BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 643
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Date of Hearing: April 30, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Mark Stone, Chair
AB 643 (Stone) - As Amended: April 25, 2013
SUBJECT : Pupils in foster care: federal Uninterrupted Scholars
Act compliance
SUMMARY : Would bring the state's Education Code into compliance
with the federal Uninterrupted Scholars Act. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Adds a caseworker or other representative of a state or county
welfare agency, as defined under federal law, to the list of
individuals or offices permitted to access the educational
records of children in foster care.
2)Specifies that the educational records may only be released to
a state or county welfare agency caseworker who is engaged in
addressing the pupil's educational needs and who is authorized
by that child welfare agency (CWA) to receive those records.
3)Prohibits the disclosure of those educational records by the
CWA to any other person, agency or organization unless
otherwise permitted under the federal Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and state law.
EXISTING LAW
1)Provides for the protection of pupil educational records under
the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
(20 U.S.C. � 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99)
2)Under FERPA, provides three general exemptions under which a
pupil's educational records may be accessed:
a) By written consent of the pupil's parent or the consent
of the pupil if he or she is 18 years of age or older;
b) By subpoena or court order; or
c) By appropriate persons in connection with an emergency
if the knowledge of the information is necessary to protect
the health or safety of a pupil or other persons.
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3)Under FERPA, as recently amended by the Uninterrupted Scholars
Act, additionally permits a pupil's educational records to be
shared with a state or local child welfare agency or tribal
organization's caseworker when that agency or tribal
organization is responsible for the care and supervision of
the child, i.e., a child in foster care.
4)Under state law, provides other specified permissions for the
sharing of a pupil's educational records in alignment with
FERPA, which includes:
a) Educational officials and school employees who are
authorized representatives of the school district in which
the pupil is enrolled or seeks to be enrolled, i.e.,
inter-district transfer;
b) Authorized representatives of the Comptroller General of
the United States, the Secretary of Education, and state
and local educational authorities, or the United States
Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, as
specified;
c) A judge, probation officer or district attorney or their
office who is participating in or conducting a truancy
mediation program as specified;
d) A probation officer, district attorney, or counsel of
record for a minor for purposes of conducting a criminal
investigation or an investigation in regards to declaring a
person a ward of the court or involving a violation of a
condition of probation;
e) Higher education institutions for which the pupil has
applied for admission for purposes of determining
eligibility for financial aid;
f) A county elections official, for the purpose of
identifying pupils eligible to register to vote, or for
conducting programs to offer pupils an opportunity to
register to vote;
g) Accrediting associations in order to carry out their
accrediting functions; and
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h) Organizations conducting studies for, or on behalf of,
educational agencies or institutions for the purpose of
developing, validating, or administering predictive tests,
administering student aid programs, and improving
instruction, as specified.
5)Prohibits the redisclosure of a pupil's educational records,
unless as otherwise specified in FERPA and state law.
6)Permits a school district to participate in an interagency
data information system if each of the following requirements
are met:
a) Each agency and school district develops security
procedures or devices by which unauthorized personnel
cannot access data contained in the system;
b) Each agency and school district has procedures or
devices to secure privileged or confidential data from
unauthorized disclosure;
c) Each school district complies with access log
requirements as specified;
d) Access rights shall not include the ability to modify
data without the written permission of the agency holding
the data; and
e) Each agency or school district shall not make public or
otherwise release information on an individual contained in
the database if the information is protected from
disclosure under state and federal law.
7)Requires a foster youth's social worker to include in the
youth's case plan information about his or her educational
status, school of enrollment, and any other information
necessary to provide for the youth's educational outcomes.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Pupil privacy rights
Prior to the adoption of the Uninterrupted Scholars Act, FERPA
and state educational privacy law provided fairly prescriptive
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requirements and exceptions for when and how a student's
educational records may be disclosed or shared. It laid out
specific exceptions under which an individual, agency or
organization may acquire a pupil's information, and provided
specific requirements on how that information may be used,
including whether it could be re-disclosed to others. However,
school districts have never had explicit authority to share a
pupil's educational records with a child welfare agency that is
responsible for the "care, custody and control" of a child in
foster care.
For many years, CWAs, school districts, juvenile court judges,
probation officers and child welfare and educational advocates
have struggled to craft legally appropriate agreements, e.g., a
memorandum of understanding (MOU) or interagency agreement (IA),
that have been able to help facilitate the connection of child
welfare and educational data. This has created significant
barriers to allowing the state's educational and child welfare
services (CWS) system to work together to help improve the
educational outcomes of children in foster care.
