Education Code for Private Schools

33190. Affidavit by persons conducting private school instruction; publication of school list

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.

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33191. Affidavit; Criminal Record Summary; Requirements

(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.

44237. Fingerprints; private school employees; criminal record information; list of teachers with revoked or suspended credentials; fees; confidentiality

(Note: This section is excerpted. To read the entire section, see EC 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 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.

(To read the entire section, see link above.)

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48200. Children between ages 6 and 18 years

(Compulsory public school attendance)

Each person between the ages of 6 and 18 years not exempted under the provisions of this chapter or Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 48400) is subject to compulsory full-time education. Each person subject to compulsory full-time education and each person subject to compulsory continuation education not exempted under the provisions of Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 48400) shall attend the public full-time day school or continuation school or classes and for the full time designated as the length of the schoolday by the governing board of the school district in which the residency of either the parent or legal guardian is located and each parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of the pupil shall send the pupil to the public full-time day school or continuation school or classes and for the full time designated as the length of the schoolday by the governing board of the school district in which the residence of either the parent or legal guardian is located.

Unless otherwise provided for in this code, a pupil shall not be enrolled for less than the minimum schoolday established by law.

48222. Attendance in Private School

(Local district authority over exemption)

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.

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48224. Instruction by tutor

(Exemption by certificated tutor)

Children not attending a private, full-time, day school and who are being instructed in study and recitation for at least three hours a day for 175 days each calendar year by a private tutor or other person in the several branches of study required to be taught in the public schools of this state and in the English language shall be exempted. The tutor or other person shall hold a valid state credential for the grade taught. The instruction shall be offered between the hours of 8 o'clock a.m. and 4 o'clock p.m.

48260. Definition; legislative intent

(Truancy)

(a) Any pupil subject to compulsory full-time education or to compulsory continuation education who is absent from school without valid excuse three full days in one school year or tardy or absent for more than any 30-minute period during the schoolday without a valid excuse on three occasions in one school year, or any combination thereof, is a truant and shall be reported to the attendance supervisor or to the superintendent of the school district.

(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), it is the intent of the Legislature that school districts shall not change the method of attendance accounting provided for in existing law and shall not be required to employ period-by-period attendance accounting.

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48904. Liability of parent or guardian for willful pupil misconduct; withholding of grades, diplomas and transcripts; voluntary work program

(Private schools withholding records)

(NOTE: This section is excerpted. To read the entire section, see EC 48904 .)

(a)

(1) Notwithstanding Section 1714.1 of the Civil Code, the parent or guardian of any minor whose willful misconduct results in injury or death to any pupil or any person employed by, or performing volunteer services for, a school district or private school or who willfully cuts, defaces, or otherwise injures in any way any property, real or personal, belonging to a school district or private school, or personal property of any school employee, shall be liable for all damages so caused by the minor. The liability of the parent or guardian shall not exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000). The parent or guardian shall also be liable for the amount of any reward not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000) paid pursuant to Section 53069.5 of the Government Code. The parent or guardian of a minor shall be liable to a school district or private school for all property belonging to the school district or private school loaned to the minor and not returned upon demand of an employee of the district or private school authorized to make the demand.

(b)

(1) Any school district or private school whose real or personal property has been willfully cut, defaced, or otherwise injured, or whose property is loaned to a pupil and willfully not returned upon demand of an employee of the district or private school authorized to make the demand may, after affording the pupil his or her due process rights, withhold the grades, diploma, and transcripts of the pupil responsible for the damage until the pupil or the pupil's parent or guardian has paid for the damages thereto, as provided in subdivision (a).

(To read the entire section, see link above.)

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49068. Transfer of permanent enrollment and scholarship record

Whenever a pupil transfers from one school district to another or to a private school, or transfers from a private school to a school district within the state, the pupil’s permanent record or a copy thereof shall be transferred by the former district or private school upon a request from the district or private school where the pupil intends to enroll. Any school district requesting such a transfer of a record shall notify the parent of his right to receive a copy of the record and a right to a hearing to challenge the content of the record. The State Board of Education is hereby authorized to adopt rules and regulations concerning the transfer of records.

(NOTE: Other regulations governing private school records appear in California Code of Regulations, Title 5, Division 1 California Department of Education, Chapter 2 Pupils, Subchapter 2 Records of Pupils, Article 3 Individual Pupil Records, Sections 430-437.)

