BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de León, Chair


          AB 1432 (Gatto) - School Employees: Training on Child Abuse  
          Reporting
          
          Amended: August 4, 2014         Policy Vote: Education 7-0; Pub  
          Safety 5-2
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: Yes
          Hearing Date: August 4, 2014                                 
          Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez                       
          
          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. 
          
          Bill Summary: AB 1432 requires local education agencies (LEAs)  
          to annually train employees on their duties regarding the  
          mandated reporting of child abuse and neglect, as specified.

          Fiscal Impact: 
              California Department of Education (CDE): Potentially  
              significant one-time costs, likely in the tens of thousands  
              of dollars, to coordinate with the Department of Social  
              Services (DSS) to update the DSS training module,  
              disseminate information to schools, and provide guidance on  
              the new requirements. Minor ongoing workload to provide  
              annual guidance.
              DSS: Minor and absorbable workload to coordinate with the  
              CDE to update the online training module. 
              Mandate: Substantial reimbursable mandate for all schools  
              to annually train employees on their duties as mandated  
              reporters.

          Background: Under the existing Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting  
          Act (CANRA), all school district teachers and employees are  
          considered to be "mandated reporters," including instructional  
          aides, teacher assistants, classified employees, and employees  
          of a school district police or security department. Mandated  
          reporters are required to report to any law enforcement  
          department knowledge or observations they may have of a child  
          they know or reasonably suspect to have been the subject of  
          child abuse or neglect. The individual report must be made by  
          telephone immediately or as soon as practicable with a written  
          or electronic follow up within 36 hours.  

          CANRA also specifies that employers are strongly encouraged to  








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          provide their employees who are mandated reporters with training  
          in the duties imposed, including training in child abuse and  
          neglect identification and training in child abuse and neglect  
          reporting.  School districts that do not train their employees  
          in the duties of mandated reporters are required to report to  
          the CDE the reasons why this training is not provided. 

          Additionally, current law requires any mandated reporter, with  
          the exception of child visitation monitors, prior to commencing  
          his or her employment, to sign a statement affirming that he or  
          she has knowledge of the mandated reporting procedures and will  
          comply with those provisions. Further, current law provides that  
          the statement shall inform the employee that he or she is a  
          mandated reporter and inform the employee of his or her  
          reporting obligations and confidentiality rights.  (Penal Code §  
          11164 et seq.)

          Existing law also requires the State Office of Child Abuse  
          Prevention to develop and disseminate information to all school  
          districts and district school personnel regarding the detection  
          of child abuse. The information may be disseminated by the use  
          of literature, as deemed suitable by the CDE. Staff development  
          seminars and any other appropriate means of instructing school  
          personnel in the detection of child abuse and neglect and the  
          proper action that school personnel should take in suspected  
          cases of child abuse and neglect, shall be developed by the CDE.  
           (Education Code § 44691)  

          Existing law also requires the State Office of Child Abuse  
          Prevention to develop and disseminate information to all school  
          districts and district school personnel regarding the detection  
          of child abuse. The information may be disseminated by the use  
          of literature, as deemed suitable by the CDE. Staff development  
          seminars and any other appropriate means of instructing school  
          personnel in the detection of child abuse and neglect and the  
          proper action that school personnel should take in suspected  
          cases of child abuse and neglect, shall be developed by the CDE.  
           (Education Code § 44691)  

          Proposed Law: This bill requires LEAs to annually train  
          employees on their duties regarding the mandated reporting of  
          child abuse and neglect. This bill requires the CDE, in  
          consultation with the Office of Child Abuse Prevention to do all  
          of the following:








          AB 1432 (Gatto)
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               1)         Develop and disseminate information to all  
                 school districts, county offices of education (COEs),  
                 state special schools and diagnostic centers, and charter  
                 schools, regarding the detection and reporting of child  
                 abuse.

               2)         Provide statewide guidance on the  
                 responsibilities of mandated reporters in accordance with  
                 the CANRA, as specified.

               3)         Develop appropriate means of instructing school  
                 personnel in the detection of child abuse and neglect and  
                 the proper action that school personnel should take in  
                 suspected cases of child abuse and neglect, including,  
                 but not limited to, an online training module to be  
                 provided by the DSS.

          This bill requires all school districts, COEs, state special  
          schools and diagnostic centers, and charter schools to do the  
          following:

               1)     Provide annual training, as specified, to their  
                 employees and persons working on their behalf who are  
                 mandated reporters, as defined.

               2)     Develop a process for all persons required to  
                 receive training to provide proof of completing the  
                 training within the first six weeks of each school year  
                 or within the first six weeks of that person's  
                 employment.

               3)     Requires a school district, COE, state special  
                 school and diagnostic center, and charter school that  
                 does not use the online training module provided by DSS  
                 to report the training being used in its place to the  
                 CDE. 

          Staff Comments: In order to implement this bill, the DSS will  
          need to (in consultation with the CDE) update its online  
          training module to align with educator needs, to provide it to  
          schools. The DSS has a contract with the Chadwick Center for  
          Children and Families at Rady Children's Hospital, to house and  
          operate the online mandated reporter training module, and  








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          indicates that the Chadwick Center would absorb the workload to  
          do the update. The CDE will then develop statewide guidance on  
          implementation, as well as information about detecting and  
          reporting child abuse and neglect, and disseminate the  
          information. These activities will take significant CDE staff  
          time. Ongoing workload to provide updates to statewide guidance,  
          training module, and information on child abuse and neglect  
          would likely be minor.

          The most significant costs of this bill will be its requirements  
          on LEAs to annually train their employees through the  
          DSS-provided training module or other local training option. The  
          annual training requirement will likely be deemed by the  
          Commission on State Mandates to be reimbursable, and that would  
          apply to all LEAs, even if they already provide annual mandated  
          reporter training. There are more than 300,000 certificated  
          school employees, and more than 500,000 classified employees. If  
          each one completed a 30-minute training on mandate reporting,  
          annual reimbursable costs for staff time would likely exceed $50  
          million (General Fund). LEAs would also incur reimbursable costs  
          to develop and implement a process for providing proof of  
          completion.