BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 1068 (Bloom) - Pupil Records
Amended: April 1, 2013 Policy Vote: Education 9-0
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: August 30, 2013
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
SUSPENSE FILE.
Bill Summary: AB 1068 prohibits the release of directory
information for homeless pupils, and requires schools to permit
access to pupil records to a pupil who is at least 14-years-old,
homeless, and unaccompanied.
Fiscal Impact:
Mandate: This bill imposes a new mandate on local education
agencies (LEAs) which is likely to be deemed reimbursable,
by the Commission on State Mandates. While the workload
increase for any one LEA is likely to be minor, reimbursable
costs could exceed $500,000 (General Fund) statewide.
Background: The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy
Act (FERPA) prohibits federal funds from being provided to any
educational agency or institution which has a policy or practice
of permitting the release of a pupil's educational records to
any individual, agency, or organization without the written
consent of the pupil's parents. FERPA exempts from the general
parental consent requirement certain kinds of disclosures,
including disclosures to state and local officials for the
purposes of truancy proceedings, a criminal investigation,
auditing or evaluating an educational program, or in relation to
an application for financial aid. (United States Code, Title
20, Section 1232g and Code of Federal Regulations, Title 34,
Sections 99.31)
State law prohibits a school district from permitting access to
pupil records to a person without parental consent or under
judicial order, with certain exceptions. School districts are
required to permit access to records relevant to the legitimate
educational interests of specified requesters, including: a)
school officials and employees of the districts, members of a
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school attendance review board; b) officials and employees of
other public schools or school systems where the pupil intends
to or is directed to enroll;
c) other federal, state and local officials as specified; d)
parents of a pupil who is a dependent; e) a pupil 16 years of
age or older, or having completed the 10th grade, who requests
access; f) a district attorney, judge, or probation officer, in
relation to truancy proceedings; g) a district attorney's office
for consideration against a parent for failure to comply with
compulsory education laws; h) a probation officer, district
attorney, or counsel of record for a minor, in relation to a
criminal investigation or certain court proceedings; or, i) a
county placing agency when acting as an authorized
representative of a state or LEA. (Education Code § 49076)
State law authorizes school districts to release information
from pupil records to the following: a) appropriate persons in
connection with an emergency if the information is necessary to
protect the health or safety of a pupil or other person; b)
agencies or organizations in connection with the application of
a pupil for, or the receipt of, financial aid; c) the county
elections official for the identification of pupils who are
eligible to register to vote; d) accrediting associations in
order to carry out accrediting functions; e) organizations
conducting studies on behalf of educational agencies or
institutions for the purpose of developing, validating or
administering predictive tests, administering student aid
programs, and improving instruction; f) private schools or
school systems where the pupil is enrolled or intends to enroll;
g) a contractor or consultant with a legitimate educational
interest who has a formal written agreement or contract with the
school district regarding the provision of outsourced
institutional services or functions by the contractor or
consultant. (EC § 49076)
Existing law defines "directory information" as one or more of
the following: pupil's name, address, telephone number, date of
birth, email address, major field of study, participation in
officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height
of members of athletics teams, dates of attendance, degrees and
awards received, and the most recent previous public or private
school attended by the pupil. (EC § 49061)
School districts are required to adopt a policy identifying
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categories of directory information that may be released, and
state law authorizes directory information to be released
according to the local policy. School districts are required to
provide notice at least annually of the categories of
information that the school plans to release and of the
recipients. The release of directory information is prohibited
if the parent has notified the school district that the
information is not to be released. (EC § 49073)
Existing law requires school districts to notify parents in
writing of their rights, including the types of pupil records
kept by the district, the position of the official responsible
for the records, the policies for reviewing and expunging
records, and the criteria used by the district to define "school
officials and employees" and to determine "legitimate
educational interest." (EC § 49063)
The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act defines
"homeless children and youths" as children and youths who lack a
fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, and includes
children and youths who, among other situations, are sharing the
housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic
hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels,
trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative
adequate accommodations. Unaccompanied youth are considered
homeless pursuant to McKinney-Vento if not in the physical
custody of his/her parent or legal guardian. (United States
Code, Title 42, § 11431 et seq.)
Proposed Law: AB 1068 prohibits the release of directory
information for homeless pupils, and requires schools to permit
access to pupil records to a homeless pupil who is at least
14-years-old, and is unaccompanied. This bill specifically
prohibits the release of directory information regarding a pupil
identified as being homeless unless a parent, or pupil with
parental rights, has provided written consent for such release.
This bill also expands the existing requirement that school
districts permit access to pupil records relevant to the
legitimate educational interests of the requester, to permit
access for: 1) a pupil who is 14 years of age or older and is
both a homeless child or youth and an unaccompanied youth as
defined by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act; and, 2)
an individual who completes the Caregiver's Authorization
Affidavit and signs the affidavit for the purpose of enrolling a
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minor in school.
Staff Comments: Both state and federal laws govern the ability
of LEAs to disseminate directory information and to allow
individuals to access student records, and LEAs must have
policies in place that are consistent with those laws so that
school employees do not violate them. This bill makes changes to
existing laws, and LEAs will have to alter policies and
procedures to adhere to those changes and may have to train
relevant staff.
This bill specifically prohibits the release of directory
information regarding a pupil identified as being homeless
unless a parent, or pupil with parental rights, has provided
written consent for such release. This change could require LEAs
to implement a new process for verifying information and
documenting consent. This bill also expands the existing
requirement that school districts permit access to pupil
records, which will further necessitate altering policies and
procedures. Any additional workload and resources necessary to
implement this bill will likely be a reimbursable mandate.
The extent to which schools will incur enough additional
workload to merit a mandate reimbursement claim is unclear. The
expense to each LEA will vary depending on their size, number of
homeless youth served, the extent of their existing procedures,
and (likely) whether or not it serves pupils 14 years of age and
older. Staff notes, however, that school districts can aggregate
workload claims for all schools in their districts to meet the
state's minimum $1,000 claiming threshold. If even half of the
approximately 1,000 school districts California were to claim
$1,000 of one-time work to establish a system for implementing
this bill, it would result in $500,000 in reimbursable costs to
the state.