BILL ANALYSIS
AB 81
Page A
Date of Hearing: April 1, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 81 (Strickland) - As Amended: March 24, 2009
SUBJECT : Interscholastic athletics: pupils in foster care
SUMMARY : Requires the California Interscholastic Federation
(CIF) to amend its constitution and bylaws to require that
foster youth maintain residential eligibility to participate in
interscholastic activities when his or her residential placement
changes, as specified. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires, by January 15, 2010, the CIF to amend its
constitution and bylaws to require that for pupils in foster
care, either of the following is a valid change of residence
for the purposes of eligibility for interscholastic athletic
activities:
a) A transfer pursuant to a court order; or
b) A transfer pursuant to the determination of a social
worker that changes are needed in that pupil's home
setting.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Recognizes that the CIF is a voluntary organization that
consists of school and school-related personnel with
responsibility for administering interscholastic athletic
activities in secondary schools.
2)Provides that all children in foster care shall have the right
to attend school and participate in extracurricular
activities, consistent with the child's age and developmental
level.
3)Requires educators, county placing agencies, care providers,
advocates, and the juvenile courts to work together to
maintain stable school placements and to ensure that each
pupil in foster care is placed in the least restrictive
educational programs, and has access to the academic
resources, services, and extracurricular and enrichment
activities that are available to all pupils.
AB 81
Page B
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed non-fiscal.
COMMENTS : The CIF, established in 1914, is a voluntary
organization through which member high schools may mutually
adopt rules and regulations relating to interscholastic
athletics in grades 9 through 12, and may establish agreed upon
standards for various aspects of interscholastic athletics.
Member schools are responsible for monitoring and assuring
compliance with those standards, rules, and regulations, and
membership is contingent upon each school's compliance with the
rules and regulations of the organization's constitution and
bylaws.
CIF bylaws establish residential eligibility requirements for
interscholastic athletic participation. A student remains
eligible to participate in interscholastic sports when he or she
"changes schools with a valid change of residence by the
student's parent(s)/guardian(s)/caregiver provided there is a
valid change of residence."<1> A valid change of residence is
determined upon certain facts, including, that the "student's
entire immediate family must make the change and take with them
the household goods and furniture appropriate to the
circumstances."<2>
Students can obtain a "hardship waiver" of these transfer
eligibility requirements if there is "an unforeseeable,
unavoidable and uncorrectable act, condition or event, that
causes the imposition of a severe and non-athletic burden upon
the student or his/her family."<3> These hardship requests need
to have sufficient documentation to support the claim and to
receive approval.
Youth in foster care are frequently moved from one residential
placement to another resulting in frequent school changes.
Foster youth also generally move by themselves, and therefore
under the CIF bylaws, they are not immediately eligible to play
sports when they transfer to a new school. They can apply for a
"hardship waiver," but a student in the same circumstances who
moved with his or her entire family would not have to request
such a waiver, thus creating unequal treatment for youth in
foster care.
---------------------------
<1> CIF Bylaw 206 www.cifstate.org
<2> Ibid.
<3> CIF Bylaw 208 www.cifstate.org
AB 81
Page C
Dyer v. CIF: In October of 2008 the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section
found that a high school student who had been in foster care
since birth and had moved to Auburn to live in a foster care
placement with his aunt and joined the football team had not
been eligible to play in the first five games of the football
season at Placer High School because he had not submitted the
"hardship" waiver paperwork required by CIF bylaws.
Consequently, Placer High's football team was forced to forfeit
league wins they had earned, thus disqualifying the team from
the playoffs.
The Placer High student challenged the CIF's decision in the
Superior Court in Alameda County, and on November 24, 2008, the
Court held that the CIF's bylaws violated numerous provisions of
California law and the Constitution. The Court found that the
CIF bylaws violated the rights of foster youth to participate in
age appropriate extracurricular activities and school
activities, as well as provisions of the Education Code that
ensure foster youth have the same access to educational and
extracurricular opportunities as other pupils.
Furthermore, the Court held that the CIF's bylaws, which treat
foster youth different than youth living with their immediate
family, violate California's Equal Protection Clause. The Court
stated, "As the Bylaws are applied here, they serve to erect a
barrier to immediate participation for foster children who, by
virtue of being sent to a new foster home, must transfer to a
new school. Thus the Bylaws as applied to foster children
violate equal protection."
The basis for some of the strict eligibility requirements in the
CIF bylaws stem from concerns that students transfer schools for
athletic reasons. This argument does not apply to foster youth
given that foster youth can only move pursuant to a decision
made by a child welfare worker or juvenile court.
CIF has informed Committee staff that the amendments to its
bylaws and constitution as required by this bill are already in
progress. CIF Bylaw 206 establishing residential eligibility,
as proposed to be amended, will stipulate that a student in
foster care who has changed residences pursuant to a court or a
social worker order shall be immediately residentially eligible
for interscholastic athletics provided all other CIF rules and
regulations are met.
AB 81
Page D
According to CIF, the Federated Council will consider and vote
on the proposed amendments to the bylaws and constitution at the
May, 2009 meeting of the Council, and if approved, these changes
will take effect on July 1, 2009. Essentially, the amendments
proposed by CIF could take effect before this bill makes it
through the Legislative process, and well before the effective
date of this bill. Thus it is not clear that Legislation is
necessary to direct CIF to amend its bylaws and constitution.
The CIF is a non-profit corporation, and thus it is unclear as
to whether the Legislature can require and direct CIF to amend
its bylaws and constitution. It is unprecedented for the
Legislature to direct a specific non-profit corporation to take
a specific action related to its constitution and bylaws. On
the other hand, CIF administers high school interscholastic
sports and according to the Education Code, CIF is required to
act in accordance with state and federal law.
A more efficient use of this Legislation could be to amend the
appropriate sections of the Education Code to add language
relative to the Court's decision. Staff recommends the bill be
amended to clarify and strengthen the rights of foster youth
related to participation in interscholastic sports in the
appropriate Education Code section rather than require the CIF
to take an action that they are already in the process of
taking. The amendment would strike the current contents of the
bill and instead amend Section 48850 as follows:
48850. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that
all pupils in foster care and those who are homeless as defined
by the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C.
Sec. 11301 et seq.) have a meaningful opportunity to meet the
challenging state pupil academic achievement standards to which
all pupils are held. In fulfilling their responsibilities to
these pupils, educators, county placing agencies, care
providers, advocates, and the juvenile courts shall work
together to maintain stable school placements and to ensure that
each pupil is placed in the least restrictive educational
programs, and has access to the academic resources, services,
and extracurricular and enrichment activities that are available
to all pupils , including but not limited to interscholastic
sports administered by the California Interscholastic
Federation . Foster children who change residences pursuant to a
court order or decision of a child welfare worker resulting in a
school transfer shall be immediately residentially eligible to
AB 81
Page E
participate in interscholastic sports or other extracurricular
activities. In all instances, educational and school placement
decisions must be based on the best interests of the child.
The author states, "This bill will remove additional burdens on
foster children who already have to deal with numerous obstacles
and hardships due to frequent moves and school changes."
Arguments in support : The Los Angeles County Office of
Education writes, "We understand and thoroughly endorse CIF
rules regarding residency and eligibility that control rapacious
athletic programs. However it seems evident that a child
ordered by the court into foster care needs to be held harmless
as to the issue of residence and eligibility, and be permitted
to play sports at the school served by the residence of the
foster parents. To hold these youth to a higher standard is to
discriminate against them because they are in foster care."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Communities United Institute
County Welfare Directors Association of California
Los Angeles County Office of Education
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Avi?a / ED. / (916) 319-2087