BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION Carol Liu, Chair 2013-2014 Regular Session BILL NO: AB 2141 AUTHOR: Hall AMENDED: May 23, 2014 FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 18, 2014 URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lynn Lorber NOTE: This bill has been referred to the Committees on Education and Public Safety. A "do pass" motion should include referral to the Committee on Public Safety. SUBJECT : Truancy mediation or prosecution: outcomes. SUMMARY This bill requires a state or local agency conducting a truancy-related mediation or prosecuting a student or parent for a truancy-related matter to provide the outcome of the case to the referring agency. BACKGROUND Current law: Truancy 1) Defines a truant as a student who is absent for three full days, or tardy or absent for more than a 30-minute period on three occasions, without a valid excuse in one school year. (EC § 48260) 2) Authorizes a school district in a county that does not have a school attendance review board (SARB) to notify the county district attorney or probation officer, and authorizes those entities to notify the parents of every truant that they may be subject to prosecution for failure to compel the attendance of the student. (EC § 48260.6) 3) Authorizes notification to the county district attorney or probation officer (in a county without a SARB) and authorizes those agencies to request the parents and the student attend a meeting to discuss the possible legal AB 2141 Page 2 consequences of the student's truancy. This is known as truancy mediation. (EC§48260.6) Habitual truancy 1) Defines a habitual truant as a student who has been reported as a truant three or more times per school year (absent or tardy without an excuse for at least five days). (EC § 48262) 2) Authorizes the school district to refer the student to, and requires the student to attend, a SARB or a truancy mediation program. The student may be within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court if the student does not successfully complete the truancy mediation program. (EC § 48264.5(c)) School attendance review boards 1) Authorizes, but does not require, a county and/or local school attendance review board (SARB) to be established. SARB membership must include parents, school districts, county probation, county welfare, county superintendent of schools, law enforcement, community-based youth services, and personnel representing school guidance, child welfare and attendance, school or county health care, and mental health. (EC § 48321) Prosecution of parents 1) Requires schools to refer a parent who does not ensure their student attends school as required by compulsory education laws to a SARB. Current law requires the SARB, if the parent fails to respond to directives or services, to direct the school district to file a criminal complaint. (EC § 48291) 2) Provides that any parent who fails to comply with compulsory education laws is guilty of an infraction. (EC § 48293 and Penal Code § 270.1) Data collection and reporting 1) Requires the Annual Report on Dropouts in California to include, when data is available, truancy rates and chronic absentee rates. AB 2141 Page 3 (EC § 48070.6) 2) Requires local control accountability plans (LCAPs) to include information addressing specific state priorities, including student engagement as measured by school attendance rates, chronic absenteeism rates, dropout rates and graduation rates. (EC § 52060 and § 52066) 3) Requires school districts to gather and transmit to the county superintendent of schools the number and types of referrals to school attendance review boards and of requests for petitions to the juvenile court. (EC § 48273) 4) Requires, contingent upon federal funding, the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CalPADS) to support local educational agencies (LEAs) in their efforts to identify and support students at risk of dropping out and be capable of issuing to LEAs periodic reports that include district, school, class and individual student reports on rates of absence and chronic absentees. Reporting student attendance and chronic absentee data for CalPADS is voluntary. (EC § 60901) ANALYSIS This bill requires a state or local agency conducting a truancy-related mediation or prosecuting a student or parent for a truancy-related matter to provide the outcome of the case to the referring agency. Specifically, this bill: 1) Requires a state or local agency conducting a truancy-related mediation or prosecuting a student or parent to provide the outcome of each referral to the school district, school attendance review board, county superintendent of schools, probation department, or any other agency that referred a truancy-related mediation, criminal complaint, or petition. 2) Defines "outcome" to include, but is not limited to, the act or action taken by a state or local authority with AB 2141 Page 4 respect to a truancy-related mediation, prosecution, criminal complaint, or petition. 3) Requires a state or local agency conducting a truancy-related mediation or prosecuting a student or parent to provide the outcome of each referral in anonymized format to the Attorney General upon request. 4) Provides that state and local agencies are to use the most cost-effective method possible including by electronic mail or telephone. 5) States legislative intent to determine the best evidence-based practices to reduce truancy, and that this bill is not intended to encourage additional referrals, complaints, petitions, or prosecutions, or to encourage more serious sanctions for students. STAFF COMMENTS 1) Closing the loop . This bill requires a state or local agency conducting a truancy-related mediation or prosecuting a student or parent for a truancy-related matter to provide the outcome of the case to the referring agency. Typically, school districts refer a student who is truant to the local or county school attendance review board (SARB). Some areas do not have a SARB but do have other truancy programs administered by the probation department of district attorney's office. Generally, many agencies participate in SARBs or other truancy programs, including school districts, but some methods of intervention (such as probation or criminal complaints) may not involve school personnel. It is very possible that school districts are not informed of the results of truancy hearings or mediation, or prosecution. This bill ensures the school district or other referring agency receives information about the dispensation of the case. 2) Then what ? It is not clear what referring agencies will do with the information about outcomes of truancy proceedings. A prior version of this bill would have required the agencies that receive the information to provide the county superintendent of schools with a report at the end of each school year. This bill states intent that the purpose is to collect information on AB 2141 Page 5 best practices to reduce truancy and not to encourage additional sanctions on pupils. 3) Broader structural issues . This bill does not address other gaps in truancy laws, some of which were highlighted in the Attorney General's 2013 report: a) Upon the initial truancy, school districts are authorized but not required to request the student and parent attend a meeting to discuss the root causes of the attendance issue and develop a joint plan to improve attendance. b) Local educational agencies (LEAs) are required to notify parents upon the first truancy but not upon the second truancy. c) LEAs are authorized but not required to refer a student to a SARB or a truancy mediation program. 4) Fiscal impact . According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill would impose unknown state-mandated local costs to local agencies, such as county probation departments to report the outcome of each referral. 5) Related legislation . AB 1643 (Buchanan) requires each county to have a school attendance review board. AB 1643 is scheduled to be heard in this Committee on June 18. AB 1672 (Holden) expands the data that local SARBs are currently required to submit to the county superintendent of schools, to include specific data regarding chronic absenteeism, and referrals to SARBs or other interventions. AB 1672 is scheduled to be heard in this Committee on June 25. AB 1866 (Bocanegra) expands data in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System to include chronic absentee numbers (in addition to existing requirement to report rates), and truancy numbers and rates. AB 1866 is scheduled to be heard by this Committee on June 18. AB 2141 Page 6 SB 1107 (Monning) requires the California Department of Education and Attorney General to report annually on specific information regarding truancy and chronic absenteeism in kindergarten through grade five. SB 1107 was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee. SB 1296 (Leno) prohibits a court from imprisoning, holding in physical confinement or placing in custody a minor for contempt if the contempt consists of the minor's failure to comply with a court order regarding truancy. SB 1296 is pending on the Assembly Floor. SUPPORT Attorney General of California Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office Los Angeles Unified School District Special Needs Network OPPOSITION None on file.