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" and
shall include, but not be limited to, both of the
following consider, among other factors :
(A) Minimal Educational stability by allowing the
child to remain in the school of origin with minimal
disruptions to school attendance and educational
stability that may be achieved by avoiding school
transfers timing 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
transfers from 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 stability the 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 diploma was is once the minimal
requirement to obtain decent employment, but a
bachelor's degree has become crucial 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