BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 614
AUTHOR: Bonilla
AMENDED: May 3, 2011
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: June 15, 2011
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : County and local attendance review boards membership:
mental health
representative.
SUMMARY
This bill requires county school attendance review boards, and
authorizes local school attendance review boards, to include as a
member a representative of school, county or community mental
health.
BACKGROUND
School attendance review boards (SARBs) provide guidance to pupils
who are habitually truant or habitually insubordinate or disorderly,
and refer those pupils to services to address the pupil's attendance
or behavior problems.
There are three types of SARBs. A county superintendent of schools
may convene a county SARB. A county SARB or a school district
located in areas where there is not a county SARB may authorize the
establishment of one or more local SARBs. Some areas of the state
have both county and local SARBs while, in other areas, a county or
local SARB provides services to multiple school districts. The
Superintendent of Public Instruction is required to coordinate and
administer a state SARB to encourage the cooperation, coordination
and development of strategies to support county SARBs in carrying
out their responsibilities to establish local SARBs, which may
include training of SARB personnel. (Education Code § 48325)
Current law:
1) Authorizes a county attendance review board to be established
in each county and requires the membership to include, but is
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not limited to, all of the following:
a) A parent.
b) A representative of school districts.
c) A representative of the county probation department.
d) A representative of the county welfare department.
e) A representative of the county superintendent of
schools.
f) A representative of law enforcement agencies.
g) A representative of community-based youth service
centers.
h) A representative of school guidance personnel.
i) A representative of child welfare and attendance
personnel.
j) A representative of school or county health care
personnel.
2) Authorizes local school attendance review boards membership to
include the identical representation as is listed above. (EC §
48321)
ANALYSIS
This bill requires county school attendance review boards, and
authorizes local school attendance review boards, to include as a
member a representative of school, county or community mental
health.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, "SARBs are tasked
to help identify behavior patterns of problem students and give
helpful hints on how to work with students and their parents
through various resources. Fundamental to this task is SARB's
ability to have all relevant information about the student,
their background and their behavior problems. By having a
mental health representative, SARBs will effectively identify
and recommend appropriate resources to assist when truancy is
caused by mental health challenges."
2) Related legislation . AB 980 (Bonilla) authorizes members of a
SARB to disclose and exchange information or writing to other
members of the board the member believes that the information
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is relevant in the prevention, identification or treatment of a
pupil's truancy. AB 980 is pending in the Assembly Education
Committee.
SUPPORT
None on file.
OPPOSITION
None on file.