BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 343|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 343
Author: Saldana (D)
Amended: 6/1/09 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 8-0, 7/1/09
AYES: Romero, Huff, Alquist, Liu, Maldonado, Padilla,
Simitian, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hancock
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 7/14/09
AYES: Corbett, Harman, Florez, Leno, Walters
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 13-0, 8/27/09
AYES: Kehoe, Cox, Corbett, Denham, Hancock, Leno, Oropeza,
Price, Runner, Walters, Wolk, Wyland, Yee
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 6/2/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Pupils: military families
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill enacts, until January 1, 2013, the
Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military
Children, which addresses issues experienced by children of
military families who transfer schools.
ANALYSIS : The Council of State Governments, in
cooperation with the United States Department of Defense
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Office of Personnel and Readiness, has drafted the
Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military
Children (compact) which addresses the educational
transition issues of children of military families. The
compact addresses key issues encountered by military
families: transfer of records, course sequencing,
graduation requirements, and age of entrance to
kindergarten. In addition, the compact provides for a
detailed governance structure at both the state and
national levels with built in enforcement and compliance
mechanisms.
As of June 19, 2009, the compact has been enacted by 22
states. The compact became operable, and thus obligated
adopting states to comply with the compact once it was
adopted by 10 states.
Existing law (AB 2049, Saldana, Chapter 589, Statutes of
2008) required the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
convene a task force to review and make recommendations
regarding the compact. The task force completed this
review and released recommendations, all of which have been
included in this bill.
Existing law required the Department of Education to
establish a formal liaison with the U.S. Department of
Defense and school districts and county offices of
education that enroll military dependents.
This bill enacts the Interstate Compact on Educational
Opportunity for Military Children.
This bill addresses issues related to:
1.Records, enrollment, placement and attendance, including
the transfer of unofficial and official records, and
placement in comparable courses, programs, and the same
grade level regardless of age.
2.Granting of additional excused absences to a pupil whose
parent has been called to or returned from active duty.
3.Eligibility for enrollment and participation in
extracurricular activities, including allowing military
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dependents to attend the same school and participation in
programs and extracurricular activities with the consent
of a non-custodial parent or other person who is caring
for that child (standing in loco parentis).
4.Graduation, including the use of best efforts to waive
required courses for pupils who successfully completed
similar coursework, and consider granting a diploma from
the sending school for pupils who transfer in their
senior year of high school.
5.State coordination, whereby a state council is
established for the purpose of coordinating among state
agencies. This bill specifies the membership of
California's state council.
6.National coordination, whereby California appoints a
voting member to the joint body of member states
(commission). This bill specifies that, in California,
the Superintendent of Public Instruction is to appoint
this representative. This bill allows the commission to
levy an annual assessment to cover costs of operations
and activities of the commission. Membership on the
commission is at the discretion of states.
7.Withdrawal and dissolution, requires that, once
effective, the compact is to remain binding upon member
states and specifies that a state may withdraw by
specifically repealing the statute that enacted the
compact.
8.Binding effect of compact, whereby all member states'
laws conflicting with the compact are superseded by the
compact and all rules and bylaws developed by the
commission are binding upon member states.
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public instruction
to reconvene the task force pursuant to AB 2049 (see prior
legislation) to review and make recommendations about the
compact.
This bill requires a final report to be submitted to the
Legislature by
December 1, 2012.
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This bill sunsets on January 1, 2013.
Comments
Nature of interstate compacts . Individual states are free
to adopt or decline to adopt any compact; states ratifying
compacts are bound to observe the terms of the agreement
until the compact is formally renounced by the state.
Compact provisions take precedence over conflicting state
laws. This bill requires the task force pursuant to AB
2049 (see prior legislation) to reconvene to review and
make recommendations regarding the implementation of the
compact in California, including conflicts with state law,
costs to schools, and any unintended consequences.
Prior Legislation
AB 2049 (Saldana, Chapter 589, Statutes of 2008) required
the Superintendent of Public Instruction to convene and
support a task force to review and make recommendations
regarding the compact. See Background for more information
about the work of the task force. AB 1809 (Saldana, 2008)
was similar to this bill and was held on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee's suspense file. AB 2102
(Saldana, Chapter 608, Statutes of 2006) established
procedures, including requiring the Department of Education
to establish a formal liaison with the Department of
Defense and school districts that enroll military
dependents, to facilitate and smooth the transfer of
school-age military dependents and their school records.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations and Assembly
Appropriations Committee staff, this bill imposes: (1)
General Fund costs, of approximately $61,000, for
California's contribution to the funding of the commission.
There are a little more than 61,000 military children in
the state. In October 2008, the Educational Opportunity
for Military Children Commissioners voted to adopt a $1 per
military child assessment for the state's participation in
the commission. The intention is to use that $1 per child
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to fund California's participation in the commission, (2)
General Fund administrative costs to the Superintendent of
Public Instruction, likely less than $50,000, and (3)
potential increase in state reimbursable mandated costs,
likely less than $150,000 to local educational agencies to
implement requirements of the compact.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/31/09)
AMVETS Department of California
Balfour Beatty Communities
California Association of Federally Impacted Schools
California County Boards of Education
California School Boards Association
California State Commanders Veterans Council
California Teachers Association
Central Union School District
Hueneme Elementary School District
Jack O'Connell, Superintendent of Public Instruction
Lincoln Military Housing
Military Child Education Coalition
Ocean View School District
Orange County Department of Education
San Diego Military Advisory Council
San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
San Diego Unified School District
School Innovations and Advocacy
Secretary of the Air Force
Secretary of the Army
Secretary of the Navy
Ventura County Board of Supervisors
Ventura County Office of Education
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Tom
Berryhill, Blakeslee, Blumenfield, Brownley, Buchanan,
Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway,
Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore,
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, Miller, Monning, Nava,
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Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel
Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bill Berryhill, Block, Duvall
DLW:nl 9/1/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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