Students enrolled at the school of their choice are more likely to attend, be engaged and succeed academically. Nevertheless, situations arise that call for a student to be involuntarily transferred from one district school to another. The law permits a district to do so, but only in three limited circumstances: when a student is convicted of a violent felony or misdemeanor related to possession of firearms, when a student is transferred to a continuation education school within the district, and when the student is transferred to a community day school within the district. (It is important to note that these involuntary transfers are different than involuntarily transferring a student to a school outside the district, such as a school operated by the county office of education.) Even when it is possible to involuntarily transfer a student in one of these limited circumstances, districts are advised to use involuntary transfer only as a last resort. When it is used, districts must do so in a nondiscriminatory manner.

Involuntary transfer related to a violent felony or misdemeanor

In practice, a district is likely to pursue expulsion for a student convicted of one of these offenses (and in most of these situations it is required to pursue expulsion). Additionally, a student convicted of one of these offenses is likely to be detained for a period of time. Therefore, the ability to involuntarily transfer a student on this basis will likely be practicable only after the student returns from expulsion and/or is released from juvenile detention.

Districts that serve high school students are required by state law to establish and maintain a continuation school. Education Code Section 48432.5 authorizes a district to involuntarily transfer a student to such a district continuation school in a slightly broader but still limited set of circumstances. First, the student must have committed a suspendable or expellable act, have been habitually truant or have had “irregular” school attendance. (As the statute does not define “irregular,” districts should be cautious before applying it.) Second, the district must have tried other means to improve the student’s behavior and those must have failed or, in situations where the basis for the transfer is a suspendable or expellable act, the student’s presence must cause a danger to other people or property or threaten to disrupt the instructional process at the school based on the nature of the suspendable or expellable act.

Prior to involuntarily transferring a student to a continuation education school in the district, one of the requirements imposed by state law is that the district hold a “meeting,” the requirements of which are very similar to those of an expulsion hearing. Therefore, as part of the involuntary transfer decision-making process, districts may want to hold a hearing in a manner similar to expulsions by providing the specific facts and reasons for the proposed transfer in advance; allowing the student or the student’s parent(s)/guardian(s) to question any evidence or witnesses presented; permitting the student and the student’s parent(s)/guardian(s) to present evidence, including witnesses, on the student’s behalf; and allowing the student to be represented at the hearing.

CSBA recently updated its sample Board Policy 5116.2 – Involuntary Student Transfer to reflect current law and the requirements that districts must meet prior to involuntarily transferring a student. Since the adoption of a policy is one of the requirements, districts are encouraged to adopt such a policy if one is not in place, or review and update the policy if there is an existing one. Districts may also want to review the recent non-binding guidance released by the California Department of Education on the “Overuse and Improper Use of Voluntary and Involuntary Transfers” at csba.pub/involuntary-transfer.