California — school discipline

Governing authority stated in the sources

"ARTICLE 1. Suspension or Expulsion [48900 - 48927]" of the California Education Code, within "CHAPTER 6. Pupil Rights and Responsibilities [48900 - 49056]". Each section carries its own amendment notation in the text. — Education Code, Chapter 6, Article 1, retrieved Aug 29, 2026

The lines the state draws

The article defines its own terms: "“Suspension” means removal of a pupil from ongoing instruction for adjustment purposes." and "“Expulsion” means removal of a pupil from (1) the immediate supervision and control, or (2) the general supervision, of school personnel, as those terms are used in Section 46300." (Sec. 48925) On length: a principal or superintendent may suspend "for no more than five consecutive schooldays." (Sec. 48911(a)) And in a year: "the total number of days for which a pupil may be suspended from school shall not exceed 20 schooldays in any school year," subject to the stated transfer exception. (Sec. 48903(a)) On when suspension may be used at all: "Suspension, including supervised suspension as described in Section 48911.1, shall be imposed only when other means of correction fail to bring about proper conduct." with the stated first-offense exceptions. (Sec. 48900.5(a))

Offices and appeal bodies in these sources

Suspension belongs to the school: the principal, the principal's designee, or the district superintendent, preceded by an informal conference at which the pupil "shall be given the opportunity to present the pupil's version and evidence in the pupil's defense." (Sec. 48911(b)) Expulsion belongs to the district's governing board, and the hearing procedures are the board's own to adopt: "The governing board of each school district shall establish rules and regulations governing procedures for the expulsion of pupils." (Sec. 48918) The appeal forum is stated: "If a pupil is expelled from school, the pupil or the pupil's parent or guardian may, within 30 days following the decision of the governing board to expel, file an appeal to the county board of education which shall hold a hearing thereon and render its decision." (Sec. 48919)
No state office, phone number, or email for parents appears in the source; that absence is the finding.

Sources last checked

Aug 29, 2026

Reproduced from the state's own statutes quoted below: potentially relevant official sources, not a determination of which one governs any situation.

This page assembles what California publishes in statute about K-12 school discipline. This is a baseline docket page: the governing article, the lines the state draws, and the decision-makers and appeal route, quoted with dates. The full sections (the framework route by route, the four hoisted process rows, every stated timeline, the district delegation map, and records access) follow as the discipline layer deepens behind its breadth sprint; the change log states exactly what is not yet captured. The article's vocabulary appears throughout its text: suspension, supervised suspension, expulsion, the governing board, the county board of education. District rules add procedural detail this page does not carry. For a student with an IEP or Section 504 plan, the disability layer lives on this site's California special education page. Confirm applicability with the district and the agencies. All dates on this page are quoted from the sources, not a deadline calculation performed for you.