For example, due to the prescriptive permissions in FERPA, many
school districts are unable to share educational information of
a child in foster care with the child's social worker, even
though the social worker is responsible for the child's outcomes
as assigned by the juvenile court. Conversely, because the
social worker is unable to acquire educational information about
the foster youth, they are unable to involve themselves, as many
parents would, in the foster youth's education. In some cases,
the barrier is so great that school districts do not know
whether they have any pupils enrolled who are in foster care.
In other cases, school districts have worked with their CWA
counterparts in developing MOUs or IAs to help facilitate the
sharing of educational data. However, in these instances, the
agreements were often limited to aggregate level data rather
than individual level data, due to the individual consent
requirements mandated by FERPA. Without access to a pupil's
individual educational records, a social worker is significantly
disadvantaged to fulfill his or her legal obligation to the
court to provide for and support the educational outcomes for
foster youth under their care.
Uninterrupted Scholars Act
In February of this year, responding to concerns that FERPA was
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inadvertently limiting the ability of social workers and CWAs to
provide for and help improve the educational outcomes for foster
youth, Congress passed the Uninterrupted Scholars Act. This act
amended FERPA to specifically allow school districts to share
the individual level educational information of a pupil with the
caseworker to whom the foster youth has been assigned.
Prior to its adoption, a foster youth's social worker had to
undergo the administrative, and often time consuming, burden of
requesting and obtaining a court order simply to gain access to
the youth's educational records to determine educational needs
and additional assistance the youth would need to improve his or
her educational outcomes.
As the primary individual responsible for the foster youth's
academic achievement and educational outcomes, enabling social
workers access to a foster youth's educational records is both
common sense and necessary. Whereas parents would presumably
regularly encourage and support their child's academic
achievement, a social worker helps do the same by providing and
coordinating educational encouragement and support services for
their foster youth.
The Uninterrupted Scholars Act maintains existing privacy
protections for youth in foster care. CWAs can only re-disclose
education records obtained through this exception to "an
individual or entity engaged in addressing the student's
education needs" that is authorized by the CWA to receive the
records, consistent with federal and state confidentiality laws.
Foster youth educational challenges
Foster youth remain one of California's most academically
vulnerable populations. Because of the abuse and neglect foster
youth have experienced in their young lives, they often face
physical and emotional problems that interfere with their
learning and negatively impact their educational outcomes.
Numerous reports have documented the challenges many youth will
face while in foster care. Only one in ten foster youth receive
the early intervention services they need, and just over
one-third have access to preschool, which is a significant
predetermining factor in whether a child will demonstrate a
readiness gap when entering Kindergarten.
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When in school, by the third grade, 80% of foster children will
have to repeat a grade in school and 75% perform below their
grade level. This can be due to a variety of reasons, which
include the number of times a child in foster care will
experience multiple placements and thus multiple schools
throughout their K-12 academic career. Once foster youth are in
high school, only one in 20 is proficient in math and one in
five is proficient in English by grade 11.<1>
Need for the bill
As noted in the Assembly Education Committee's analysis of AB
643:
According to the author, prior to this law, FERPA
unintentionally created a harmful barrier that prevented
child welfare caseworkers with legal responsibility for
foster children from being able to quickly access the
school records necessary to help meet the educational needs
of students in foster care. This led to significant delays
that contributed to inappropriate course placements,
enrollment delays, lost credits, delayed graduation, and
drop-outs. In fact, foster youth sometimes had to repeat
coursework they had already taken because child welfare
agencies have incorrect or limited educational information.
These youth also missed school for extended periods of
time while waiting for school records to transfer when
placed with a new caregiver.
The author, in writing to the need for this measure, also
states:
This measure would remove an unneeded barrier to greater
collaboration and communication between our social workers
and our teachers by bringing state law into compliance with
the Uninterrupted Scholars Act and help to provide foster
youth with the educational support and services they need
to succeed.
RECOMMENDED AMENDMENTS
Staff recommends the following technical amendments:
1. On page four, line 1 after "state" insert or tribal
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<1> California Child Welfare Co-Investment Partnership:
"Insights In-Depth, Special Edition" - Volume V, Fall 2011.
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2. On page four, line 13 after "state" insert and tribal
SECOND COMMITTEE OF REFERENCE . This bill was previously heard
in the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday, April 17,
2013, and was approved on a 7-0 vote.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Association of California School Administrators (ACSA)
Children Now
Children's Law Center of California
Children's Rights Project at Public Counsel
Legal Advocates for Children & Youth (LACY)
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
National Center for Youth Law (NCYL)
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Chris Reefe / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089