BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 1088
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          SENATE THIRD READING
          SB 1088 (Price)
          As Amended  August 20, 2012
          Majority vote 

           SENATE VOTE  :38-0  
           
           EDUCATION           9-0         APPROPRIATIONS      12-0        
           
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          |Ayes:|Brownley, Norby, Ammiano, |Ayes:|Gatto, Blumenfield,       |
          |     |Buchanan, Butler, Carter, |     |Bradford,                 |
          |     |Eng, Halderman, Williams  |     |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
          |     |                          |     |Davis, Fuentes, Hall,     |
          |     |                          |     |Hill, Cedillo, Mitchell,  |
          |     |                          |     |Solorio                   |
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           SUMMARY  :  Specifies that a pupil shall not be denied enrollment 
          or readmission to a public school solely on the basis that he or 
          she had been arrested, adjudicated by a juvenile court, had been 
          formally or informally supervised by a probation officer, or was 
          detained for any length of time in a juvenile facility or was 
          enrolled in a juvenile court school. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Assembly Appropriations 
          Committee, minor, absorbable General Fund/Proposition 98 costs 
          to school districts.  

           COMMENTS  :  This bill prohibits a school district from denying 
          enrollment or readmission to a public school, regardless of 
          whether the pupil has been expelled or not, solely because he or 
          she has had contact with the juvenile justice system, including, 
          but not limited to:  arrest, adjudication by a juvenile court, 
          formal or informal supervision by a probation officer, and 
          detention for any length of time in a juvenile facility or 
          enrollment in a juvenile court school.  Many of the letters in 
          support of the bill stress the challenges they have experienced 
          attempting to help kids stabilize their lives by re-enrolling in 
          school.  These may not be the kids who have been expelled from 
          school, but kids who got into trouble, were arrested, and 
          entered the juvenile justice system.  

          A 2010 report by the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at 
          Georgetown University titled "Addressing the Unmet Educational 








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          Needs of Children and Youth in the Juvenile Justice and Child 
          Welfare Systems" identified an estimated 1.6 million youth who 
          are referred to juvenile court a year nationally.  According to 
          the report, of those, approximately 24% are charged with 
          offenses against another person(s), 39% are charged with 
          property offenses, 12% involve drug-related offenses, and 25% 
          involve public order offenses.  The report found that youth who 
          enter the juvenile justice system are often from low-income 
          families, have learning disabilities, have substance abuse 
          issues, or have experienced physical or emotional abuse.  The 
          researchers found that "reenrollment of youth in schools 
          following discharge from a juvenile correctional facility has 
          been a perennial challenge as schools and school districts have 
          resisted reenrollment of formerly incarcerated youth."  Data 
          from the statewide summary of the report on the number of pupils 
          served with federal Title I funds shows that, in the 2009-10 
          school year, 13,693 of the 56,492 pupils served in juvenile 
          detention enrolled in a comprehensive public school within 30 
          days of exiting a juvenile court school.  Youth Law Center, one 
          of the co-sponsors of the bill, states that most youth who has 
          been involved in the juvenile justice system want to return to 
          school upon release.  

          The author states, "Across California, juvenile justice youth 
          are pushed out of school through the imposition of enrollment 
          barriers.  Without any assessment or educational justification, 
          many of these youth, once released, are summarily denied 
          enrollment at their neighborhood school of attendance and forced 
          to attend alternative schools, often without the possibility of 
          returning to a comprehensive school setting. According to the 
          Department of Education, 66% of youth leaving juvenile detention 
          do not enroll in their local school district within 30 calendar 
          days. 

          "Youth who have had contact with the juvenile justice system are 
          funneled into dropout recovery schools, county and community day 
          schools, independent study and continuation high schools which 
          graduate far fewer students than traditional institutions.  For 
          these students, alternative schools represent an exit system, 
          the last step before dropping out. Sixty-three percent (63%) of 
          students attending continuation high schools drop out 
          altogether, eighty-one percent (81%) drop out at community day 
          schools and an astonishing ninety-eight percent (98%) exit at 
          Juvenile Court Schools. Some students are unable to find an 








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          appropriate school because they are denied enrollment at 
          multiple school-sites; frustrated and alienated, they are more 
          likely to drop out. African American and Latino students have 
          suffered disproportionality from this practice."


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087 



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