BILL ANALYSIS Ó Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair SB 1568 (DeSaulnier) - Former Foster Children: School of Attendance. Amended: As Introduced Policy Vote: Education 8-0 Urgency: No Mandate: Yes Hearing Date: May 24, 2012 Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED. Bill Summary: SB 1568 extends the duration of time that a pupil who was in foster care may remain in his or her school of origin after exiting the foster care system to the end of the highest grade maintained at that school. Fiscal Impact: Potentially significant reimbursable state mandate for local education agencies (LEAs) to train staff on implementing the bill's provisions, including identifying eligible students, verifying pupils' statuses, and communicating the information to other LEAs, to the extent a pupil exercises his or her new right to matriculate to a new school with his or her peers. Potentially significant cost pressure to provide school transportation. Background: Existing law provides that if the jurisdiction of the court is terminated prior to the end of an academic year, a foster youth must be allowed to continue in the school of origin through the duration of the school year. If the foster youth is transitioning between grade levels, including transitions to middle or high school and even if the school designated for matriculation is in another school district, the school district must allow the foster youth to matriculate with his or her peers. (EC § 48853.5(d)(2) & (3)) Proposed Law: This bill requires an LEA to allow, if the jurisdiction of the court is terminated, the former foster child to continue his or her education in the school of origin through the end of the highest grade maintained at that school. This bill also requires that LEAs allow former foster youth (as is SB 1568 (DeSaulnier) Page 1 required for foster youth) to matriculate between grade levels with their peers, including transitions to middle or high school, even if the school designated for matriculation is in another school district. This bill provides that LEAs are not required to provide transportation to allow foster youth to attend a school. Related Legislation: AB 490 (Steinberg) Chapter 862/2003 required LEAs to allow foster youth to remain in their school of origin for the duration of the school year when their residential placement changes. Staff Comments: The requirements of this bill on LEAs will likely constitute a state reimbursable mandate. The bill specifies activities to be completed by LEAs, in order to ensure a former foster youth's successful transition between schools. LEAs will have to develop procedures for former foster youth who wish to stay in their schools and matriculate to higher-grade schools in the future with their peers. Staff in most LEAs will likely need to be trained immediately on how to verify the pupil information that entitles a student to stay within a district, whether or not pupils exercise this right in large numbers. Additional local costs and state cost pressures driven by this bill are difficult to approximate because they will be determined by individual decisions and actions. Approximately 17,000 foster youth ages 6-17 exit foster care in a given year. Children younger and older than that age range exit, as well, but it is unclear the degree to which the younger are in school and to which the older would continue to be in their schools beyond the end of the school year (which is already guaranteed in current law). Of that population, this bill would only apply to those pupils who: (a) exit foster care to a home that would not be eligible to continue that pupil in the same school; (b) wish to stay in their school of origin beyond the end of the school year; (c) exit foster care and do not return to foster care in the same placement or another in the same geographic area; and, (d) are not already at the highest grade that the pupil's school offers (or are also seeking to matriculate with peers). This bill does not require LEAs to provide transportation to and from school for former foster youth who choose to continue attendance, but also specifies that it does not prohibit SB 1568 (DeSaulnier) Page 2 providing such transportation. To the extent that the same child was being provided transportation in his or her foster care placement, there may be additional cost pressure to continue that transportation. Proposed Author Amendments: The proposed amendments would specify the activities mandated for school districts to comply with this bill, and clarify that the requirements on a school would be initiated by a student's request.