BILL ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1116| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: SB 1116 Author: Huff (R), Romero (D) & Yee (D), et al Amended: 5/17/10 Vote: 27 - Urgency SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 7-0, 3/24/10 AYES: Romero, Huff, Alquist, Liu, Maldonado, Price, Simitian NO VOTE RECORDED: Hancock, Wyland SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 9-0, 5/10/10 AYES: Kehoe, Cox, Alquist, Leno, Price, Walters, Wolk, Wyland, Yee NO VOTE RECORDED: Corbett, Denham SUBJECT : Heritage school instruction SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill establishes in statute heritage schools as a category of schools that are not full-time day schools that offer education in a foreign language or on the culture and traditions of a country other than the United States. This bill requires heritage schools to file an affidavit with the Superintendent of Public Instruction detailing specific information relative to personnel and the course of study, and requires employees of a heritage school to be fingerprinted, and undergo background checks, as specified. CONTINUED SB 1116 Page 2 ANALYSIS : Existing law requires every entity offering or conducting private school instruction on the elementary or high school level to annually verify information by filing with the Superintendent of Public Instruction an affidavit or statement under penalty of perjury setting forth specified information relating to the current year. The affidavit or statement must be made available to any parent or guardian whose child is currently enrolled or is considering whether to enroll his/her child in the school, as specified. If the employees of any entities that have a contract with a private school to provide specified services may have any contact with pupils, those employees are required to submit their fingerprints to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for a background check. The DOJ is authorized to notify the private school when the employee has a pending criminal case, or a criminal conviction, of specified crimes. Private schools contracting with an entity for construction or other related services where employees of the entity will have other than limited contact with pupils, are required to ensure the safety of the pupils by utilizing one or more methods. This bill requires heritage schools, as defined, to file an affidavit with the Superintendent of Public Instruction detailing specific information relative to personnel and the course of study, and requires employees of a heritage school to be fingerprinted. Specifically this bill: 1. Defines a heritage school as a school that serves children who are between the ages of four years and nine months and 18 years, who attend a public or private full-time day school, that does all of the following: A. Specifies regular hours of operation. B. Offers education or academic tutoring, or both, in a foreign language. C. Offers education on the culture, traditions, or history of a country other than the United States. D. Offers culturally enriching activities, including but not limited to, art, dancing, games or singing, based on the culture or customs of a CONTINUED SB 1116 Page 3 country other than the United States. E. Maintains membership in a state or national cultural or language association. F. Complies with relevant local government regulations. G. Does not operate out of a residential home. 2. Requires every person, firm, association, partnership or corporation offering or conducting heritage school instruction to file, between the first and 15th day of October of each year (beginning October 1, 2010) with the Superintendent of Public Instruction an affidavit or statement, under penalty of perjury, by the owner or other head setting forth the following information for the current year: A. All names of the person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation under which it has done and is doing business. B. The address of every place of doing business of the person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation within the State of California. C. The address of the location of the records of the person, firm, association, partnership or corporation, and the name and address of the custodian of the records. D. The names and addresses of the directors and principal officers of the person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation. E. The school enrollment, by grades, number of teachers, co-educational or enrollment limited to boys or girls, and boarding facilities. G. That specified records are kept at the address stated, and are true and accurate. H. Criminal records summary information has been CONTINUED SB 1116 Page 4 obtained pursuant to current law affecting private school employees. 3. Beginning October 1, 2010, requires the affidavit or statement to include, under penalty of perjury, a statement that the heritage school is in compliance with requirements for fingerprinting and a criminal record summary as set forth in this bill. Contracting for specific services 1. Requires employees of any entity contracting with a heritage school providing any of the following services, and who may have any contact with pupils, to submit their fingerprints in a manner authorized by the DOJ, with any fee charged by DOJ: A. School and classroom janitorial. B. School site administrative. C. School site grounds and landscape maintenance. D. Pupil transportation. E. School site food-related services. 2. Exempts an entity providing any of the services listed above in an emergency or exceptional situation from the fingerprinting and criminal records summary requirements. 