California board moves to clarify experience rules for licensed educational psychologists

The California Board of Behavioral Sciences’ Policy and Advocacy Committee on July 31 recommended the board begin rulemaking to amend experience and supervision requirements for licensed educational psychologists (LEPs), saying recent legislation and staff work have left gaps in the regulations. Chair Chris Jones opened the item and staff described changes they plan if SB 775 is enacted. The proposed regulatory package would remove regulatory language that will be covered by statute, set clearer rules for when experience earned in private or parochial schools or through temporary employment agencies qualifies, require supervisors to certify under penalty of perjury that an applicant performed the full range of school‑psychologist duties, and define what “under the direction of an LEP” means for the one‑year supervised experience. “We’re talking about amendments to the LEP regulations, and we've discussed potential rulemaking changes at a couple of prior committee meetings,” said Christy Shields, regulations counsel for the board. Staff noted the statutory changes in SB 775 (pending) would (per staff) specify experience must be no more than six years old, clarify school‑term and school‑year definitions, and permit the board to add an age limit for passing exam scores; the regulation work would follow the statute. The proposed regulations would require that supervisors hold an active, unrestricted California LEP license while supervising, prohibit supervisors from having financial or personal business or therapeutic relationships with supervisees, and require supervisors be competent in the supervised areas. Committee members pressed whether supervisors must complete formal supervisor training. John Sobek, LMFT, asked, “Is there actually, like, a supervision training that LEPs are required to take before they supervise?” Staff and members answered there is no statewide supervisory certification for LEPs as there is for other license types; supervision expectations are set by credentialing and local school structures. Staff and committee members agreed to revisit supervisory qualification standards in a future discussion but kept the present package focused on aligning regs to the statute and filling immediate administrative gaps. After discussion the committee voted to recommend the board approve the proposed regulatory text and to direct staff to submit the package and take needed steps to initiate rulemaking after statutory enactment. The motion passed unanimously. The committee package and the staff memo describe the mechanics staff will propose for documenting experience, the certification language required of private or parochial employers and temp agencies, and the definitions that will be used for “supervision” and “competency.” If the board accepts the committee’s recommendation, staff will forward regulatory text to the Department of Consumer Affairs and proceed with the rulemaking process once SB 775 (if enacted) is effective.