BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1643 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 1643 (Buchanan) As Amended August 19, 2014 Majority vote ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |60-9 |(May 29, 2014) |SENATE: |35-0 |(August 25, | | | | | | |2014) | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: ED. SUMMARY : Adds a representative of the county district attorney's office and a representative of the county public defender's office to county and local school attendance review boards (SARBs) and makes changes to the provisions governing SARBs. Specifically, this bill : 1)Specifies that a county SARB may accept referrals or requests for hearing services from one or more school districts within its jurisdiction. Specifies that a county SARB may be operated through a consortium or partnership of a county with one or more school districts or between two or more counties. 2)Requires a representative of the county district attorney's office and a representative of the county public defender's office to be added to the county SARBs, or, if more than one county is represented, a representative from each county's district attorney's office may be included. 3)Specifies that for the purposes of conducting hearings, the chairperson of the county SARB is authorized to determine the members needed at a hearing, based on the needs of the pupil, in order to address attendance or behavioral problems. 4)Specifies that for the purposes of conducting hearings, a county SARB may meet as needed. 5)Authorizes a representative of the county district attorney's office and a representative of the county public defender's office to be added to the local SARBs, or if more than one county is represented, a representative from each county's district attorney's office may be included. The Senate amendments strike the requirement that a county SARB AB 1643 Page 2 be established in each county and strike all the provisions related to the requirement. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, potentially significant local costs to counties that have SARBs and elect to continue them, to ensure compliance with these provisions. Likely minor additional costs to the California Department of Education (CDE) to provide technical assistance to county offices of education to ensure a county SARB complies with the requirements of this bill. COMMENTS : When this bill passed the Assembly, the bill required a SARB to be established in each county. Amendments adopted by the Senate Appropriations Committee removed the requirement and reverted the bill back to current law authorizing county SARBs to be established in each county. The current version of the bill adds a representative of the county district attorney's office and a representative of the public defender's office to the county SARB and authorizes the two representatives to be included in a local SARB. This bill also makes a few clarifications regarding the operations of county SARBs, including that a county SARB may accept referrals for hearings from school districts and may be operated through a consortium with school districts or other counties. California's compulsory education law requires all students between the ages of six and 18 to attend school full-time and their parents and legal guardians to be responsible for ensuring that children attend school. A student who is absent from school without a valid excuse for more than 30 minutes on three days in a school year is considered a truant. Parents or legal guardians are notified when their children has been classified as a truant and are reminded of their obligation to compel the attendance of pupils at school. Upon a pupil's third truancy in a school year and following a district's conscientious effort to hold a conference with the parent or legal guardian of the pupil and the pupil, a pupil is classified as a habitual truant and may be referred to a SARB or to the local probation officer. Upon a fourth truancy, students and/or their parents or legal guardians may be fined. In 2011-12, the CDE reported a truancy rate of 28.5%, with 1.829 million students out of a total enrollment of 6.2 million considered truants. According to the CDE, students who are chronically absent in lower grades are much less likely to be proficient readers and AB 1643 Page 3 have higher levels of suspensions. Chronic absence in the sixth grade is the most predictive indicator that a student will not graduate from high school. California established a SARB process over 30 years ago to provide intensive guidance and coordinated community services to meet the needs of students with school attendance or school behavior problems in an effort to prevent a student from dropping out of school. A county superintendent of schools may convene a county SARB. A county SARB or a local school district governing board located in areas where there is not a county SARB may authorize the establishment of one or more local SARBs. Some areas of the state have both county and local SARBs while, in other areas, a county or regional local SARB provides services to multiple school districts. The Superintendent of Public Instruction is required to coordinate and administer a state SARB to encourage the cooperation, coordination and development of strategies to support county SARBs in carrying out their responsibilities to establish local SARBs, which may include training of SARB personnel. SARBs meet with referred pupils and their parents or legal guardians to assess their personal and family situations that may cause pupils to be tardy or absent from school on a regular basis and identify community or public resources that may help pupils improve their attendance in school, or refer pupils to law enforcement agencies, if necessary. Successful SARBs are those that have a prevention and intervention focus with the goal of getting students back in school. Existing law requires county SARBs and authorizes local SARBs to include, but need not be limited to, specified members from school, local law enforcement, and community and county service agencies, as follows: 1)A parent. 2)A representative of school districts. 3)A representative of county probation department. 4)A representative of county welfare department. 5)A representative of county superintendent of schools. 6)A representative of law enforcement agencies. AB 1643 Page 4 7)A representative of community-based youth service centers. 8)A representative of school guidance personnel. 9)A representative of child welfare and attendance personnel. 10)A representative of school or county health care personnel. 11)A representative of school, county, or community mental health personnel. When SARBs were initially established, county SARBs received funding from the state. Due to budget constraints, funding was eliminated over 20 years ago. Some county SARBs have been eliminated as a result of the loss of funding. There is no statewide data available, but it is estimated that between 30% to 50% of the 58 counties do not have SARBs. It is unclear how many local SARBs are established in counties where there are no county SARBs. This bill is part of a package of truancy-related bills sponsored by Attorney General (AG) Kamala Harris. Last fall, the AG's office released a report titled, In School and On Track on truancy of elementary school kids. Calling it a crisis, the AG argues that truancy at the elementary level has negative impacts on the students, who are more likely to drop out of high school; on public safety, when students become more likely to become involved with gangs, substance abuse, and incarceration; on school districts, who lose attendance dollars; and on the economy, due to lost economic productivity and revenues. Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN: 0004921