49069. Absolute right to access

(Parents and Records)

Parents of currently enrolled or former pupils have an absolute right to access to any and all pupil records related to their children that are maintained by school districts or private schools. The editing or withholding of any of those records, except as provided for in this chapter, is prohibited.

Each school district shall adopt procedures for the granting of requests by parents for copies of all pupil records pursuant to Section 49065, or to inspect and review records during regular school hours, provided that the requested access shall be granted no later than five business days following the date of the request. Procedures shall include the notification to the parent of the location of all official pupil records if not centrally located and the availability of qualified certificated personnel to interpret records if requested.

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51210. Areas of study

(Grades K-6)

The adopted course of study for grades 1 to 6, inclusive, shall include instruction, beginning in grade 1 and continuing through grade 6, in the following areas of study:

(a) English, including knowledge of, and appreciation for literature and the language, as well as the skills of speaking, reading, listening, spelling, handwriting, and composition.

(b) Mathematics, including concepts, operational skills, and problem solving.

(c) Social sciences, drawing upon the disciplines of anthropology, economics, geography, history, political science, psychology, and sociology, designed to fit the maturity of the pupils.  Instruction shall provide a foundation for understanding the history, resources, development, and government of California and the United States of America; the development of the American economic system including the role of the entrepreneur and labor; the relations of persons to their human and natural environment; eastern and western cultures and civilizations; contemporary issues; and the wise use of natural resources.

(d) Science, including the biological and physical aspects, with emphasis on the processes of experimental inquiry and on the place of humans in ecological systems.

(e) Visual and performing arts, including instruction in the subjects of dance, music, theatre, and visual arts, aimed at the development of aesthetic appreciation and the skills of creative expression.

(f) Health, including instruction in the principles and practices of individual, family, and community health.

(g) Physical education, with emphasis upon the physical activities for the pupils that may be conducive to health and vigor of body and mind, for a total period of time of not less than 200 minutes each 10 schooldays, exclusive of recesses and the lunch period.

(h) Other studies that may be prescribed by the governing board.

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51220. Areas of study

(Grades 7-12)

The adopted course of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, shall offer courses in the following areas of study:

(a) English, including knowledge of and appreciation for literature, language, and composition, and the skills of reading, listening, and speaking.

(b) Social sciences, drawing upon the disciplines of anthropology, economics, geography, history, political science, psychology, and sociology, designed to fit the maturity of the pupils.  Instruction shall provide a foundation for understanding the history, resources, development, and government of California and the United States of America; instruction in our American legal system, the operation of the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems, and the rights and duties of citizens under the criminal and civil law and the State and Federal Constitutions; the development of the American economic system, including the role of the entrepreneur and labor; the relations of persons to their human and natural environment; eastern and western cultures and civilizations; human rights issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust, and contemporary issues.

(c) Foreign language or languages, beginning not later than grade 7, designed to develop a facility for understanding, speaking, reading, and writing the particular language.

(d) Physical education, with emphasis given to physical activities that are conducive to health and to vigor of body and mind, as required by Section 51222.

(e) Science, including the physical and biological aspects, with emphasis on basic concepts, theories, and processes of scientific investigation and on the place of humans in ecological systems, and with appropriate applications of the interrelation and interdependence of the sciences.

(f) Mathematics, including instruction designed to develop mathematical understandings, operational skills, and insight into problem-solving procedures.

(g) Visual and performing arts, including dance, music, theater, and visual arts, with emphasis upon development of aesthetic appreciation and the skills of creative expression.

(h) Applied arts, including instruction in the areas of consumer and homemaking education, industrial arts, general business education, or general agriculture.

(i) Career technical education designed and conducted for the purpose of preparing youth for gainful employment in the occupations and in the numbers that are appropriate to the personnel needs of the state and the community served and relevant to the career desires and needs of the pupils.

(j) Automobile driver education, designed to develop a knowledge of the provisions of the Vehicle Code and other laws of this state relating to the operation of motor vehicles, a proper acceptance of personal responsibility in traffic, a true appreciation of the causes, seriousness and consequences of traffic accidents, and to develop the knowledge and attitudes necessary for the safe operation of motor vehicles. A course in automobile driver education shall include education in the safe operation of motorcycles.

(k) Other studies as may be prescribed by the governing board.

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