State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > California > Edc > 51420-51427EDUCATION CODE
SECTION 51420-51427
51420. The Superintendent shall issue a California high school
equivalency certificate and an official score report, or an official
score report only, to any person who has not completed high school
and who meets all of the following requirements:
(a) Is a resident of this state or is a member of the armed
services assigned to duty in this state.
(b) Has taken all or a portion of a general educational
development test that has been approved by the state board and that
is administered by a testing center approved by the department, with
a score determined by the state board to be equal to the standard of
performance expected from high school graduates.
(c) Meets one of the following:
(1) Is at least 18 years of age.
(2) Would have graduated from high school had he or she remained
in school and followed the usual course of study toward graduation.
(3) Is at least 17 years of age, has accumulated fewer than 100
units of high school credit, and is confined to a state or county
hospital or to an institution maintained by a state or county
correctional agency.
51421. (a) The superintendent may charge a one-time only fee,
established by the State Board of Education, to be submitted by an
examinee when registering for the test sufficient in an amount not
greater than the amount required to pay the cost of administering
this article and for the cost of providing all followup services
related to the completion of the general educational development
test. The amount of each fee may not exceed twenty dollars ($20) per
person.
(b) The examinee shall be responsible for submitting to the
Superintendent of Public Instruction all subsequent requests for
duplicate copies of the California high school equivalency
certificate and all requests to forward reports of the results of the
applicant's general educational development test to postsecondary
educational institutions.
51422. Each scoring contractor shall provide the Superintendent of
Public Instruction with a set of results for each examinee who has
taken all or a portion of the general educational development test.
Each scoring contractor shall forward to the superintendent the fee
established pursuant to Section 51421 for each examinee who has taken
the general educational development test.
51423. (a) (1) The Superintendent may provide for the
administration of the general educational development test to persons
confined to state or county hospitals or to institutions maintained
by state or county correctional agencies.
(2) Those agencies, upon request, shall reimburse the
Superintendent in an amount sufficient to pay the cost of
administering the test.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Superintendent
may grant a waiver to a county office of education to provide a
general educational development test preparation program, not to
exceed one hour per schoolday, as part of any other instructional
program during the regular schoolday to a person who is at least 17
years of age, has accumulated insufficient units of high school
credit to graduate from high school by 18 years of age, and is
confined to a state or county hospital or to an institution
maintained by a state or county correctional agency.
51424. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall keep a
permanent record of California high school equivalency certificates
issued pursuant to this article.
51425. A California high school equivalency certificate shall be
deemed to be a high school diploma for the purpose of meeting the
requirements of employment by all state and local public agencies in
this state.
51426. The State Board of Education shall adopt rules and
regulations necessary to implement this article.
51427. Pursuant to Section 16370 of the Government Code, there is
hereby authorized in the State Treasury a Special Deposit Fund
Account, which shall consist of fees that may be prescribed by
Sections 51421 and 51423. All of the fees collected are hereby
appropriated without regard to fiscal year for the support of the
Department of Education to be used pursuant to this article.
