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Selected California Education Codes

Selected sections of the California Education pertaining to private elementary and high schools.

33190. Every person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation offering or conducting private school instruction on the elementary or high school level shall between the first and 15th day of October of each year, commencing on October 1, 1967, file with the Superintendent of Public Instruction an affidavit or statement, under penalty of perjury, by the owner or other head setting forth the following information for the current year.
(a) All names, whether real or fictitious, of the person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation under which it has done and is doing business.
(b) The address, including city and street, of every place of doing business of the person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation within the State of California.
(c) The address, including city and street, of the location of the records of the person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation, and the name and address, including city and street, of the custodian of such records.
(d) The names and addresses, including city and street, of the directors, if any, and principal officers of the person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation.
(e) The school enrollment, by grades, number of teachers, coeducational or enrollment limited to boys or girls and boarding facilities.
(f) That the following records are maintained at the address stated, and are true and accurate:

  1. The records required to be kept by section 48222.
  2. The courses of study offered by the institution.
  3. The names and addresses, including city and street, of its faculty, together with a record of the educational qualifications of each.

(g) Criminal record summary information has been obtained pursuant to section 44237.

Whenever two or more private schools are under the effective control or supervision of a single administrative unit, such administrative unit may comply with the provisions of this section on behalf of each of the schools under its control or supervision by submitting one report.

Filing pursuant to this section shall not be interpreted to mean, and it shall be unlawful for any school to expressly or impliedly represent by any means whatsoever, that the State of California, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Board of Education, the State Department of Education, or any division or bureau of the Department, or any accrediting agency, has made any evaluation, recognition, approval, or endorsement of the school or course unless this is an actual fact.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall prepare and publish a list of private elementary and high schools to include the name and address of the school and the name of the school owner or administrator.

Affidavit; Criminal Record Summary; Requirements

33191(a) Commencing October 1, 1985, the affidavit or statement filed with the Superintendent of Public Instruction pursuant to section 33190 shall, under penalty of perjury, include a statement manifesting compliance with the provisions of section 44237.
(b) In the case of any private school where the instructor also serves as the administrator of the school, the affidavit or statement shall be made available upon request to the parents or guardians of all pupils currently enrolled in the school and to any parent or guardian considering whether to enroll his or her child in the school.

Criminal Record Summary; Prohibitions on Employment; Notification; Violent or Serious Felonies; Exceptions (selected subdivisions)

