2007 California Education Code Article 3. Waiver Authority

CA Codes (edc:33050-33053)

33050.  (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).
   (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 Section 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.



33050.3.  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.



33051.  (a) The State Board of Education 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 State Board of Education shall not approve any request for
waiver of any provision of Article 5 (commencing with Section 39390)
of Chapter 3 of Part 23 unless the school district seeking the
waiver demonstrates all of the following:
   (1) The school district provided the written notice required under
subdivision (f) of Section 33050.
   (2) The school district, after making a good-faith effort to that
purpose, was unable to reach agreement with any public agency
identified under Section 39394 that seeks to acquire the site under
that article on terms and conditions that are consistent with the
requirements of the purchase plan adopted by the agency under Section
39397.5 and would enable the district to meet its reasonable
financial goals.
   (3) The detriment to the school district's ability to financially
meet the educational needs of the community resulting from the
disposition of the school site pursuant to the sale price or lease
rate limitations set forth in Section 39396, as compared to the fair
market value of the site, outweighs the need for the use of the site
for outdoor recreational and open-space purposes as established by a
finding made under Section 39397.
   (4) In the event that the school district enters into a long-term
lease during the period of the waiver or any extension thereof, the
school district shall be exempt from the requirements of Article 5
(commencing with Section 39390) of Chapter 3 of Part 33, for the
duration of the lease term for that site.
   (c) 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 of Education may require updated information for the
request whenever it determines that information to be necessary.
Nothing in this section shall prevent the State Board of Education
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 of Education annually.



33051.5.  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.



33052.  (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.



33052.3.  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.



33052.5.  For purposes of this article, "school district" shall
include county offices of education.



33053.  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.