JOHN K. VAN DE KAMP Attorney General
CLAYTON P. ROCHE Deputy Attorney General
AGO 82-806
No. 82-806
California Attorney General Opinion
Office of the Attorney General State of California
July 28, 1983
THE
HONORABLE OLLIE SPERAW, MEMBER OF THE CALIFORNIA STATE
SENATE, has requested an opinion on the following questions:
1. Do
public school officials have the authority to excuse a pupil
from regularly scheduled classes during the school day to
obtain an abortion?
2. If
public school officials have such authority, must they notify
the pupil's parent or guardian of the pupil's leaving
for such purpose?
CONCLUSIONS
1.
Public school officials have the authority to excuse a pupil
from regularly scheduled classes to obtain medical services,
including an abortion.
2.
Public school officials are under no legal duty to notify the
parents or guardian of a public school pupil who is excused
from school early to obtain medical services even if such
medical services are the obtaining of an abortion.
ANALYSIS
The
questions presented are (1) whether public school officials
may excuse a pupil from regularly scheduled classes during
the school day to obtain an abortion, and (2) if so, whether
the officials are under a duty to notify the pupil's
parents or guardian of the student's leaving for such
purpose.
We
conclude that public school officials may excuse a pupil from
school early to obtain medical services, and that an abortion
is such a medical service. We further conclude that such
officials are under no duty to notify the student's
parents or guardian of the student's leaving for such
purpose.
In this
analysis we will set forth the state of the law with respect
to excusing pupils from school early for medical appointments
prior to the enactment in 1979 of section 48205 of the
Education Code.
1 We will then determine if the addition of
section 48205 affected the law. Section 48205 was added to
the Compulsory Education Law (§ 48200 et seq.) and
provides:
"Notwithstanding Section 48200, a pupil shall be
excused from school for justifiable personal reasons,
including but not limited to, an appearance in court,
observance of a holiday or ceremony of his or her religion,
or an employment conference, when the pupil's
absence has been requested in writing by the parent or
guardian and approved by the principal or a designated
representative pursuant to uniform standards established by
the governing board. . . ."[2]
Section
48200 requires persons in California between the ages of 6
and 16 years not otherwise exempt (see § 48210 et seq.)
to attend "public full-time day school or continuation
school or classes for the full-time designated as the length
of the school day by the governing board of the
district."
Prior
to 1980, the Education Code apparently contained no express
authority to excuse students from classes for personal
reasons, including keeping a medical
appointment.
3 Prior to 1980, however, the Legislature in
the provisions of law relating to student attendance for
computing apportionments of state funds to local school
districts had clearly indicated in section 46010 that certain
absences were to be excused. Thus section 46010 provided and
provides that specified absences "from school or class
shall not be deemed an absence in computing the attendance of
a pupil for apportionment purposes, including an absence for
"the purpose of having medical, dental,
optometrical, or chiropractic services
rendered." (Emphasis added.)
[4] Furthermore, as to some of
these absences (illness and quarantine) the administrative
regulations of the Department of Education specifically
provided and still provide for the manner for verifying such
absences. The regulations are, however, silent with respect
to verifying the rendition of medical and similar services
specified in subdivision (b)(3) of section
46010.
5 We are however, informed that as a general
rule school district policy has been to permit pupils to
leave for medical or dental appointments by merely presenting
an appointment card. A request from the pupil's parents
has not been required.
6
1.
The Status Of An Abortion As A "Medical
Service"
An
abortion is a lawful medical service. Any doubt in this
regard in California is dispelled by the decision of the
California Supreme Court in Ballard v. Anderson
(1971) 4 Cal.3d 873, 879. That case was decided in the
context of the California Therapeutic Abortion Act (Health
& Saf. Code, § 25950 et seq.). It construed the
provisions of section 34.5 of the Civil Code, as originally
enacted in 1953,
7 as to a minor who sought to have an
abortion. The court stated in part:
". . . It is obvious that legal abortion is a
surgical procedure, and the Therapeutic Abortion Act
establishes that a legal abortion is 'care' of the
prospective mother 'related to her pregnancy.'
In California, law and medicine recognize that
therapeutic abortion is a legitimate medical treatment
which may be necessary for the preservation of a pregnant
woman's life and health. Had the Legislature intended
to exclude legal abortion from the class of surgical care
to which the section refers, it would have limited its
terminology to 'maternity care' or to
'prenatal, delivery, and postpartum care.'"
(Id., at p. 879, emphasis added.)8
Accordingly,
there is no doubt but that a student who leaves school early
for the purpose of obtaining an abortion would be leaving to
obtain recognized medical services, or in the words of
section 46010, subdivision (b)(3) "for the purpose of
having medical services rendered."
2.
The Effect If Any Of Section 48205
As
noted, section 48205 was added to the Compulsory Education
Law provisions (§ 48200 et seq.) of the Education Code
in 1979. At the same time section 46015 was added to the
article of the Education Code relating to attendance for
computing school apportionments (§ 46010 et seq.) and...
