BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    






                         SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                              Gloria Romero, Chair
                           2009-2010 Regular Session
                                        

          BILL NO:       AB 796
          AUTHOR:        Carter
          INTRODUCED:    February 26, 2009
          FISCAL COMM:   No             HEARING DATE:  June 17, 2009
          URGENCY:       No             CONSULTANT:    Lynn Lorber

           SUBJECT  :  Excused absences: Participation in civic  
          engagement activities.

           SUMMARY  

          This bill adds participation in civic engagement activities  
          offered by a non-profit organization or governmental entity  
          to the list of reasons that justify a pupil's excused  
          absence from school.

           BACKGROUND  

          Current law specifies a number of reasons, such as illness  
          or attendance at a funeral of a family member, which are to  
          be considered "excused absences" and thereby exempt the  
          pupil from being considered absent without excuse and  
          subject to possible truancy sanction.  When a pupil's  
          absence is for a "justifiable personal reason" as specified  
          in law, then the absence may be excused, but only if it is  
          requested in writing by the pupil's parent or guardian and  
          approved by the school principal acting under policies  
          established by the school district governing board. 

          Prior to 1997, the excused absence of a pupil would be  
          included along with regular pupil attendance in the  
          computation of average daily attendance (ADA) which is used  
          to generate school revenue limit funding.  SB 727  
          (Rosenthal, Chapter 855, 1997) eliminated excused absences  
          from the ADA calculation and adjusted school district  
          revenue limits to hold districts fiscally harmless from the  
          resultant reduction in ADA counts.  Therefore, the  
          designation of an absence as "excused" no longer makes a  
          difference with regard to "per pupil" school funding.

          Current law requires schools to allow pupils to complete  




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          all assignments and exams missed during an excused absence  
          that can be reasonably provided, and requires that excused  
          pupils, who complete such make-up work satisfactorily and  
          in a reasonable time, receive full academic credit for that  
          work.  

           ANALYSIS
           
           This bill expands the list of reasons that justify an  
          excused absence from school.  Specifically, this bill:

          1)   Adds participation in civic engagement activities  
               offered by a non-profit organization or governmental  
               entity to the list of reasons that justify a pupil's  
               excused absence from school.  

          2)   Limits participation in civic engagement activities  
               that count as an excused absence to no more than 10  
               days per academic year.

           STAFF COMMENTS  

           1)   What are "civic engagement activities?  "  This bill  
               does not define "civic engagement activities," nor  
               does it provide any parameters for such activities.   
               Should this bill be amended to include a definition of  
               what are, or are not, considered civic engagement  
               activities?  Should individual schools or school  
               districts develop a list of authorized civic  
               engagement activities?

           2)   Related legislation  .  SB 520 (Pavley) authorizes a  
               school district to offer one credit for each 12 hours  
               of community service outside of regular school hours  
               provided by a high school pupil, up to a maximum of 5  
               credits per pupil per semester, and for a maximum of 2  
               semesters.  SB 520 requires a school district that  
               elects to offer credit for community service to keep a  
               list of suitable community service organizations from  
               which a pupil may choose an organization whereto  
               complete the volunteer hours.  SB 520 is pending in  
               the Assembly Education Committee.

           3)   Prior legislation  .  AB 2396 (Carter, 2008) was  
               identical to this bill.  AB 2396 was vetoed by the  
               Governor, whose veto message read:




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                    While I recognize that there are many civic and  
                    other educational opportunities outside of the  
                    classroom, nothing under current law prohibits  
                    parents from working with a school to allow their  
                    child to participate in civic opportunities if  
                    they choose to do so, even without this measure.
          
               AB 750 (Carter, 2008) would have excused the absence  
               of a pupil who has engaged in leadership or civic  
               engagement activities an excused absence for the  
               purpose of a school district calculating average daily  
               attendance (ADA). The bill was held on the Assembly  
               Appropriations Committee's suspense file.

               AB 1320 (Carter, 2007) would have deemed a pupil who  
               serves as a member of a precinct board (i.e., a high  
               school pupil at least 16-years-old) or engaging in  
               other leadership or civic engagement activities as  
               participating in an independent study for the purpose  
               of calculating ADA  for a school district.  AB 1320  
               was held on the Assembly Appropriations Committee's  
               suspense file.

               SB 278 (Lowenthal, Chapter 204, 2007) added  
               "attendance at an educational conference on the  
               legislative or judicial process offered by a nonprofit  
               organization" to the list of reasons that justify a  
               pupil's absence from school.

           SUPPORT  

          Alliance for Education Solutions
          American Federation of State, County and Municipal  
          Employees
          California Association of Nonprofits Policy Council
          California Association of Student Council
          California Coalition for Youth
          California Teachers Association
          Youth Leadership Institute

           OPPOSITION

           None received.