BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 81|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 81
Author: Strickland (R), et al
Amended: 4/14/09 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 9-0, 6/17/09
AYES: Romero, Huff, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Maldonado,
Padilla, Simitian, Wyland
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 4/30/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Interscholastic athletics: pupils in foster
care
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill provides that a foster child who
changes residences pursuant to a court order or decision of
a child welfare worker is immediately deemed to have met
all residency requirements for participation in
interscholastic sports or other extracurricular activities.
ANALYSIS : Existing law recognizes that the California
Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is a voluntary
organization that consists of school and school-related
personnel with responsibility for administering
interscholastic athletic activities in secondary schools.
Existing law provides that all children in foster care
CONTINUED
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shall have the right to attend school and participate in
extracurricular activities, consistent with the child's age
and developmental level. Existing law also 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.
This bill requires that a foster child who changes
residences, as specified, to be immediately deemed to meet
all residency requirements for participation in
interscholastic sports or other extracurricular activities.
This bill:
1.Requires that a foster child who changes residences
pursuant to a court order or decision of a child welfare
worker to be immediately deemed to meet all residency
requirements for participation in interscholastic sports
or other extracurricular activities.
2.Clarifies that extracurricular and enrichment activities
that foster and homeless youth are to have access to
include, but are not necessarily limited to,
interscholastic sports administered by the California
Interscholastic Federation.
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
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parent(s)/guardian(s)/caregiver provided there is a valid
change of residence. 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."
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." 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. This bill seeks to address this problem. 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 (PHS) because he had not submitted the
"hardship waiver" paperwork required by CIF bylaws.
Consequently, PHS's football team was forced to forfeit
league wins they had earned, thus disqualifying the team
from the playoffs.
The PHS student challenged the CIF's decision in the
Superior Court in Alameda County, and on November 24, 2008,
the Court held in Dyer v. California Interscholastic
Federation, et al , Alameda County Superior Court Case No.
RG08421517 that the CIF's bylaws violated numerous
provisions of California law and the Constitution. The
Court found that the CIF bylaws violate the rights of
foster youth to participate in age appropriate
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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 is in the process of amending its bylaws and
constitution to address the issue of residential
eligibility for foster youth. Consistent with this bill,
CIF Bylaw 206 establishing residential eligibility, as
proposed to be amended by CIF, 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/18/09)
All Saints Church Foster Care Project
California Communities United Institute
County Welfare Directors Association of California
Kern County Superintendent of Schools
Los Angeles County Office of Education
State Public Affairs Committee of the Junior Leagues of
California
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
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AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Chesbro,
Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore,
Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick,
Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,
Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu,
Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Nava,
Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez,
Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Skinner, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson,
Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Carter, Miller, Nestande, Smyth
DLW:nl 6/18/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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