BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 216
AUTHOR: Stone and Maienschein
AMENDED: June 5, 2013
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June
12, 2013
URGENCY: Yes CONSULTANT: Lynn
Lorber
SUBJECT : High school graduation requirements: foster
youth.
SUMMARY
This bill, an urgency measure, provides clarification and
reconciles inconsistencies between existing statutes
relative to exempting foster youth from local graduation
requirements and extending eligibility for foster care
beyond age 18.
BACKGROUND
Current law:
1) Requires a pupil to pass both the English language
arts and mathematics portions of the California High
School Exit Exam and complete the following courses as
a condition of graduating from high school:
a) Three years of English.
b) Two years of mathematics.
c) Two years of science, including biological
and physical sciences.
d) Three years of social studies, including
United States history and geography; world
history, culture, and geography; one semester of
American government and civics, and one semester
of economics.
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e) One year of visual or performing arts,
foreign language, or until July 1, 2017, career
technical education.
f) Two years of physical education. (Education
Code � 60851 and � 51225.3)
2) Requires one of the two years of mathematics to meet
or exceed the rigor of the content standards for
Algebra I. (EC � 51224.5)
3) Authorizes school districts to impose additional
coursework requirements as a condition of graduation
from high school. (EC � 51225.3)
4) Requires school districts to exempt a pupil in foster
care from district graduation requirements that exceed
state requirements if the pupil transfers into the
district, or transfers from one high school to another
within a district, while in the 11th or 12th grade,
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. (EC
� 51225.3)
5) Requires school districts to notify a pupil who has
been granted an exemption, and the person holding the
right to make educational decisions for the pupil, if
the exemption will affect the pupil's ability to gain
admission to a postsecondary institution. The
notification must also include information about
transfer opportunities available through the
California Community Colleges. (EC � 51225.3)
6) Beginning January 1, 2012, foster youth are eligible
to receive support up to 19 years of age; effective
January 1, 2013, up to 20 years of age; and effective
January 1, 2014, up to 21 years of age, as long as
certain conditions are met, including when one or more
of the following conditions exist:
a) The youth is completing secondary education
or a program leading to an equivalent credential.
b) The youth is enrolled in an institution
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which provides postsecondary or vocational
education.
c) The youth is participating in a program or
activity designed to promote, or remove barriers
to employment.
d) The youth is employed for at least 80 hours
per month.
e) The youth is incapable of doing any of the
activities described above due to a medical
condition, and that incapability is supported by
regularly updated information in the case plan of
the youth. (Welfare & Institutions Code � 11403)
ANALYSIS
This bill , an urgency measure, provides clarification and
reconciles inconsistencies between existing statutes
relative to exempting foster youth from local graduation
requirements and extending eligibility for foster care
beyond age 18. Specifically, this bill:
1) Clarifies that the existing exemption from local
graduation requirements applies to a pupil who meets
both of the following criteria:
a) The pupil has been removed from
his or her home and placed in temporary custody,
is the subject of a petition for dependency
(foster care) or delinquency (ward of the court),
or has been removed from his or her home and is
subject to a petition for dependency or
delinquency.
b) The pupil transfers between
schools any time after the completion of the
pupil's second year of high school.
2) Provides that a school district may determine that a
pupil is reasonably able to complete the local
graduation requirements within the pupil's fifth year
of high school, and if such a determination is made,
requires the district to:
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a) Inform the pupil of the option to remain in
school for a fifth year to
complete the local graduation requirements.
b) Inform the pupil and the person holding the
right to make
educational decisions for the pupil, about how
remaining in school for a fifth year will affect
the pupil's ability to gain admission to a
postsecondary educational institution.
c) Provide information to the pupil about
transfer opportunities
available through the California Community
Colleges.
d) Permit the pupil to stay in school for a
fifth year to complete the
local graduation requirements upon agreement with
the pupil (if over age 18) or the person holding
the right to make educational decisions (if the
pupil is under age 18).
3) Provides that, to determine whether a pupil is in the
third or fourth year of high school, either the number
of credits the pupil has earned to the date of
transfer or the length of the pupil's school
enrollment may be used, whichever will qualify the
pupil for the exemption.
4) Limits the duration of time that a foster youth may
have to complete local graduation requirements, as
determined by the school district, from the duration
of the pupil's eligibility for foster care (which may
now extend beyond age 18) to the end of the pupil's
fourth year of high school.
5) Requires, within 30 calendar days of the date that a
pupil who may qualify for the exemption transfers into
a school, the school district to notify the pupil, the
person holding the right to make educational decisions
for the pupil, and the pupil's social worker of the
availability of the exemption and whether the pupil
qualifies for the exemption.
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6) Requires a school district to exempt a pupil at any
time if an exemption is requested and the pupil
qualifies for the exemption (if the pupil was not
previously exempted or declined the exemption).
7) Prohibits a school district from revoking the
exemption.
8) Provides that a pupil who is exempted from local
graduation requirements and would otherwise be
entitled to continue attending school is not to be
required to accept the exemption or be denied
enrollment in or the ability to complete courses for
which he or she is otherwise eligible, including
courses necessary to attend a four-year university,
regardless of whether those courses are required for
statewide graduation requirements.
