BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                            



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                                    THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 1068
          Author:   Bloom (D)
          Amended:  4/1/13 in Assembly
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE  :  9-0, 6/26/13
          AYES:  Liu, Wyland, Block, Correa, Hancock, Hueso, Huff,  
            Monning, Torres

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  7-0, 8/30/13
          AYES:  De León, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  78-0, 5/29/13 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    Pupil records

           SOURCE  :     National Association for the Education of Homeless  
          Youth and 
                      Children


           DIGEST  :    This bill 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.

          ANALYSIS  :    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  
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          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 conducting truancy proceedings, a criminal  
          investigation, auditing or evaluating an educational program, or  
          in relation to the application for financial aid.  

          Existing law prohibits a school district from permitting access  
          to pupil records to a person without parental consent or under  
          judicial order, with some exceptions:

          1. 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 school attendance review board and any  
                volunteer aide, as specified, provided that the person  
                has a legitimate educational interest to inspect a  
                record.

             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 18 years of age or older 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 in regard to declaring a person a ward  

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                of the court or involving a violation of a condition of  
                probation.

             I.    A county placing agency when acting as an authorized  
                representative of a state or local educational agency.  

          2. School districts are authorized 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 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.    Officials and employees of 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.  

          Existing law:

          1. Requires school districts to adopt a policy identifying  
             categories of directory information that may be released, and  
             authorizes directory information to be released according to  
             the local policy.  School districts are required to provide  

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             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.  

          2. 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.  

          3. 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."  

          4. Establishes the Caregiver's Authorization Affidavit for the  
             purpose of authorizing enrollment of a minor in school and to  
             authorize school-related medical care.  This affidavit  
             requests the name of the minor, the minor's birthdate, the  
             adult's name, and the adult's home address at which he/she  
             and the minor are living.  This affidavit must also be signed  
             by the adult attesting that he/she is 18 years of age or  
             older and that the named minor lives in the adult's home.   
             The affidavit states that the declaration does not affect the  
             rights of the minor's parents or legal guardian regarding the  
             care, custody, and control of the minor, and does not mean  
             that the caregiver has legal custody of the minor.  

          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 and who is not in the  

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          physical custody of his/her parent or legal guardian.  

          This bill 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.  Specifically, this bill:  

          1. 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.

          2. Expands the existing requirement that school districts permit  
             access to pupil records relevant to the legitimate  
             educational interests of the requester, to permit access to  
             the following individuals:

             A.    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. 

             B.    An individual who completes the Caregiver's  
                Authorization Affidavit and signs the affidavit for the  
                purpose of enrolling a minor in school.
           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  Yes

          According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:

            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.

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  8/30/13)

          National Association for the Education of Homeless Youth and  
          Children (source)
          California Coalition for Youth
          California Federation of Teachers
          California Partnership to End Domestic Violence
          Children Now


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           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :    According to the author, "Unaccompanied  
          homeless youth are youth experiencing homelessness who are not  
          in the physical custody of a parent or guardian.  Most of these  
          students have left home due to severe family dysfunction,  
          including abuse and neglect.  Unaccompanied youth who have not  
          yet turned 18 are not considered 'eligible students' and  
          therefore cannot access their own educational records and cannot  
          give consent for the school to disclose their records to  
          advocates, community agencies, health care providers, tutoring  
          programs, or other agencies or individuals that do not fall  
          within one of Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act  
          exceptions."

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  78-0, 5/29/13
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,  
            Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,  
            Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway,  
            Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,  
            Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,  
            Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández,  
            Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal,  
            Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell,  
            Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson,  
            Perea, V. Manuel 
          Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting,  
            Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada,  
            John A. Pérez
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Holden, Vacancy


          PQ:d  8/30/13   Senate Floor Analyses 

                           SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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