BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2141
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2141 (Hall and Bonta)
As Amended May 23, 2014
Majority vote
EDUCATION 4-1 APPROPRIATIONS 12-0
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|Ayes:|Buchanan, Gonzalez, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Nazarian, Williams | |Bradford, |
| | | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Holden, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Weber |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Chávez | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires a state or local agency conducting a
truancy-related mediation or prosecuting a pupil or a pupil's
parent or legal guardian to provide the outcome of each referral
to the agency that made a referral. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires a state or local agency conducting a truancy-related
mediation or prosecuting a pupil or a pupil's parent or legal
guardian to use the most cost-effective method possible,
including, but not limited to, by electronic mail or
telephone, to make the report to the school district, school
attendance review board (SARB), county superintendent of
schools, probation department, or any other agency that
referred a truancy-related mediation, criminal complaint, or
petition with the outcome of each referral.
2)Specifies that for the purposes of this bill, "outcome"
includes, but is not limited to, the act or action taken by a
state or local authority with respect to a truancy-related
mediation, prosecution, criminal complaint, or petition.
3)Specifies that the requirements pursuant to this bill apply to
referrals made pursuant to compulsory education and child
welfare laws specified in the Education Code, Penal Code and
Welfare and Institutions Code.
4)Requires a state or local authority conducting a
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truancy-related mediation or prosecuting a pupil or a pupil's
parent or legal guardian to, upon request, provide the
Attorney General (AG) with the outcome of each referral in
anonymized format.
5)Expresses the intent of the Legislature to determine the best
evidence-based practices to reduce truancy. Specifies that
nothing in this bill is intended to encourage additional
referrals, complaints, petitions, or prosecutions, or to
encourage more serious sanctions for pupils.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, unknown state-mandated local costs to local agencies,
such as county probation departments to report the outcome of
each referral. Probation departments are currently required to
notice the referring agency if no action is taken, but there is
no requirement to notice if action is taken. This bill adds the
requirement to notice the referring agency of the outcome,
thereby creating additional workload. The workload would be
determined by how many referrals a probation department
received.
COMMENTS : California's compulsory education law requires all
students between the ages of six and 18 to attend school
full-time and requires their parents and legal guardians to be
responsible for ensuring that children attend school. In
2011-12, the California Department of Education reported a
truancy rate of 28.5%, down from 29.76% in 2010-11; with 1.829
million students out of a total enrollment of 6.2 million
considered truants.
A student who is absent from school without a valid excuse three
full days in one school year or tardy or absent for more than
any 30-minute period during the schoolday without a valid excuse
on three occasions in one school year, or any combination
thereof, is considered a truant. Parents or legal guardians are
notified when their children has been classified as a truant and
are provided specified information, including a reminder of
their obligation to compel the attendance of pupils at school,
that parents or legal guardians who fail to meet this obligation
may be guilty of an infraction and subject to prosecution, that
alternative educational programs are available, and that the
parents or the legal guardians have the right to meet with
appropriate school personnel to discuss solutions to the pupil's
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truancy.
Existing law specifies actions that may or shall be undertaken
each time a truancy report is required. Existing law authorizes
a peace officer to give a written warning upon a first truancy
report. The record of the warning is kept for two years and may
be transferred to a new school if the pupil changes school.
Upon a pupil's third truancy in a school year and after a school
or district personnel has made a conscientious effort to meet
with the parent and pupil, a pupil is classified as a habitual
truant and may be referred to a SARB or to the local probation
officer. A SARB can be formed by a county office of education,
a school district, or by two or more school districts, and can
be comprised of representatives of school districts, county
social services agencies, and law enforcement agencies. SARBs
were devised to address pupil attendance and behavioral problems
by investigating the reasons for the problems and referring
students and/or parents or guardians to community or social
services or to law enforcement, if necessary. SARBs may also
refer a pupil to a truancy mediation program, whereby the
district attorney or the probation officer may notify the
parents or guardians that they may be subject to prosecution for
failure to compel the pupil to attend school, or request the
pupil and his or her parents or guardians to attend a meeting at
the district attorney's office or at the probation department.
A fourth truancy puts the pupil within the jurisdiction of the
juvenile court and may deem the pupil a ward of the court. If
the pupil is adjudged a ward of the court, the pupil may be
required to do court-approved community service, attend a
court-approved truancy prevention program, have his or her
driving privileges suspended or revoked, and/or pay a fine of
$100. Parents or legal guardians in charge of any pupil who
fails to compel a pupil to attend school is guilty of an
infraction and may be fined between $100 and $500 based upon the
number of convictions. Under the Penal Code, a parent or
guardian of a pupil of in kindergarten through grade eight and
who is subject to compulsory education, whose child is a chronic
truant, who has failed to reasonably supervise and encourage the
pupil's school attendance, and who has been offered
language-accessible support services to address the pupil's
truancy is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not
exceeding $2,000, or by imprisonment in the county jail not
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exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. A
parent or guardian guilty of a misdemeanor may participate in
the deferred entry of judgment program.
This bill is part of a package of truancy-related bills
sponsored by 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. In the
course of conducting the report, the AG found that attendance,
truancy, and SARB data were not readily available.
Consequently, several of the bills sponsored by the AG,
including this bill, focus on data collection.
This bill focuses on getting information on cases that have been
referred to state or local agencies conducting a truancy-related
mediation or prosecuting a pupil or a pupil's parent or legal
guardian (law enforcement agencies). Specifically, the bill
requires state or local agencies to report the outcome of each
referral to the referring agency, which could include the school
district, SARB, county superintendent of schools, probation
department, or any other agency that made the referral, using
the most cost-effective method (e.g., by electronic mail or
telephone). The bill also requires state or local agencies to
provide the AG with the information in an anonymized format upon
his or her request.
The authors state, "AB 2141 would enhance communication
regarding truancy cases referred for mediation and prosecution
so that school districts, superintendents, School Attendance
Review Boards, the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the
Attorney General can develop effective truancy prevention and
intervention strategies."
Public Counsel opposes the bill and states, "We recognize the
authors and sponsor are hoping to collect data about current
truancy proceedings. However, without proper language regarding
the intended use for the data collected and the purposes for its
collection, we are concerned that the bill will have the
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unintended effect of increasing prosecutions of student and
parents/legal guardians and forcing more young people into the
juvenile justice system, an outcome which will increase
students' likelihood of dropout."
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0003808