BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 2616
AUTHOR: Carter
AMENDED: May 9, 2012
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 27, 2012
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : Truancy.
SUMMARY
This bill creates a new option for the first time a truancy
report is issued, shifts the existing consequences for the
first truancy to the second truancy, and eliminates the
mandate that a pupil found truant for the fourth time in
one school year be referred to the juvenile court.
BACKGROUND
Current law:
1)Requires each person between the ages of 6 and 18 years,
not otherwise
exempted, to be subject to compulsory full-time
education and attend the public full-time day school
or continuation school or classes in which their
parent or guardian resides, and that each parent,
guardian or other person having control or charge of
the pupil ensure that pupils enrollment and
attendance. (Education Code § 48200)
2)Defines a "truant" as any pupil subject to compulsory
full-time education or
to compulsory continuation education who is absent
from school without a valid excuse three full days in
one school year or tardy or absent for more than any
30-minute period during the schoolday without a valid
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excuse on three occasions in one school year, or any
combination thereof. (EC § 48260)
3)Requires the school district to notify the pupil's parent
by mail upon a
pupil's initial classification as a truant about basic
information, including that the parent is obligated to
compel the pupil to attend school, may be guilty of an
infraction and subject to prosecution, and that the
pupil may be subject to penalties. (EC § 48260.5)
4)Specifies that the first time a truancy report is
required, the pupil may be
personally given a written warning by any peace
officer. A record of the written warning may be kept
at the school for a period of not less than two years,
or until the pupil graduates, or transfers, from that
school. If the pupil transfers, the record may be
forwarded to any school receiving the pupil's school
records. A record of the written warning may be
maintained by the law enforcement agency in accordance
with that law enforcement agency's policies and
procedures. (EC § 48264.5)
5) Requires that any pupil who has once been reported
as a truant and who is again absent or tardy from
school without a valid excuse for one day to again be
reported as a truant to the attendance supervisor or
district superintendent. (EC § 48261)
6) Specifies that the second time a truancy report is
required within the same school year, the pupil may be
assigned by the school to an afterschool or weekend
study program located within the same county as the
pupil's school. If the pupil fails to successfully
complete the assigned study program, the pupil shall
be subject to the provisions governing the third time
a truancy report is required. (EC § 48264.5)
7) Defines a "habitual truant" as any pupil who has
been reported as a truant three or more times per
school year, where an appropriate district officer or
employee had made a conscientious effort to hold at
least one conference with a parent and the pupil,
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after the filing of either a truancy report to the
attendance supervisor or district superintendent. (EC
§ 48262)
8) Defines a "chronic truant" as any pupil subject to
compulsory education who is absent from school without
a valid excuse for 10% or more of the schooldays in
one school year, from the date of enrollment to the
current date. (EC § 48263.6)
9) Authorizes a habitually truant pupil to be referred
to a school attendance review board (SARB) or to the
probation department for services. If the SARB or
probation officer determines that available community
services can resolve the problem, the pupil or pupil's
parents shall be directed to make use of those
services. If it is determined that services cannot
solve the problem, or if the pupil and/or parent have
failed to respond to directives, the SARB may notify
the district attorney or probation officer. (EC §
48263)
10)Establishes a truancy mediation program whereby the
district attorney or probation officer may request the
parents and the pupil attend a meeting to discuss the
possible legal consequences of the child's truancy.
The pupil shall be classified a habitual truant and may
be referred to, and required to attend, an attendance
review board or a truancy mediation program upon the
third truancy report. (EC § 48260.6 and 48263.5)
11)Provides that, upon the fourth truancy report, a
pupil shall be within the jurisdiction of the juvenile
court, which may adjudge the pupil to be a ward of the
court. (EC § 48264.5)
ANALYSIS
This bill creates a new option for the first time a truancy
report is issued, shifts the existing consequences for the
first truancy to the second truancy, and eliminates the
mandate that a pupil found truant for the fourth time in
one school year be referred to the juvenile court.
Specifically, this bill:
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1) Authorizes, the first time a truancy report is issued,
the parent or legal guardian to be requested to attend
a meeting with a school counselor or other school
designee to discuss the root causes of the attendance
issue and develop a joint plan to improve the pupil's
attendance.
2) Delays from the first truancy report to the second
truancy report issued within the same school year, the
existing authority for a peace officer to give the
pupil a written warning (which may be kept in the
pupil's record for at least two years)
3) Removes the requirement and instead authorizes the
referral to juvenile court of a pupil who is truant
for the fourth time with the same school year.
4) Reduces, from $100 to $50, the fine that a pupil may
be charged by the juvenile court if adjudicated a ward
of the court as a result of a fourth truancy report
within the same school year.
5) Specifies that a valid excuse for an absence includes,
in addition, reasons described in current law, other
reasons that are within the discretion of school
administrators, and based on the facts of the pupil's
circumstances, are deemed to constitute a valid
excuse.
