BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 2616 (Carter) - Truancy.
Amended: August 6, 2012 Policy Vote: Education 8-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 6, 2012
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2616 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, eliminates the mandate
that a pupil found truant for the fourth time in one school year
be referred to the juvenile court, and changes discretionary
court penalties.
Fiscal Impact:
School discretion: Likely minor local savings, to the
extent that schools can more often contain attendance issues
without involving juvenile courts and other government
entities.
Juvenile Court hearings: Likely minor savings, tens of
thousands statewide to the extent that juvenile court
hearings related to truancies are reduced.
Fines/Penalties: Likely very minor revenue loss to courts
and local entities, to the extent that fines and penalty
assessments are reduced.
Background: Existing law 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 the district in
which their parent or guardian resides, and that each parent,
guardian or other person having control or charge of the pupil
ensure that pupil's enrollment and attendance. (Education Code
§ 48200)
Existing law defines a "truant" as any pupil subject to
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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 excuse
on three occasions in one school year, or any combination
thereof. (EC § 48260)
A school district is required 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)
Existing law further 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)
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. 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)
Existing law 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, after the filing of either a truancy
report to the attendance supervisor or district superintendent.
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(EC § 48262)
A habitually truant pupil may 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)
Existing law also 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)
Finally, existing law 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,
and subject to penalties, which may include a fine of up to
$100. (EC § 48264.5)
Proposed Law: AB 2616 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:
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
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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, and specifies that the fine not be subject to
enhancements.
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.
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: This bill gives school administrators additional
flexibility in handling truancy issues, and is likely to result
in minor cost savings overall to schools and to the courts.
This bill expands the discretion of a school administrator to
determine whether an absence is excused, based on a pupil's
circumstances. Excused absences do not impact attendance
calculations toward average daily attendance, and this authority
is not likely to result in any new state costs. This provision
only increases a school administrator's flexibility to determine
if it is appropriate to subject a particular pupil to a formal
truancy report.
This bill changes the discretionary truancy report consequences
for the first and second truancy reports; because they are
discretionary actions, this is not likely to impact the state.
This bill does not change the requirement in existing law that,
upon issuing a third truancy report, the pupil shall be
classified as a habitual truant and may be referred to a SARB or
a truancy mediation program. As in current law, if it is
determined that services cannot solve the problem, or if the
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pupil and/or parent have failed to respond to directives, the
SARB may notify the district attorney or probation officer.
The most significant change this bill makes to current law is at
the fourth truancy report. Under existing law, a fourth truancy
report results in mandatory referral to the juvenile court,
which may adjudge the pupil to be a ward of the court. (This
referral is generally made by a SARB or truancy mediation
program official, when a pupil fails to complete the program). A
mandatory juvenile court hearing results in necessary costs to
the courts; a typical court day cost is $4,000 to staff the
courtroom and adjudicate cases. One truancy hearing is unlikely
to take significant court time, but in aggregate, truancy
hearings may cost individual courts thousands of dollars each
year. This bill makes a referral to juvenile court optional,
rather than mandatory. To the extent that fewer pupils are
referred to juvenile courts, there will be minor court savings,
as well as a reduction in the time involved for school
administrators and other officials to attend hearings. To the
extent that fewer pupils are adjudged to be wards of the court,
there are also (indeterminable, but likely) significant
long-term savings to the state in avoiding costs for probation
and related services.
Under both existing law and this bill, when a pupil is adjudged
a ward of the court, the judge is required to impose one or more
of the following on the ward: community service, truancy program
attendance, suspension of driving privileges, and/or a fine.
When a judge chooses to impose a fine on the pupil, this bill
would reduce that fine from $100 to $50, and specify that
penalty enhancements (e.g. state surcharges, local court and
special funds assessments) are not added to that fine.
It is unclear how often judges opt to impose fines on these
pupils, but the CDE has opined that it is not common. The extent
to which penalty enhancements are added to these fine when they
are imposed is also unclear. The Judicial Council has indicated
that it does not believe that courts charge additional
enhancements on these specific truancy fines, but the Public
Counsel Law Center (sponsors of the bill) asserts that such
charges do occur in some courts. This bill states explicitly
that truancy fines shall not be subject to enhancements. Any
reduction in fine and enhancement revenue, which is concentrated
primarily at the local level, is unlikely to be significant.
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