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State Board of Education Waivers
A waiver is a grant of authority by the State Board of Education (SBE) to a governing
board of a district, county office of education (COE), or special education local plan area
(SELPA) to provide an alternative to a legal mandate or prohibition.
General Waiver (Authority granted to the SBE by California Education Code [EC]
sections 33050–33054)
The SBE may waive almost all EC and California Code of Regulations (Title 5)
provisions, with the exceptions listed in EC Section 33050(a)(1 to 20). Exceptions
include many of the attendance accounting and revenue limit sections, class-size
reduction programs (kindergarten through grade three), and all Standardized Testing
and Reporting testing provisions. Any new law or regulation may be waived under this
provision unless the bill adds that particular statute to the list of exceptions or contains
specific language that the new statute “may not be waived by the SBE.” The local
process for general waivers requires a properly noticed, local public hearing;
participation of the local bargaining unit; and participation by any school site council or
other advisory body appropriate to the topic.
Any and all general waivers must be approved, except when the Board finds one or
more of the following seven reasons to deny:
• The students’ educational needs are not adequately addressed.
• The waiver affects a program that requires the existence of a school site council,
and the school site council did not approve the request.
• 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 of these groups’ objections to
the request.
• Pupil or school personnel protections are jeopardized.
• Guarantees of parental involvement are jeopardized.
• The request would substantially increase state costs.
• The exclusive representative of employees, if any, was not a participant in the
waiver’s development.
If a general waiver is approved for two consecutive years for the same waiver (or for an
initial period of two years), the district or COE is given a “permanent” waiver, and it does
not need to reapply annually “if information contained on the request remains current”
(EC Section 33051[c]). However, the SBE may require updated information or rescind
these waivers at any time. General waivers (if properly complete and documented) that
the SBE has not acted on within two regular meetings are automatically approved “by
default” for a period of one year, commencing on the first day of the following month
(EC Section 33052).
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