9) Prohibits a school district from requiring or
requesting the pupil to graduate before the end of his
or her fourth year of high school if the pupil is
exempted from local graduation requirements and
completes the statewide graduation requirements and
would otherwise be entitled to continue attending
school.
10) Clarifies that the exemption is to continue to apply
after the termination of the court's jurisdiction over
the pupil while he or she is enrolled in school or if
the pupil transfers to another school or school
district.
11) Prohibits a school district from requiring or
requesting that a pupil transfer schools in order to
qualify for an exemption.
12) Expands existing notification requirements to describe
how, rather than if, any waived graduation
requirements will affect the pupil's ability to gain
admission to a postsecondary educational institution.
13) Includes an urgency clause to ensure that pupils in
foster care who are eligible for foster care benefits
are eligible for the exemption and graduate from high
school in the current school year (including summer
school).
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STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, "This
bill seeks to resolve a conflict in the Education Code
created by two measures adopted one year after the
other. Initially proposed to allow a foster youth to
be exempted should they not be reasonably able to
complete the school district's graduation requirement
by the age of 19, AB 167 (Adams, 2009) was amended in
anticipation of the adoption of AB 12 (Beall) in 2010.
AB 12 opted the state into two provisions of the
federal Fostering Connections to Success and
Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008. One of the
provisions allows states to extend the eligibility
definition for foster care beyond the age of 18, to
age 21. This has resulted in misunderstandings about
whether a school district should or should not retain
a youth eligible for foster care services beyond their
fourth year of high school in order to allow them to
meet the district's local graduation requirements.
This has raised concerns that foster youth presented
with having to pursue a fifth, sixth or even seventh
year to achieve a diploma could have the unintended
consequence of incentivizing rather than
dis-incentivizing a foster youth to drop out of high
school".
2) Fifth year of high school . This bill provides that a
school district may determine that a pupil is
reasonably able to complete the local graduation
requirements within the pupil's fifth year of high
school, and if such a determination is made, requires
the district to, among other things, allow the pupil
to stay in school for a fifth year to complete the
local graduation requirements. Current law does not
specifically provide for a fifth year of high school
other than authorizing schools to provide intensive
instruction and services designed to help pupils who
have not passed the high school exit exam by the end
of grade 12 (Education Code � 37254). Funding to
school districts is dependent upon an appropriation in
the annual Budget Act or another measure, and is
statutorily capped at $500 per pupil (with annual
increases pursuant to statutory inflation
adjustments). Funding for the purposes of this bill
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does not appear to be appropriated in any measure,
Budget Act or otherwise. Therefore, school districts
would be required to absorb any costs associated with
pupils continuing in high school for a fifth year.
3) Grade level vs. years . Current law applies to foster
youth who transfer schools while in the 11th or 12th
grade. This bill would apply exemptions from local
graduation requirements to foster youth who transfer
schools any time after the completion of the pupil's
second year of high school. Some school districts
assign grade levels based on years in high school, and
others based on the number of course credits the pupil
has earned. This bill ensures foster youth who
transfer schools after two years of high school but
may not be classified as being in grade 11 are
afforded the opportunity to be exempt from local
graduation requirements (while still meeting the
district's determination of whether the pupil has time
to complete the coursework prior to graduating by the
end of the fourth year of high school).
4) Suggested amendments . This bill provides that it
shall not be construed to require a pupil who is
exempted from local graduation requirements and would
otherwise be entitled to continue attending school to
accept the exemption or be denied enrollment in or the
ability to complete courses for which he or she is
otherwise eligible, including courses necessary to
attend a four-year state university, regardless of
whether those courses are required for statewide
graduation requirements. Staff recommends amendments
to:
a) Clearly prohibit schools from requiring a
pupil to accept the exemption or from denying
enrollment in courses, rather than stating that
this bill is not to be construed to require a
pupil to accept the exemption or deny enrollment
in coursework.
b) Correct a drafting error to clarify that
this provision relates to a pupil who is eligible
for the exemption, rather than a pupil who is
exempted (how can a pupil who is already exempted
be forced to accept the exemption?).
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c) Strike the reference to four-year state
universities and instead reference institutions
of higher education.
(On page 4, strike lines 34-40 and insert "A pupil in
foster care who is eligible for the exemption
from local graduation requirements pursuant to
this section and would otherwise be entitled to
remain in attendance at the school shall not be
required to accept the exemption or denied
enrollment in or the ability to complete courses
for which he or she is otherwise eligible,
including courses necessary to attend an
institution of higher education, regardless of
whether those courses are required for statewide
graduation requirements.")
5) Fiscal impact . According to the Assembly
Appropriations Committee analysis, this bill imposes
"minor, absorbable, General Fund (Proposition 98)
state reimbursable mandated costs, likely less than
$50,000, to school districts. The underlying mandate
of notifying foster youth and the adult who makes
educational decisions for the pupil is in effect.
This measure makes modifications and prohibitions to
ensure the exemption is more clear and is implemented
in the manner it was intended." Staff notes this
fiscal estimate was made prior to the inclusion of the
requirement that schools allow pupils to remain in
school for a fifth year.
6) Prior legislation . SB 1135 (Runner, 2012) and SB 699
(Runner, 2011) were very similar to this bill. Both
SB 1135 and SB 699 were held on the Senate
Appropriations Committee's suspense file.
SUPPORT
None on current version.
OPPOSITION
None on current version.
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