44237(a) Every person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation offering or conducting private school instruction on the elementary or high school level shall require each applicant for employment in a position requiring contact with minor pupils who does not possess a valid credential issued by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing or is not currently licensed by another state agency that requires a criminal record summary that directly relates to services provided in a facility described in this section and has background clearance criteria that meets or exceeds the requirements of this section, to submit two sets of fingerprints prepared for submittal by the employer to the Department of Justice for the purpose of obtaining criminal record summary information from the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
(b)(1) As used in this section, "employer" means every person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation offering or conducting private school instruction on the elementary or high school level.
(2) As use in this section, "employment" means the act of engaging the services of a person, who will have contact with pupils, to work in a position at a private school at the elementary or high school level on or after September 30, 1997, on a regular, paid full-time basis, regular, paid part-time basis or paid full- or part-time seasonal basis.
(3) As used in this section, "applicant" means any person who is seriously being considered for employment by an employer.
(4) This section does not apply to a secondary school pupil working at the school he or she attends or a parent or legal guardian working exclusively with his or her children.
(c) (1) Upon receiving the identification cards, the Department of Justice shall ascertain whether the applicant has been arrested or convicted of any crime insofar as that fact can be ascertained from information available to the department and forward the information to the employer submitting the fingerprints no more than 15 working days after receiving the identification cards. The Department of Justice shall not forward information regarding criminal proceedings that did not result in a conviction but shall forward information on arrests pending adjudication.
(2) Upon implementation of an electronic fingerprinting system with terminals located statewide and managed by the Department of Justice, the Department of Justice shall ascertain the information required pursuant to this subdivision within three working days. If the Department of Justice cannot ascertain the information required pursuant to this subdivision within three working days, the department shall notify the employer submitting the fingerprints that it cannot so ascertain the required information. This notification shall be delivered by telephone or electronic mail to the employer submitting the fingerprints. If the employer submitting the fingerprints is notified by the Department of Justice that it cannot ascertain the required information about a person, the employer may not employ that person until the Department of Justice ascertains that information.
(3) The Department of Justice shall review the criminal record summary it obtains from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to ascertain whether an applicant for employment has a conviction, or an arrest pending final adjudication, for any sex offense, controlled substance offense, crime or violence, or serious or violent felony. The Department of Justice shall provide written notification to the private school employer only as to whether an applicant for employment has any convictions, or arrests pending final adjudication, for any of these crimes.
(d) An employer shall not employ a person until the Department of Justice completes its check of the state criminal history file as set forth in this section.
(e)(1) A person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation offering or conducting private school instruction on the elementary or high school level shall not employ a person who has been convicted of a violent or serious felony or a person who would be prohibited from employment by a public school district pursuant to any provision of this code because of his or her conviction for any crime.(2) A person who would be prohibited from employment by a private school pursuant to paragraph (1) may not, on or after July 1, 1999, own or operate a private school offering instruction on the elementary or high school level.
(f) An employer shall request subsequent arrest service from the Department of Justice as provided under section 11105.2 of the Penal Code.
(g) This section applies to any violent or serious offense which, if committed in this state, would have been punishable as a violent or serious felony.
(h) For purposes of this section, a violent felony is any felony listed in subdivision (c) of section 667.5 of the Penal Code and a serious felony is any felony listed in subdivision (c) of section 1192.7 of the Penal Code.
(i) Notwithstanding subdivision (e), a person shall not be denied employment or terminated from employment solely on the basis that the person has been convicted of a violent or serious felony if the person has obtained a certificate of rehabilitation and pardon pursuant to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with section 4852.01) of Title 6 of Part 3 of the Penal Code.
(j) Notwithstanding subdivision (e), a person shall not be denied employment or terminated from employment solely on the basis that the person has been convicted of a serious felony that is not also a violent felony if that person can prove to the sentencing court of the offense in question, by clear and convincing evidence, that he or she has been rehabilitated for the purposes of school employment for at least one year. If the offense in question occurred outside this state, then the person may seek a finding of rehabilitation from the court in the county in which he or she is a resident.
(k) The Commission on Teacher Credentialing shall send on a monthly basis to each private school a list of all teachers who have had their state teaching credential revoked or suspended. The list shall be identical to the list compiled for public schools in the state. The commission shall also send on a quarterly basis a complete and updated list of all teachers who have had their teaching credentials revoked or suspended, excluding teachers who have had their credentials reinstated, or who are deceased.
(l) The Department of Justice may charge a reasonable fee to cover costs associated with the processing, reviewing, and supplying of the criminal record summary as required by this section. In no event shall the fee exceed the actual costs incurred by the department.
(m) Where reasonable access to the statewide, electronic fingerprinting network is available, the Department of Justice may mandate electronic submission of the fingerprints and related information required by this section.
(n) All information obtained from the Department of Justice is confidential. Agencies handling Department of Justice information shall ensure the following:
(1) No recipient shall disclose its contents or provide copies of information.
(2) Information received shall be stored in a locked file separate from other files, and shall only be assessable to the custodian of records.
(3) Information received shall be destroyed upon the hiring determination in accordance with subdivision (a) of Section 708 of Title 11 of the California Code of Regulations.
(4) Compliance with destruction, storage, dissemination, auditing, backgrounding, and training requirements as set forth in Sections 700 through 708, inclusive, of Title 11 of the California Code of Regulations and Section 11077 of Penal Code governing the use and security of criminal offender record information is the responsibility of the entity receiving the information from the Department of Justice.

Attendance in Private School

48222. Children who are being instructed in a private full-time day school by persons capable of teaching shall be exempted. Such school shall, except under the circumstances described in Section 30, be taught in the English language and shall offer instruction in the several branches of study required to be taught in the public schools of the state. The attendance of the pupils shall be kept by private school authorities in a register, and the record of attendance shall indicate clearly every absence of the pupil from school for a half day or more during each day that school is maintained during the year. Exemptions under this section shall be valid only after verification by the attendance supervisor of the district, or other person designated by the board of education, that the private school has complied with the provisions of section 33190 requiring the annual filing by the owner or other head of a private school of an affidavit or statement of prescribed information with the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The verification required by this section shall not be construed as an evaluation, recognition, approval, or endorsement of any private school or course.

Questions:  Elementary Education Office | 916-319-0839
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