BILL ANALYSIS SB 1353 Page A Date of Hearing: June 15, 2010 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES Jim Beall, Jr., Chair SB 1353 (Wright) - As Amended: April 22, 2010 SENATE VOTE : 34-0 SUBJECT : Education: foster youth SUMMARY : Provides that proximity to the school in which a child is enrolled at the time of placement in foster care shall be considered as an indicator of the bests interest of a child with regard to educational stability, and requires educational stability and minimal disruptions to school attendance be applied to the consideration of the "best interests of the child" for the purposes of school placement decisions. Specifically, this bill : 1)Makes various findings and declarations regarding the importance of education and educational stability, particularly for foster children who are disproportionately and negatively affected by multiple school transfers. 2)Removes "proximity to the child's school" from the factors to be considered when making an out-of-home placement; adds consideration of whether a placement promotes educational stability by its location in or near the child's school attendance area; and offers an opportunity to delay any necessary school transfer to the summer or normal matriculation schedule when making an out-of-home placement decision. 3)Provides that considerations of the "best interests of the child" in educational and school placement decisions shall include: a) Minimal disruptions to school attendance and educational stability by timing necessary school transfers during the summer or at matriculation; and b) The opportunity for a foster child to be educated in the least restrictive educational setting necessary to achieve academic progress. SB 1353 Page B 4)Requires assurances that a child's placement in foster care factors in proximity to the school in which the child is enrolled at the time of placement to be considered an indicator of the best interests of the child with respect to educational stability and to be included in the child's case plan. 5)Specifies that the existing requirement to provide assurances in the child's case plan that the placement agency has coordinated with the local educational agencies (LEA) to keep the child in the school the child is enrolled in at the time of placement, shall apply for at least the remainder of the school year during which the placement is made. 6)Encourages the State Department of Social Services (DSS) and the State Department of Education (DOE) to develop indicators of educational stability and include these as considerations for the selection of an out-of-home placement. 7)Adds consideration of the child's school matriculation schedule to the factors currently considered in placement decisions. 8)Adds to the statute outlining foster children's rights the right to minimal disruptions in school attendance and educational stability caused by transfers from the school of origin during the academic year, semester or term of instruction. EXISTING LAW 1)Requires educational and school placement decisions be based on the best interests of the child. Education Code (EDC) 48850 and Welfare & Institutions Code (WIC) 16000. 2)Requires educators, county placing agencies, care providers, advocates and the juvenile courts to work together toward stability in school placements foster children, and to ensure placement in the least restrictive educational environment, with access to the same resources, services and enrichment activities available to all other students. EDC 48850. 3)Requires that, when an out-of-home placement is necessary for a child, the choice of placement be based on finding the least restrictive, most family-like safe and available setting in SB 1353 Page C close proximity to the child's parent and school, where the environment is best suited to the child's special needs and best interests, or both. WIC 16501.1. 4)Provides that when making placement decisions, in addition to other statutory considerations, the selection of a home to meet the child's special needs and best interests shall also promote educational stability by considering proximity to the child's school attendance area. WIC 16501.1. 5)Requires a foster child's case plan to ensure educational stability, effective January 1, 2010, and requires the case plan to include assurances that: a) The placement takes into account the appropriateness of the current educational setting and proximity to the school the child is enrolled in at the time of placement; and, b) The placement agency has coordinated with the appropriate LEA to ensure that the child remains in the same school the child is enrolled in at the time of placement unless it is not found to be in the best interests of the child. WIC 16501.1. 6)Requires assurances by the placement agency and the LEA, should remaining in the school the child was enrolled in at the time of placement not be in the child's best interests, to provide immediate and appropriate enrollment in a new school and provide all of the child's educational records to the new school. WIC 16501.1. 7)Lists, among a foster child's rights, the right to attend school and participate in extracurricular, cultural and personal enrichment activities consistent with the child's age and developmental level. WIC 16001.9. 8)Requires each foster child's case plan include a health and education summary that includes educational and health-related information, and assurances that the child's placement in foster care takes into account proximity to the school the child was enrolled in at the time of placement. WIC 16010. 9)Defines "school of origin" as the school the foster child attended when he or she was permanently housed or the last school the foster child was enrolled in. EDC 48853.5. SB 1353 Page D FISCAL EFFECT : None COMMENTS : Need for this bill: According to the author: When children in foster care transfer schools during the academic year, significant educational and social challenges result. Foster youth lose an average of 4-6 months of educational progress each time they change schools, resulting in lower academic performance than their peers and a greater risk of dropping out by high school. 