BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ķ




                                                                  SB 578
                                                                  Page A
          Date of Hearing:   July 6, 2011

                           ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                                Julia Brownley, Chair
                 SB 578 (Negrete McLeod) - As Amended:  June 29, 2011

           SENATE VOTE  :   39-0
           
          SUBJECT  :  Pupils in foster care: course credit

           SUMMARY  :  Requires a school district and county office of 
          Education (COE) to accept coursework satisfactorily completed by 
          a pupil in foster care while attending another school and to 
          award full or partial credit for such coursework, as specified.  
          Specifically,  this bill  :   

          1)Requires a school district and COE to accept coursework 
            satisfactorily completed by a pupil in foster care while 
            attending another public school, a juvenile court school, or a 
            nonpublic, nonsectarian school or agency (NPS/A) even if the 
            pupil did not complete the entire course and to issue that 
            pupil full or partial credit for the coursework completed.

          2)Requires the credits accepted pursuant to this bill to be 
            applied to the same or equivalent course, if applicable, as 
            the coursework completed in the prior public school, juvenile 
            court school, or NPS/A.

          3)Prohibits a school district or COE from requiring a pupil in 
            foster care to retake a course if the pupil has satisfactorily 
            completed the entire course in a public school, a juvenile 
            court school, or a NPS/A. 

          4)Prohibits, if a pupil does not complete an entire course, a 
            school district or COE from requiring a pupil to retake the 
            portions of the course completed, unless the school district 
            or COE in consultation with the holder of educational rights 
            for the pupil, finds that the pupil is reasonably able to 
            complete the requirements in time to graduate from high 
            school.

          5)Specifies that when partial credit is awarded in a particular 
            course, a pupil in foster care shall be enrolled in the same 
            or equivalent coursework, if applicable, so that the pupil may 
            continue and complete the entire course.  









                                                                  SB 578
                                                                  Page B

          6)Specifies a pupil in foster care shall not be prevented from 
            retaking or taking a course to meet the eligibility 
            requirements for admission to the California State University 
            and the University of California (known as the A-G 
            requirements).  

          7)Defines "pupil in foster care" as a child who has been removed 
            from his or her home pursuant to specified sections of the 
            Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC), is the subject of a 
            petition filed under specified sections of the WIC, or has 
            been removed from his or her home and is the subject of a 
            petition filed under those sections of the WIC.

           EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Requires each public school district and COE to accept for 
            credit full or partial coursework satisfactorily completed by 
            a pupil while attending a public school, juvenile court 
            school, or nonpublic, nonsectarian school or agency, and 
            requires the coursework be transferred by means of the 
            standard state transcript. 

          2)Requires a school district to exempt a pupil in foster care 
            from all coursework and other requirements adopted by a school 
            district that are in addition to the statewide high school 
            graduation requirements if the pupil, while he or she is in 
            grade 11 or 12, transfers into the district from another 
            district or between high schools within the district, unless 
            the district makes a finding that the pupil is reasonably able 
            to complete the additional requirements in time to graduate 
            from high school while he or she remains eligible for foster 
            care benefits. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Senate Appropriations 
          Committee, minor general fund costs, if any, unlikely 
          reimbursable. 

           COMMENTS  :  Current law requires each public school district and 
          COE to accept for credit full or partial coursework 
          satisfactorily completed by a pupil while attending a public 
          school, juvenile court school, or NPS/A.  While this provision 
          is in the juvenile court school article of the Education Code, 
          it is interpreted to apply to all pupils, as indicated in a June 
          2007 communication from the Superintendent of Public Instruction 









                                                                  SB 578
                                                                  Page C
          (SPI) to county and district superintendents.  

          Children in foster care experience academic loses and deficits 
          due to the multiple changes in residential placement that 
          unfortunately result in school changes.  The Legislature has 
          previously passed legislation to create more stable educational 
          placements for pupils in foster care by allowing them to remain 
          in their school of origin for the duration of the court's 
          jurisdiction, if it is in the best interest of the pupil.  
          Research suggests that students who change schools frequently 
          are affected psychologically, socially and academically from 
          changing schools, and that mobile students also face greater 
          risk of declines in academic achievement.  Every time a child is 
          moved to a new school, he or she loses four to six months of 
          educational attainment.<1>  The Legislature has encouraged child 
          welfare and education entities to work together to ensure 
          educational stability and to reduce the number of school 
          transfers experienced by pupils in foster care.  This bill tries 
          to address situations in which pupils in foster care are unable 
          to remain in their schools of origin and have to transfer to a 
          new school. 

