged for or provided by county mental health agencies.

 

AB 114 Audit

 

Guidance From the California Department of Education

 

Department of Education Policy Papers Regarding AB 114

CDE has developed these policy papers to explain and discuss some of the changes schools are facing with the passage of AB 114.

School Psychologists Not Affected by AB 705

CASP has heard that there is a lot of misinformation being circulated regarding the status of school psychologists after the passage of Assembly Bill 705, by Assemblymember Susan Eggman. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill, which was designed to clarify the status of clinical psychology interns who are gaining hours needed become licensed psychologists.

As detailed in the two documents below, this bill does not affect credentialed school psychologists or school psychology interns, the latter because they are supervised by school employees. Licensed Educational Psychologists are not included in the bill because, as LEPs, they are licensed.

So, if your colleagues, administrators or others show concern about AB 705 and your status as a school psychologist, please assure them that for you and your status as a psychologist it’s business as usual.

Special Ed Task Force

Merging Special Education with General Education is how the Statewide Special Education Task Force recommends California transform its education policies, practices and special education financing.

The Task Force, formed in 2013 to study the causes of the state’s poor outcomes for students with disabilities, released it findings and recommendations in early 2015. The full report, executive summary and reports from four of the task force’s subcommittees are found below.

The report outlines how delivery of special education supports are severely hindered by inadequate early learning services. The report recommends improvements in early learning, teacher preparation and best practices. The recommendations have been forwarded to the Department of Education, Commission on Teacher Credentialing, State Board of Education, Advisory Commission on Special Education and many other agencies to consider legislation and regulatory changes.

 

California Association of School Psychologists

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