BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2616| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 2616 Author: Carter (D) Amended: 8/6/12 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 8-0, 6/27/12 AYES: Lowenthal, Alquist, Blakeslee, Huff, Liu, Price, Simitian, Vargas NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner, Hancock, Vacancy SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 8/6/12 AYES: Kehoe, Walters, Alquist, Dutton, Lieu, Price, Steinberg ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/30/12 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : School districts: truancy SOURCE : Public Counsel DIGEST : 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. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1. Requires each person between the ages of 6 and 18 CONTINUED AB 2616 Page 2 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. 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 excuse on three occasions in one school year, or any combination thereof. 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. 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. 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. 6. Specifies that the second time a truancy report is required within the same school year, the pupil may be CONTINUED AB 2616 Page 3 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. 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, after the filing of either a truancy report to the attendance supervisor or district superintendent. 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. 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. 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. 11. Provides that, upon the fourth truancy report, a pupil shall be within the jurisdiction of the juvenile CONTINUED AB 2616 Page 4 court, which may adjudge the pupil to be a ward of the court. 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: 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. Comments CONTINUED AB 2616 Page 5 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). FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: 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. SUPPORT : (Verified 8/8/12) Public Counsel (source) 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 CONTINUED AB 2616 Page 6 InnerCity Struggle Legal Advocates for Children & Youth National Center for Youth Law Northern California Association of Counsel for Children PolicyLink Restorative Schools Vision Project Youth & Education Law Project, Mills Legal Clinic Youth Justice Coalition Youth Law Center ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : 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, 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." ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/30/12 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Fletcher, Gorell, Valadao PQ:n 8/8/12 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE CONTINUED AB 2616 Page 7 **** END **** CONTINUED