          This bill requires partial credit awarded to foster care pupils 
          to be applied to the same or equivalent course as the coursework 
          was completed in the prior school.  This part of the bill tries 
          to address a concern that has been raised alleging that some 
          districts do not apply partial credits to the subject area in 
          which a pupil earned partial course credit, and instead apply 
          the credits to other subject areas or elective credit.  Under 
          the provisions of this bill, if a foster pupil earned partial 
          credit in an English class, the new district is required to 
          accept and apply the partial credit towards English credit and 
          not elective credit. 

          The bill also prohibits a district from requiring a pupil to 
          retake a course if the pupil completed the entire course in a 
          prior school.  If the pupil did not complete the entire course, 
          the bill prohibits a district from requiring the pupil to retake 
          portions of the course already completed, unless the district or 
          county office, in consultation with the holder of educational 
          rights, finds that the pupil is reasonably able to complete the 
          requirements in time to graduate from high school and requires 
          the pupil to be enrolled in the same or equivalent coursework, 


          ---------------------------
          <1> Homeless in America: A Children's Story- Part One.  Homes 
          for the Homeless and Institute for Children and Poverty. 1999.








                                                                  SB 578
                                                                  Page D
          as applicable, to ensure that the pupil completes the entire 
          course.  According to the sponsor of this bill, this provision 
          tries to ensure that when pupils in foster care enter a new 
          school with partial credit in certain courses, they are not 
          required to retake the portions of the course already completed 
          and instead ensure that the pupil completes the remainder of the 
          course in order to obtain full credit for the course.  The 
          purpose is to try to avoid duplication of coursework so as to 
          maximize school time as much as possible to ensure pupils in 
          foster care are able to meet all the requirements for high 
          school graduation.  

          This bill additionally includes a provision stating that no 
          pupil shall be prevented from retaking or taking a course that 
          meets the A-G requirements.  This provision is intended to 
          ensure that if a pupil in foster care wants to retake an entire 
          course to obtain a higher grade to meet the A-G requirements, he 
          or she is not prevented from doing so.  

          The author states, "There is nothing in statute requiring that 
          schools issue partial credits or apply the accepted credits 
          towards the core curriculum and graduation requirements. Often 
          the transferred credits are applied towards elective 
          requirements rather than to the core curriculum, i.e. partial 
          Algebra 1 credits are applied as credits toward the elective 
          requirement, instead of being applied towards the core math 
          requirement.  This practice often means that these foster youth 
          will lag behind their peers, essentially losing months of 
          academic progress with each change in school placement due to no 
          fault of their own. Additionally, this can lead to the youth 
          choosing to drop out of high school rather than complete 
          additional courses for work already completed. In order to 
          ensure that these youth continue to advance academically, it is 
          vital that school districts provide opportunities for them to 
          earn the credits they are missing."

           Previous legislation  :  AB 1933 (Brownley), Chapter 563, Statutes 
          of 2010 requires a local educational agency (LEA) to allow a 
          child in foster care to remain in his or her school of origin 
          for the duration of the court's jurisdiction, if it is in the 
          child's best interest.  

          AB 167 (Adams), Chapter 224, Statutes of 2009, requires a school 
          district to exempt a pupil in foster care from all coursework 
          and other requirements adopted by a school district that are in 









                                                                  SB 578
                                                                  Page E
          addition to the statewide high school graduation requirements if 
          the pupil, while he or she is in grade 11 or 12, transfers into 
          the district from another district or between high schools 
          within the district, unless the district makes a finding that 
          the pupil is reasonably able to complete the additional 
          requirements in time to graduate from high school while he or 
          she remains eligible for foster care benefits

          AB 490 (Steinberg), Chapter 862, Statutes of 2003, creates new 
          duties and rights related to the education of dependents and 
          wards in foster care, including giving foster youth the right to 
          remain in their school of origin for the duration of the school 
          year when their residential placement changes and remaining in 
          the same school is in the child's best interest.  

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :

           Support 
           
          County of San Bernardino (Sponsor)
          Association of California School Administrators 
          California Association of Supervisors of Child Welfare and 
          Attendance
          California State Association of Counties  
          County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors 
          County Welfare Directors Association of California
          Disability Rights California 
          Los Angeles County Office of Education
          The Advancement Project 
           
            Opposition 
           
          None on file. 

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Marisol Aviņa / ED. / (916) 319-2087