BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 387
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 387 (Bonilla)
As Amended June 21, 2011
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |73-0 |(May 2, 2011) |SENATE: |38-0 |(August 15, |
| | | | | |2011) |
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Original Committee Reference: ED.
SUMMARY : Adds absences for the purpose of spending time with a
member of the pupil's immediate family, who is an active duty
member of the military and has been called to duty for, is on
leave from, or immediately returned from deployment to a combat
zone or combat support posting, to the list of reasons for which
a pupil is required to be excused from school when absent.
The Senate amendments require that absences granted under this
provision be granted for a period of time to be determined at
the discretion of the superintendent of the school district.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires a school district to treat a student's absence as
excused when that absence is caused by any of a number of
specified reasons, including illness, medical appointments,
funeral services for an immediate family member, jury duty,
service as a member of a precinct board for an election, and
justifiable personal reasons.
2)Defines justifiable personal reasons as being a situation
where the pupil's absence has been requested in writing by the
parent or guardian and approved by the principal or a
designated representative pursuant to uniform standards
established by the school district governing board.
3)Includes, but does not limit, justifiable reasons to be an
appearance in court, attendance at a funeral service,
observance of a holiday or ceremony of his or her religion,
attendance at religious retreats, attendance at an employment
conference, or attendance at an educational conference on the
legislative or judicial process offered by a nonprofit
organization.
AB 387
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4)Defines immediate family to mean the mother, father,
grandmother, grandfather, spouse, son, son-in-law, daughter,
daughter-in-law, brother, or sister, or any relative living in
the immediate household.
5)Requires, under the Interstate Compact on Educational
Opportunity for Military Children, schools to grant extra
excused absences for any student whose parent has been called
to duty for, is on leave from or has immediately returned from
deployment to a combat zone or combat support posting, at the
discretion of the superintendent of the local educational
agencies (LEA).
6)Prohibits excused absences from generating average daily
attendance (ADA) for district funding purposes.
7)Requires schools and school districts to allow students to
make up missed examinations and coursework that result from an
excused absence, and requires that excused students, who
complete such make-up work satisfactorily and in a reasonable
time, receive full academic credit for that work.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar
to the version passed by the Senate.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : There are approximately 60,000 military dependents
between the ages of 5 and 18 years in California. Military
families move between postings on a regular basis and members of
military families are deployed to combat postings, and though
these reassignments and deployments can be required and/or
advantageous for career personnel, they often have emotional and
educational impacts on the children of military families.
Military families and their dependents encounter significant
school challenges when dealing with attendance, enrollment,
eligibility, placement, and graduation. While the armed
services and various states, including California, through the
Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military
Children have taken steps to ease the transitions of personnel,
their spouses and children, the realities of frequent moves
and/or the deployment of family members subject these children
to divergent policies, rules, and procedures at both the state
AB 387
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and local level. For example, 25% of military dependents lose
course credits due to school transfers from out-of-state and
out-of-country Department of Defense (DOD) schools to California
schools. The average military student faces transition
challenges from these situations more than twice during high
school, and most military children will have six to nine
different school systems in their lives from kindergarten to
12th grade. With more than half of all military personnel
supporting families, the impacts of reassignment and long
deployments are a key consideration when making life and career
choices.
Under current law, the absence of a pupil, who is spending time
with a parent or guardian (or other member of the immediate
family) who is being deployed for military activities, is not
automatically classified as an excused absence. Classifying an
absence as excused or unexcused has no bearing on funding for
the pupil's school district; only pupils who attend classes for
more than the statutorily required minimum day generate
attendance credit toward average daily attendance (ADA), upon
which much of the state's K-12 education funding is based. The
classification of an absence only has an impact in that pupils
with an excused absence have a statutory right to complete all
missed assignments and tests without prejudice. This bill
proposes to extend that right to pupils who spend time with a
parent or guardian who is participating in military deployment
activities, and to require that the duration of that excused
absence be determined at the discretion of the superintendent of
the school district in which the pupil is enrolled. According
to the author, "AB 387 guarantees military students are not
penalized at school for their parents' commitment to our
country. A quality education for military children is
fundamental to the success of our military families."
Analysis Prepared by : Gerald Shelton / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0001625