6) States legislative intent that school officials use
discretion fairly and equitably and guard against any
favoritism or disproportionate enforcement when
determining whether a pupil should be designated as a
truant.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, "Research
shows that the approaches that work best for
addressing attendance and truancy involve parents,
community, schools, and counselors first and foremost
and law enforcement only for extreme cases and as the
very last resort. In addition, research shows that
involving children in the Juvenile Court system, as a
means for addressing school attendance issues,
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actually makes it as much as four times more likely
that they will drop out of school, which of course,
runs counter to the purpose of any approach to
reengage a student in school and improve their
attendance."
2) Options . This bill creates a new option for the first
time a truancy report is issued. Neither current law
nor this bill requires specific penalties for pupils
who are truant, other than declaring that a pupil who
is truant a fourth time is within the jurisdiction of
the juvenile court (but does not require the court to
take action).
3) Fiscal impact . According to the Assembly
Appropriations Committee, this bill would impose
General Fund (Proposition 98) pressure, likely less
than $1 million, to school districts to comply with
the meeting with a counselor, upon receipt of the
first truancy report. Potential, indeterminate
unknown General Fund savings, likely in the tens of
thousands, to the court system to repeal the mandate
that a pupil be under the jurisdiction of a juvenile
court upon his or her fourth truancy report within the
same school year.
Staff notes that this bill authorizes a pupil and parent to
be requested (by a school) to meet with a school
counselor, rather than requiring the meeting to take
place.
4) Related legislation . SB 1088 (Price) requires school
districts to conduct a second review for the
readmission of pupils who have been expelled and
denied readmission, and prohibits school from denying
enrollment or readmission to pupils solely on the
basis that he or she has had contact with the juvenile
justice system. SB 1088 is scheduled to be heard by
the Assembly Education Committee on June 27.
SB 1235 (Steinberg) requires schools that have suspended
more than 25% of the school's enrollment or more than
25% of any numerically significant racial or ethnic
subgroup of the school's enrollment in the prior
school year to implement, for at least three years, at
least one specified strategies to reduce the
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suspension rate or disproportionality. SB 1235 is
scheduled to be heard by the Assembly Education
Committee on June 27.
AB 1729 (Ammiano) removes some discretion for suspension
upon a first offense and authorizes the use and
documentation of other means of correction. AB 1729
is scheduled to be heard by this Committee on June 27,
2012
AB 1732 (Campos) identifies conduct that would constitute a
post on a social media website, relative to
cyberbullying. AB 1732 is pending on the Senate
Floor.
AB 1909 (Ammiano) requires schools to notify a foster
youth's attorney and representative of the county
child welfare agency of pending expulsion or other
disciplinary proceedings. AB 1909 is scheduled to be
heard by the Senate Human Services Committee on June
26, 2012.
AB 2032 (Mendoza) requires charter schools to be subject to
the same suspension and expulsion provisions as other
public schools. AB 2032 was held on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee's suspense file.
AB 2145 (Alejo) requires the California Department of
Education to disaggregate and report data related to
referrals to a school attendance review board and post
disaggregated expulsion and suspension data on its
website, and requires schools districts to maintain
data relative to expended suspensions. AB 2145 is
scheduled to be heard by this Committee on June 27,
2012.
AB 2242 (Dickinson) prohibits pupils who are found to
have disrupted school activities or otherwise
willfully defied the authority of school officials
from being subject to extended suspension or
recommended for expulsion. AB 2242 is scheduled to be
heard by this Committee on June 27, 2012.
AB 2300 (Swanson) requires school districts to expunge
from a pupil's records a suspension for certain acts
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if the pupil completes five hours of community
service. AB 2300 was held on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee's suspense file.
AB 2537 (V. Manuel Perez) grants discretion to school
principals to make a determination of the
appropriateness of the expulsion of a pupil who has
unlawfully sold a controlled substance, and makes
other changes relative to mandatory expulsions. AB
2537 is scheduled to be heard by this Committee on
June 27, 2012.
SUPPORT
American Civil Liberties Union
Black Organizing Project
Black Parallel School Board
California Association for Parent-Child Advocacy
California State Conference of the National Association for
the Advancement of
Colored People
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
Center on Juvenile & Criminal Justice
Children's Defense Fund - California
Community Asset Development Re-defining Education
Community Coalition
Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund
Disability Rights Legal Center
Gay-Straight Alliance Network
InnerCity Struggle
Legal Advocates for Children & Youth
National Center for Youth Law
Northern California Association of Counsel for Children
PolicyLink
Public Counsel
Restorative Schools Vision Project
Youth & Education Law Project, Mills Legal Clinic
Youth Justice Coalition
Youth Law Center
An individual
OPPOSITION
None on file.
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