CA AB824

Authorizes county boards of education and charter school governing bodies to appoint one or more high school pupil members in response to petitions signed by at least 500 pupils or 10 percent of enrolled high school pupils, whichever is less.

Pupil members have preferential voting rights (non-binding opinions recorded in minutes), can attend all meetings except closed sessions, receive all open meeting materials, and must be treated as full board members in most respects.

Pupil members cannot be counted toward voting thresholds, cannot make motions on employer-employee relations, are not liable for board actions, and serve one-year terms starting July 1 each year (except terms may be adjusted for vacancies or to provide more pupils opportunities to serve).

Requires county boards of education to adopt policies and procedures that protect the privacy of pupil members and their parents/guardians in proceedings before the county board acting as an appellate body.

Charter school governing bodies must notify their chartering authority within 30 days of adding pupil members and report the change at the next charter renewal; this act takes precedence over nonprofit corporation law provisions.