California Code of Regulations › Title 5 - Education › Division 1 - California Department of Education › Chapter 5.2.5 - Parent Empowerment › Subchapter 1 - Parent Empowerment › Article 1 - General Provisions › Section 4802.1 - Verification of Petition Signatures and Obligations of the LEA

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) An LEA must provide, in writing, to any
					 persons who request it, information as to how the LEA intends to implement
					 section 4800.1(g) as to
					 any subject school and any normally matriculating elementary or middle schools,
					 including providing enrollment data and the number of signatures that would be
					 required pursuant to section
					 4802.1(e).
(b) Upon receipt of the petition, the LEA may
					 make reasonable efforts to verify that the signatures on the petition can be
					 counted consistent with these regulations. The LEA and matriculating LEAs shall
					 use common verification documents that contain parent or guardian signatures to
					 verify petition signatures such as emergency verification cards signed by all
					 parents or guardians. In order to verify the enrollment of a pupil in a school
					 that normally matriculates into the subject school, but is not within the
					 jurisdiction of the LEA, an LEA may contact the school or the LEA of the
					 school. The matriculating LEA or school shall provide information necessary to
					 the subject school and LEA in order to assist in verifying signatures. An LEA
					 shall not invalidate the signature of a parent or legal guardian of an eligible
					 pupil on a minor technicality assuming the parent or legal guardian is entitled
					 to sign it. The LEA and the matriculating LEA or school shall make a good faith
					 effort to contact parents or guardians when a signature is not clearly
					 identifiable including phone calls to the parent or guardian.
(c) If, on the date the petition is
					 submitted, a school is identified pursuant to section
					 4800.1(k), it
					 shall remain a subject school until final disposition of the petition by the
					 LEA even if it thereafter ceases to meet the definition of a subject school,
					 unless that school has exited federal Program Improvement and is at or over 800
					 on the Academic Performance Index.
(d) If a petition has sought only signatures
					 of parents of pupils attending the subject school, then for purposes of
					 calculating whether parents or legal guardians of at least one-half of pupils
					 attending the subject school on the date the petition has been submitted have
					 signed the petition, only those signatures of parents or legal guardians of
					 pupils attending the subject school on the date the petition is submitted to
					 the LEA shall be counted.
(e) If a
					 petition has sought signatures of parents or legal guardians of pupils
					 attending the subject school and the elementary or middle schools that normally
					 matriculate into the subject school, then for purposes of calculating whether
					 the parents or legal guardians of at least one-half of pupils attending the
					 subject school and the elementary or middle schools that normally matriculate
					 into the subject school on the date the petition has been submitted have signed
					 the petition, only those signatures of parents or legal guardians of pupils
					 attending the subject school and the parents or legal guardians of pupils
					 attending the elementary or middle schools who would normally matriculate into
					 the subject school at the time the petition is submitted to the LEA shall be
					 counted. Where pupils attend elementary or middle schools that normally
					 matriculate into more than one subject school, only those pupils attending the
					 subject school and those pupils that normally matriculate, as defined in
					 section 4800.1(g), into
					 the subject school, shall be counted in calculating whether the parents or
					 legal guardians of at least one-half of pupils attending the subject school and
					 the elementary or middle schools that normally matriculate into the subject
					 school on the date the petition has been submitted have signed the petition.
					 There is no specified ratio required of signatures gathered at each school,
					 rather the total ratio of signatures gathered must meet the one-half
					 requirement.
(f) In connection with
					 the petition, the LEA may only contact parents or legal guardians to verify
					 eligible signatures on the petition. The identified lead petitioners for the
					 petition shall be consulted to assist in contacting parents or legal guardians
					 when the LEA fails to reach a parent or legal guardian.
(g) Upon receipt, the LEA may, within 40
					 calendar days, return the petition to the person designated as the contact
					 person or persons as specified in section
					 4802(c), if the
					 LEA determines any of the following:
(1) One
					 half of the parents or legal guardians of pupils meeting the requirements of
					 section 4801(a) have not
					 signed the petition;
(2) The school
					 named in the petition is not a subject school; or
(3) The petition does not substantially meet
					 the requirements specified in section
					 4802. In such a case, the LEA shall
					 immediately provide the contact person written notice of its reasons for
					 returning the petition and its supporting findings.