SB 274 “Keep Kids in School” Law Effective July 1, 2024

While advocates view Senate Bill 274 as a way to work with rebellious students instead of eliminating them from public schools entirely, critics think the legislation aggravates an already testy public school system.

Known as the “Keep Kids in School” bill, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law last year. SB 274 became effective on July 1, 2024.

“What’s at stake is keeping kids in school, getting them through and continuing to educate them, continuing to socialize them, continuing to service their needs, trying to understand them and helping them, not just lose them,” said attorney James Victor Kosnett, who represents students, their families and licensed professionals in Central and Southern California.

A UCLA School Education and Information Studies report found that rates of lost instruction have been on the rise in the past six years among black and native american homeless students due to out of school suspensions.

SB 274 Prohibits Suspension & Expulsion

Senate Bill 274 prohibits the suspension or expulsion of students in kindergarten through twelfth grade due to willful defiance or disruption.

“The danger of expulsion or suspension is the kids are not getting our best efforts,” Kosnett told OrangeCountyLawyers.com. “Before we pull the plug on a kid and write him or her off as irredeemable, we’ve got to try to address their problems even if it’s just sitting down with a kid and telling them they’re on the wrong track.”

The Orange County office of California Teachers Association (CTA) did not respond to requests for comment.

Willful defiance is defined as a student failing to do what a school authority instructs while disruption is excessive noise, laughter, or not paying attention when a teacher is conducting class.

“Expulsion is the ultimate penalty, which should be reserved for students who do something very heinous or just repeated inability to conform to the rules,” Kosnett said. “We’ve got to try other things first before we go to the nuclear option of expulsion.”

Critics, however, allege that allowing kids to disrupt and be defiant exacerbates an already terrible class environment that’s causing teachers to quit and adding to teacher shortages.

California is one of the main states struggling to fill teacher vacancies with qualified instructors, according to an Elevate K-12 report.

SB 274 is not without recourse for troubled kids, according to Kosnett.

“The teacher can still kick the kid out of class and send them to the principal’s office, but they can’t totally expel the child or give them a very long suspension,” he said.

Instead of expulsion, the law provides school administrators with a pathway to review and modify in-school supportive and behavioral interventions to address a student who exhibits willful defiant or disruptive behavior.

When a student was expelled prior to the new law, he or she would be sent to a reform or continuation school.

“They’re very rough schools very often and the people in there are pretty rough,” Kosnett added. “We’ve got to try these other tools before pulling the plug on a kid and writing him or her off as irredeemable or unfit to be in the general education program.”