BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1338
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Date of Hearing: May 1, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 1338 (Buchanan) - As Amended: April 11, 2013
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill requires the governing board of a school district and
county office of education (COE) and the governing body of a
charter school, to adopt a policy on the reporting of child
abuse and the responsibilities of mandated reporters in
accordance with the Child Abuse and Neglect and Reporting Act
(CANRA). Specifically, this bill:
Requires each district, charter school and COE to review the
mandated reporting requirements of school employees with all
school personnel within the first six weeks of each school year.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)One-time GF/98 state reimbursable mandated costs, of at least
$500,000, to school districts, COEs, and governing bodies of
charter schools to adopt a policy on the reporting of child
abuse, as specified. There were 1,016 districts and COEs in
2011-12. Likewise, there are 1,066 charter schools in the
state; it is unknown, however, how many are governed by the
same body. For example, Aspire charter schools in Los Angeles
may govern more than one charter school.
2)Annual GF/98 state reimbursable mandated costs, of at least
$1.5 million, to school districts, COEs and charter schools
(charter school costs are not reimbursable) to review the
mandated reporting requirements with all school employees, as
specified. This assumes a portion of employees attend a half
hour meeting informing them of their responsibilities as a
mandated reporter. If a district, COE, or charter school
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decides to meet this requirement in another manner- this cost
may increase or decrease depending on the reported costs.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . Recent newspaper accounts have detailed severe
allegations of incidents involving children at school.
According to the author, "Too many incidents across the state
have shown us that school personnel are not always aware of
their duty to report incidents of child abuse and neglect.
This results in individual criminal and civil liability for
the employee, liability for the district, and most
importantly, does not protect children. Currently, all
teachers, aides, classified and administrative employees have
a duty to report under [CANRA]. Failure to make a report can
result in jail time and/or a $1,000 fine. The law is clear,
but school employees need regular reminders of their
responsibilities to maintain a safe school environment for
children."
2)Should the bill provide guidance to school districts, COEs,
and charter schools on how to annually review mandated
reporting requirements with its personnel ? The bill does not
provide any basic requirements for a district, COE, or charter
school to meet this requirement. For example, should the
employee be informed in writing? Under current law, upon
initial employment, mandated reporters are required to sign a
statement informing them of their responsibilities. This bill
requires an annual review. Without some guidance, districts,
COEs, or charter schools may decide to establish a one-hour
training, which would increase state reimbursable mandated
costs. The committee may wish to consider this issue.
3)Existing law requires reports of suspected child abuse or
neglect to be made by a mandated reporter to any police or
sheriff department, not including a school district policy or
security department, as specified. Statute defines a mandated
reporter, including the following specified individuals
associated with schools:
a) A teacher.
b) An instructional aide.
c) A teacher's aide or teacher's assistant employed by a
public or private school.
d) A classified employee of a public school.
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e) An administrative officer or supervisor of child welfare
and attendance, or a certificated pupil personnel employee
of a public or private school.
f) An employee of a COE or the State Department of
Education (SDE) whose duties bring the employee into
contact with children on a regular basis.
g) A Head Start program teacher.
h) An employee of a school district police or security
department.
i) A person who is an administrator or presenter of, or a
counselor in, a child abuse prevention program in a public
or private school.
j) An athletic coach, athletic administrator, or athletic
director employed by any public or private school that
provides any combination of instruction for kindergarten,
or grades 1 to 12, inclusive.
Current law encourages employers (including school districts,
and COEs) to provide their mandated reporter employees with
training in the duties required under CANRA, including
information on child abuse and neglect identification and
reporting. Regardless if employers provide this training to
their employees, they are required to provide these employees
(prior to employment) with a statement for their signature
informing them of their responsibilities as a mandated
reporter, as specified. Likewise, statute specifies mandated
reporter employees are responsible for the duties required
under CANRA whether or not they have been trained in these
responsibilities.
Current law also requires school districts that do not provide
mandated reporter training to their employees to report to SDE
the reasons why this training is not provided. According to
SDE, they have no record of any districts providing this
information. Therefore, school districts are presumably
providing this type of training.
4)Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Mandate . In 2009, the
Commission on State Mandates (CSM) decided that filing claims
under CANRA constituted a state reimbursable mandate for
school districts. Specifically, CSM determined the following
activities are reimbursable:
a) Informing a selected staff member of the staff of
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specified requirements prior to interviewing a suspected
victim of child abuse or neglect, if interviewed during
school hours, as specified.
b) Reporting to SDE the reasons why CANRA training is not
provided, as specified above.
Prior to the enactment of the K-12 Mandate Block Grant (see
below), the annual cost of this mandate was approximately
$14,000 GF/98.
This bill requires school districts, COEs, and charter schools
to adopt a policy on reporting and the responsibilities under
CANRA and review this information with all school personnel,
as specified. If the CSM determines these activities are
reimbursable for districts and COEs (charter schools are not
allowed to claim state mandated costs), costs for the existing
CANRA mandate will increase.
5)K-12 Mandate Block Grant . The 2012 Budget Act allocated
$166.6 million for this block grant. Essentially, a school
district, charter school, or county office of education may
choose to receive a per-pupil allocation to conduct existing
K-12 mandated activities, including those related to CANRA.
If the district, charter school, or COE chooses to receive
this allocation it forfeits its ability to claim mandate
reimbursement via the existing state process. School
districts received approximately $28 per pupil; charter
schools approximately $14 per pupil; and COEs approximately
$29 per pupil. The advantage of this block grant is school
districts will receive annual funding now versus waiting to
receive payment under the existing claims process, which the
state has deferred paying for a number of years.
According to the Legislative Analyst Office (LAO), 634 school
districts (approximately 67% of all districts), 35 COEs
(approximately 60% of all COEs), and 877 charter schools
(approximately 93% of charter schools) participated in the
block grant. Presumably if the requirements of this measure
are determined to be a state mandated program, its
requirements would be added to the block grant.
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Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081