3. Exempts an entity providing any of the services listed above from fingerprinting and criminal record summary requirements if the heritage school determines that the employees of the entity will have limited contact with pupils. 4. Authorizes a heritage school to determine, on a case-by-case basis, to require an entity providing school site services other than those listed above to comply with fingerprinting and criminal records summary requirements. CONTINUED SB 1116 Page 5 5. Requires the heritage school contractor to submit to the DOJ fingerprint images and related information required by the DOJ of all employees of the entities that contract with a heritage school. This bill also requires the DOJ to forward requests for federal summary criminal history information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), review information returned by the FBI, compile a fitness determination and send it to the heritage school. This bill requires the heritage school to request from the DOJ subsequent arrest notification service, and requires the DOJ to charge a fee sufficient to cover the cost of processing the request for information. 6. Prohibits an entity from permitting an employee to come in contact with pupils until the DOJ has ascertained that the employee has not been convicted of a felony. 7. Requires an entity having a contract with a heritage school to certify in writing that neither the employer nor any of its employees who are required to submit fingerprints have been convicted of a felony. 8. Requires an entity currently under contract with a heritage school to complete the fingerprinting requirements within 90 days of the effective date of this bill. Contracting for construction or repair of facilities 1. Requires a heritage school contracting with an entity for the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or repair of a school facility where the employees of the entity will have contact, other than limited contact, with pupils to ensure the safety of the pupils by one or more of the following methods: A. The installation of a physical barrier at the worksite to limit contact with pupils. B. Continual supervision and monitoring of all employees of the entity by an employee of the entity whom the DOJ has ascertained has not been convicted of a violent or serious felony. CONTINUED SB 1116 Page 6 C. Surveillance of employees of the entity by school personnel. 2. Provides that an entity that contracts with a heritage school for construction or repair of a school facility is not required to comply with fingerprinting and criminal record summary requirements if one or more of the methods described above is used. This bill also exempts an entity providing construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or repair services in an emergency or exceptional situation from the requirement to keep those employees separated from pupils, or that they be monitored. 3. Prohibits the filing of an affidavit pursuant to this bill from being interpreted to mean that the State of California, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Board of Education, the California Department of Education (CDE), or any division or bureau of the CDE, or any accrediting agency has made any evaluation, recognition, approval or endorsement of the school or course, unless this is an actual fact. This bill provides that it is unlawful for any school to expressly or impliedly represent the filing of an affidavit as an evaluation, recognition, approval or endorsement. Heritage Enrichment Resource Fund 1. Establishes the Heritage Enrichment Resource Fund in the State Treasury, and authorizes monies deposited in the fund to be used by the Superintendent of Public Instruction upon appropriation by statute, for the purposes of this bill. 2. Requires the affidavit or statement to be filed together with a fee determined by the Superintendent to be sufficient to cover, but not exceed, the costs of the CDE in implementing this bill. The fees shall be deposited into the Heritage Enrichment Resource fund. Prior/Related Legislation SB 129 (Huff), 2009-2010 Session , was nearly identical to CONTINUED SB 1116 Page 7 this bill. Was held in Senate Appropriations Committee. SB 379 (Huff), 2009-2010 Session , exempts heritage schools from child day care licensure. SB 379 was passed by the Senate Human Services Committee on an 13-0 vote on April 15, 2009, but was held on the Senate Appropriations Committee. AB 1888 (Huff), 2007-08 Session , would have exempted heritage schools from child care licensure requirements. This bill was held on the Assembly Appropriations Committee's suspense file. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes SUPPORT : (Verified 5/24/10) Center for Applied Linguistics Chinese Confucius Temple of Los Angeles Confucius Chinese Language School Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Oak League Education Institute Palos Verdes Chinese School Superior Education, Myo Ho Chinese School Temple Education Center Corp. ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, "heritage schools play an integral role in our communities, as they are a major source of language and heritage instruction at the K-12 level. These schools vary in size and location and rely heavily on parent volunteers. The teachers and administrators often come from their native country and are well skilled and educated. Absent legislation, several of these schools will close down. Since heritage schools are not defined in state code as educational entities, DSS (the Department of Social Services) views them as childcare centers. Without proper child care licensing requirements, DSS creatively interprets existing law, or forces these schools to shut down, denying future generations of students the rich cultural opportunity these schools provide." CONTINUED SB 1116 Page 8 PQ:do 5/24/10 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED