BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1518 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 7, 2014 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION Joan Buchanan, Chair AB 1518 (Eggman) - As Introduced: January 16, 2014 [Note: This bill was double-referred to the Assembly Committee on Veterans' Affairs and was heard by that committee as it relates to issues under its jurisdiction.] SUBJECT : Military: National Guard: youth challenge program SUMMARY : Codifies authority for the existing California National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program, and requires certain geographic areas be served subject to funding, as specified. Specifically, this bill : 1) Requires the Adjutant General of the California National Guard (Adjutant General) to conduct a civilian youth opportunities program pursuant to Section 509 of Title 32 of the United States Code and subject to the availability of funding. 2) Directs that the program shall be known as "National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program," (Program). 3) Mandates that the Program shall consist of at least a 22-week residential program and a 12-month post-residential mentoring period. 4) Requires the Program to serve at risk teens in areas of the state, including, but not limited to, the San Joaquin Valley and Northern California. 5) States that the Program shall be subject to all of the following: (A) The Program shall seek to improve life skills and employment potential of participants by providing military-based leadership development, promoting fellowship and community service, developing life-coping skills and job skills, improving physical fitness, providing health and hygiene training, and assisting participants to receive a high school diploma or its equivalent. AB 1518 Page 2 (B) The Adjutant General may accept federal funding to implement the Program. The Adjutant General may appoint a director and other service members and employees, permanent or temporary, to operate the Program. (C) The Military Department shall enter into a memorandum of agreement with an appropriate school district or a county office of education for the purpose of providing educational services for students enrolled in the Program. The school district or county office of education with which the department contracts shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with any applicable requirements imposed by the Education Code. 1. Mandates that a new Program, except for the California Cadet Corps, may only be established as if funds are appropriated for that purpose. EXISTING LAW Section 509 of Title 32 of the United States Code provides that the Secretary of Defense may use the National Guard to conduct a civilian youth opportunities program, to be known as the "National Guard Youth Challenge Program", which shall consist of at least a 22-week residential program and a 12-month post-residential mentoring period. Military and Veterans Code section 532 provides that the "?Adjutant General may enter into a cooperative agreement with the governing board of a school district or a county office of education for the purpose of establishing, pursuant to existing statutory authority in the Education Code, a military academy to be operated as a charter school, pursuant to Part 26.8 (commencing with Section 47600) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, or as one of the existing alternative education options, available under the Education Code. The program would provide a structured, disciplined environment that would be conducive to learning in a college preparatory environment. In additional to academic skills, students would develop leadership, self-esteem, and a strong sense of community. An academy established pursuant to this section shall comply with the Education Code." This section further states that a "?new California National AB 1518 Page 3 Guard Youth Program, except for the California Cadet Corps, may only be established as provided by this section if funds are appropriated for purposes of the new program in the annual Budget Act or any other act." FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed non-fiscal, however, the Assembly Appropriations Committee has requested this bill be referred to them. If this bill is passed by the Assembly Education Committee, it will be referred to the Committee on Appropriations to consider the fiscal implications. COMMENTS : This bill codifies in state law the requirement that the Adjutant General conduct a Program in California subject to funding. There are two existing Programs already being so conducted in California, the Grizzly Youth ChalleNGe Academy, located near San Luis Obispo and the Sunburst Youth Challenge Academy located in Los Alamitos, California. These programs serve students from all over California, but National Guard staff state that many parents and students prefer not to be extremely distant from one another. This bill requires that Programs serve students in all areas of the state but also specifically in the San Joaquin Valley and Northern California. The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program is a national program. The program, an intensive residential and mentoring program for high school dropouts ages 16-18, currently operates in 27 states and Puerto Rico. The ChalleNGe program is authorized and funded through the Department of Defense, with management and oversight from the National Guard Bureau. The federal ChalleNGe program provides federal matching funds at 75 percent of the program cost to the implementing state. Program participants, called cadets, are housed together, often on a National Guard base or at a training center, for the first 22 weeks of the Program. During these weeks, the program immerses cadets in a quasi-military environment in which they focus on discipline, academic excellence, teamwork, physical fitness, leadership, and service to the community. The program encourages cadets to obtain a GED and to seek further education and training or employment during the one-year post-residential phase of the program. Individuals ages 16-18 who have dropped out or been expelled from high school and are U.S. citizens or legal residents, un- or underemployed, drug free, physically and mentally capable of participating in the AB 1518 Page 4 program, and have either no police record or a police record limited to juvenile status offenses are eligible to apply for admission to a program in their state of residence. A report released by the California Department of Education in 2009 shows that over a lifetime, high school dropouts have increased dependence on public assistance, lower earnings, poorer health, and higher rates of unemployment, mortality, criminal behavior, and incarceration. According to the California Research Project, all these factors generate substantial economic losses to the nation, state, and local communities. A 2009 National Labor Market study reported that California has 714,000 dropouts between the ages of 16-24 and is ranked the 6th worst in the nation. This crisis gained presidential attention in March of 2009 when President Barrack Obama stated "My budget invests in developing new efforts to give dropouts who want to return to school the help they need to graduate; and new ways to put those young men and women who have left school back on a pathway to graduation." (President Barack Obama, March 10, 2009.) According to the author: The high school dropout rate in San Joaquin County is 15.4%, exceeding the statewide average of 13.1%. There is a strong correlation between dropout rates and violent crime, and San Joaquin County also leads the state's other counties in youth and young adult homicides, with a per capita rate nearly three times California's overall rate. In 2012 the RAND Corporation published, A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program. RAND determined the Youth ChalleNGe Program is extremely cost effective, with a return on investment of $2.66 for every dollar spent. The two existing Programs are limited to graduating 750-800 students annually. As a result, these Programs must turn down more than 800 otherwise qualified candidates out of the more than 1,600 who apply each year. There is thus documented demand for the Programs far in excess of existing capacity. With more than 100,000 California high school students dropping out each year, adding a third Program would continue the AB 1518 Page 5 investment of serving California's high risk youth population. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : Support None received Opposition None received Analysis Prepared by : Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087