35-50% of foster children perform below grade level nationally and only 50% graduate high school. Unfortunately, foster children continue to have high mobility - 1/3 change schools at least 5 times while in foster care. Research shows that youth in foster care who have one fewer placement change per year double their chances of graduating high school. This bill seeks to minimize school transfers for foster children by including assurances that a foster care placement factor in proximity to the school the child is enrolled in at the time of placement as an indicator of the best interest of a child for the purposes of educational stability. According to this bill's sponsor , the Compton Unified School District (CUSD): Repeated school transfers, often associated with moving to a new home, have a tragic impact on the ability of students in foster care to maintain healthy relationships with their peers, teachers and other adults. They often lose motivation to engage in school, reducing the likelihood that they will attend college and build fulfilling careers as adults. SB 1353 achieves improvement in academic outcomes by clarifying that educational stability is crucial to ensuring and protecting the best interests of foster children. SB 1353 also clarifies that when school transfers are necessary, efforts to initiate the transfer at the end of the school year should be a top SB 1353 Page E priority. Beyond the challenges that the children face, the high number of mid-year transfers places a toll on the educational liaisons responsible for ensuring a smooth, quick transition for each child and for advocating for all of the children in the district. By encouraging transfers outside of the academic year, this measure would enable the liaisons to focus more closely on successfully transferring the students. Background: California made significant progress toward educational stability through the framework provided by AB 490 (Steinberg), Chapter 862, Statutes of 2003, which requires that when a child is placed in foster care, or the child's placement changes, LEAs must allow the child to remain in his or her school of origin until the end of the school year. AB 490 also attempted to improve educational stability by including it as one of several factors considered when making residential placement decisions for foster children. Specifically, current law requires promotion of educational stability in placement decisions by requiring consideration of the placement's proximity to the child's school attendance area. (WIC 16501.1(c)(2)) In addition, state law was amended in SB 597 (Liu), Chapter 339, Statutes of 2009, pursuant to the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (Fostering Connections Act) to include language closely mirroring the federal law related to educational stability which requires assurances that the foster care placement take into account the proximity to the school the child is enrolled in at the time of placement, and that LEAs and placing agencies coordinate to ensure the child remains in his or her school unless it is not found to be in the child's best interests. The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (McKinney-Vento Act) (42 U.S.C. Sec. 11301 et seq.) is a federal law addressing educational stability for homeless children, including foster children awaiting placement. While the McKinney-Vento Act does not apply to all foster children, along with the federal Fostering Connections Act, federal law broadly sets forth an expectation around the importance of educational stability for abused and neglected children, and for decisions to be made in the best interests of the child. SB 1353 Page F "Best Interests of a Child" in Child Welfare : According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services<1>: Although there is no standard definition of "best interests of the child," the term generally refers to the deliberation that courts undertake when deciding what type of services, actions, and orders will best serve a child as well as who is best suited to take care of a child. "Best interests" determinations are generally made by considering a number of factors related to the circumstances of the child and the circumstances and capacity of the child's potential caregiver(s), with the child's ultimate safety and well-being as the paramount concern. In keeping with general practice in most other states, California statutes do not define "best interests" in the Education or Welfare and Institutions Codes as it applies to foster children, but rather, directs courts and decision makers, such as county placing agencies and education rights holders to apply this standard when making decisions about educational and out-of-home placements for abused and neglected children. Comments/Suggested Amendments: 1)Given that California law does not define "best interests" for the purposes of child welfare cases, and allows courts and child welfare social workers and educational rights holders to apply this standard in a variety of contexts specific to each individual case, should the law be changed to apply a single indicator of the "best interests of a child" based solely on educational stability for all foster children? 2)This bill proposes to amend language put in statute just last year to comply with the federal Fostering Connections Act --------------------------- <1> Child Welfare Information Gateway. "Determining the Best Interests of the Child." 2008. