BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 631
AUTHOR: Fox
AMENDED: May 13, 2013
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: June 12, 2013
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : Juvenile court schools.
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes a county board of education to adopt
and enforce a course of study that enhances instruction in
mathematics and English language arts for pupils attending
a juvenile court school.
BACKGROUND
Juvenile court schools, administered by the county board of
education, provide public education for youth who are
incarcerated in juvenile hall, juvenile home, day center,
juvenile ranch and juvenile camp, regional youth
educational facility or in any group home housing 25 or
more children.
(Education Code � 48645.1 and � 48645.2)
Current law establishes the minimum schoolday for juvenile
court schools to be 240 minutes, and requires the minimum
schooldays to be calculated on the basis of the average
number of minutes of attendance during up to 10 consecutive
days in which classes are conducted. The minimum schoolday
for pupils in attendance in approved vocational education
programs, work programs prescribed by the probation
department, and work experience programs is 180 minutes.
(EC � 48645.3)
Current law requires the county board of education to adopt
and enforce a course of study and evaluate its program in
accordance with current law requiring:
1) The course of study to be kept on file for public
inspection.
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2) The evaluation of the educational program, and made
revisions as deemed necessary.
3) The enforcement in its schools the course of study and
the use of instructional materials prescribed and
adopted by the county board of education.
4) The adopted course of study to include the specific
areas of study and topics contained in the adopted
course of study for grades 1-6 and 7-12 (except
foreign languages). (EC � 48645.3)
Current law requires pupils enrolled in county community
schools (serves pupils who have been expelled, referred by
probation or an attendance review board, or are homeless)
to be assigned to classes or programs deemed most
appropriate for reinforcing or reestablishing educational
development. These classes or programs may include basic
educational skill development, job training, tutoring,
independent study, and individual guidance activities. An
individually planned educational program based upon an
educational assessment must be prescribed for each pupil.
The course of study for county community schools is to be
adopted by the county board of education and enable each
pupil to continue academic work leading to the completion
of a regular high school program.
(EC � 1983)
Current law states legislative intent that school districts
operating community day schools (serves pupils who have
been expelled for any reason, or referred by probation or a
school attendance review board) include as a program
component individualized instruction and assessment. (EC �
48660.1)
ANALYSIS
This bill authorizes a county board of education to adopt
and enforce a course of study that enhances instruction in
mathematics and English language arts for pupils attending
a juvenile court school. Specifically, this bill:
1) Authorizes the county board of education to adopt and
enforce a course of study that enhances instruction in
mathematics and English language arts for pupils
attending juvenile court schools, as determined by
statewide assessments or objective local evaluations
and assessments as approved by the county
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superintendent of schools.
2) Requires the enhanced course of study to meet the
common core standards, as appropriate, and be tailored
to meet the needs of the individual pupil to increase
the pupil's academic literacy and reading fluency.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, "Pupils
who attend juvenile court schools often perform at far
below basic in math and reading - many at three or
more years below grade level. These students can
benefit from increased math and reading instruction
and are encouraged to continue their education when
they see progress in their math and reading abilities.
The need for this bill centers around the fact that
juvenile court schools are not considered alternative
schools and must therefore offer students a complete
course of classes based on the minimum instructional
minutes for a calendar year."
2) Permissive Education Code . Current law requires each
school district and county office of education to
adopt a course of study for use in each of its
schools. All schools are required to provide
instruction that meets state academic content
standards, and there are several areas of study and
topics that must be included within the course of
study. While the course of study is required to meet
content standards, curriculum is adopted by each
school district and county office of education to meet
the needs of its pupils. Given the flexibility in
current law for a county board of education to
establish a course of study specifically for pupils in
juvenile hall, it is not clear that this bill is
necessary.
3) Do community day schools and county community schools
have more flexibility ? Current law relative to
community day schools (operated by school districts)
and county community schools (operated by county
offices of education) reference "individualized
instruction" and "individually planned educational
program" respectively. However, statutes relative to
juvenile court schools do not reference individualized
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instruction, education, or curriculum.
4) What does it mean to "enforce" a course of study ?
This bill authorizes the county board of education to
adopt and enforce a course of study that enhances
instruction for pupils attending juvenile court
schools. Enforcing a course of study means schools
under the jurisdiction of a county board of education
are required to provide instruction consistent with
the adopted course of study.
5) Why only mathematics and English language arts ? This
bill authorizes the county board of education to adopt
and enforce a course of study that enhances
instruction in mathematics and English language arts
for pupils attending juvenile court schools. While
this bill references only mathematics and English
language arts, the common core standards in English
language arts include literacy standards in
history-social science, science and technical subject.
SUPPORT
Advancement Project
California Catholic Conference
California Federation of Teachers
Los Angeles County Office of Education
School for Integrated Academics and Technologies
OPPOSITION
None on file.