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families Administration on Children, Youth and Families Children's Bureau. Washington, D.C. SB 1353 Page G educational stability provisions (WIC 16501.1 (f)(8)). It does this by proposing to make the assurances set forth in federal law related to the appropriateness of an educational setting, and proximity to the school a child is enrolled in at the time of placement indicators of the best interests of a child for the purposes of educational stability. This bill also seems to inadvertently weaken existing law by limiting the proposed time a placement agency and LEA must coordinate to ensure the child is enrolled in the school they were enrolled in at the time of placement in WIC Section 16501.1 (f)(8)(B), and limits that timeframe, "for at least the remainder of the school year during which the placement is made?" The author's stated intention is to reduce the number of school transfers for foster youth, but existing law as set forth in Section 16501.1 (f) seems to apply a higher standard with regard to educational stability. The author may wish to strike all proposed changes to WIC 16501.1 (f) to preserve the original intent of this subdivision. 3)Staff recommends the following technical and clarifying amendments to address the concerns outlined above. To page 4, lines 33-38 as follows: child. For purposes of this section, the "best interests of the child"andshall include, but not be limited to, both of the followingconsider, among other factors : (A)MinimalEducational stability by allowing the child to remain in the school of originwith minimal disruptions to school attendance and educational stability that may be achievedby avoiding school transferstiming school transfers, as deemed to be necessary in accordance with the law, during the summer or normal matriculation schedule.SB 1353 Page H To page 6, lines 16-17: attendance and educational stability caused by school transfersfrom the school of origin during the academic year, semester, or term of instruction.To page 7, lines 30-31: child is enrolled at the time of placement ,as an indicator of the best interests of the child with respect to educational stabilitythe number of school transfers the child has already experienced , a To page 10, lines 29-32: in close proximity to the parent's home, proximity to the child's school ,promotes educational stability by its location in or near the child's school attendance area, and that provides an opportunity to delay any necessary school transfers to the summer or normal matriculation schedule, To page 11, lines 3-6: attendance area, the number of school transfers the child has previously experienced, and the child's school matriculation schedule, in addition to other indicators of educational stability that the Legislature hereby encourages the State Department of Social Services and the State SB 1353 Page I Department of Education to develop. If a school transfer is deemed necessary in accordance with the law, the decision regarding the placement shall consider whether the placement promotes educational stability by its location in or near the child's school of origin or school attendance area, and provides an opportunity to avoid school transfers or, at a minimum, delays any necessary school transfers to the summer or normal matriculation schedule. To page 13, lines 34-36: to the school in which the child is enrolled at the time of placement .as an indicator of the best interests of the child with respect to educational stability.To page 13, line 40 and page 14, line 1: placement .for at least the remainder of the school year during which the placement is made,or, if remaining in that school is not Additional Amendments: The author wishes to add the following author's amendments to the amendments recommended by staff, which will be analyzed in the Assembly Education Committee should the bill pass out of this committee: To page 3, lines 5-7: A high school diplomawasisonce the minimal requirement to obtain decent employment, but a bachelor's degree has becomecrucial to entering the Adding after "by avoiding school transfers" as suggested above, in EDC Section 48850 (a)(1)(A): that occur outside of the normal matriculation schedule of the child's school of origin, unless the transfer provides educational benefits to the child.SB 1353 Page J Adding after "caused by school transfers" in WIC Section 16001.9 (a)(13): that fall outside of the normal matriculation schedule, unless the transfer provides educational benefits to the child Adding after "the number of school transfers the child has experienced" in WIC Section 16010 (a): the child's educational progress Adding before "attendance area, the number of school transfers the child has previously experienced" in WIC Section 16501.1 (c)(2): school of origin Prior and Related Legislation: AB 1933 (Brownley) requires that LEAs allow a foster child to remain in his or her school of origin for the duration of the court's jurisdiction. AB 1933 is currently pending a hearing in the Senate Education Committee. SB 597 (Liu) Chapter 339, Statutes of 2009 made several changes to state law to conform to Public Law 110-351, the Fostering Connections Act of 2008. AB 1067 (Brownley) would have required LEAs to provide transportation to foster children in order for them to remain in the school in which they were enrolled at the time of their foster care placement. AB 1067 was held on the suspense file in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. AB 490 (Steinberg) Chapter 862, Statutes of 2003, among other significant education related provisions for foster children, required immediate enrollment of foster children in school, and included educational stability as one of several factors to be considered when making placement decisions for foster children. DOUBLE REFERRAL . This bill has been double-referred. Should this bill pass out of this committee, it will be referred to the Assembly Education Committee. SB 1353 Page K REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : Support Compton Unified School District (CUSD) (sponsor) Advancement Project Aspiranet California Probation, Parole, and Correctional Association (CPPCA) California State PTA California Teachers Association New Visions Foundation Para Los Ni?os Pomona Unified School District State Public Affairs Committee (SPAC) of the Junior Leagues of California U-Turn Alcohol & Drug Education Program, Inc. Opposition None on file. Analysis Prepared by : Michelle Doty Cabrera / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089