BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 2382 (Bradford) - CalWORKs eligibility: truancy.
Amended: May 6, 2014 Policy Vote: Human Services 3-1
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014
Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2382 would eliminate the penalty assessed on
CalWORKs recipients for their children's truancy, if those
children are less than 16 years of age. Specifically, this bill:
Deletes the requirement that all children younger than 16
years of age in a CalWORKs assistance unit for whom school
attendance is compulsory attend school, as specified.
Removes the penalty reducing the CalWORKs grant by the grant
amount of all adults in the assistance unit (AU) when it is
determined by a county that a child under the age of 16 years
is not regularly attending school as required.
Removes the requirement that a recipient provide the county
with documentation from the school or school district of
regular attendance of children in the AU for children under 16
years of age, as specified.
Requires a county to inform a family of how to enroll a child
16 years of age or older in a continuation school and screen
the family for eligibility for family stabilization services
if the county determines that the child is a chronic truant,
as specified. Further requires the county to document the
provision of information and screening.
Revises the requirement that a county reduce the CalWORKs
grant by the needs of a child 16 years of age or older if the
county determines the child is not regularly attending school,
to require the reduction only if the county is informed by a
school district or county school attendance review board
(SARB) that the child is a chronic truant, subject to
specified exceptions.
Fiscal Impact:
Major ongoing costs of approximately $4 million (General Fund)
annually in additional CalWORKs grant costs that otherwise
would have been withheld for cases with a child reported
truant from school. This assumes 4,700 cases will receive aid
as a result of removing the penalty for specified cases.
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Unknown, potentially significant ongoing CalWORKs costs
(General Fund) due to the removal of the requirement in some
counties to provide documentation from the school or school
district of regular attendance of all children in the AU.
Ongoing significant state-reimbursable county administrative
costs to provide information, screen families for
stabilization services, and document the mandated activities
for children 16 years of age or older. These administrative
costs would be offset to a degree by the removal of the
requirement for applicants and recipients to provide
documentation from school districts of regular attendance at
school of all eligible children in the AU.
One-time costs (General Fund) for automation changes to the
Statewide Automated Welfare Systems (SAWS) for reprogramming
based on revised sanction criteria.
Minor impact to Average Daily Attendance (ADA) costs (General
Fund*) to the extent the removal of the penalty for truancy of
children ages 6 - 15 years results in fewer children attending
school.
*Proposition 98 (General Fund)
Background: Existing law provides that all children in a
CalWORKs AU for whom school attendance is compulsory, with an
exception for individuals eligible for the Cal-Learn Program,
shall be required to attend school. Applicants for and
recipients of CalWORKs are to be informed of the attendance
requirement and it is required to be included in the recipients'
welfare-to-work plan. (WIC § 11253.5(a),(b).)
Under existing law, a CalWORKs recipient is required to provide
the county with documentation routinely available from the
school or school district of regular attendance of all
applicable children in the AU when the county determines it is
appropriate. (WIC § 11253.5(c).)
Under existing law, if a county determines that any eligible
child under the age of 16 years of age is not regularly
attending school as required, the needs of all adults in the AU
shall not be considered in computing the grant of the family
unless it has been determined by the county that good cause
exists. (WIC § 11253.5(d).)
Under existing law, if a county determines that any child in the
AU who is 16 years of age or older is not regularly attending
school as required, or participating in a welfare to work plan,
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the needs of the child shall not be considered in computing the
grant of the family unless good cause exists.
Effective January 1, 2011, changes to the Education Code and
Penal Code allow for financial and civil penalties for students
and parents whose children are determined to be chronically
truant. Under existing law, the definition of a chronic truant
is any pupil subject to compulsory full-time education or to
compulsory continuation education who is absent from school
without a valid excuse for ten percent or more of the school
days in one school year (or 18 days), as specified.
Proposed Law: This bill would eliminate the penalty assessed on
CalWORKs recipients for their children's truancy, if those
children are less than 16 years of age. Specifically, this bill:
Deletes the requirement that all children younger than 16
years of age in a CalWORKs assistance unit for whom school
attendance is compulsory attend school, as specified.
Removes the penalty reducing the CalWORKs grant by the grant
amount of all adults in the AU when it is determined by a
county that a child under the age of 16 years is not regularly
attending school as required.
Requires a county to inform a family of how to enroll a child
16 years of age or older in a continuation school and screen
the family for eligibility for family stabilization services
if the county determines that the child is a chronic truant,
as specified. Further requires the county to document the
provision of information and screening.
Revises the requirement that a county reduce the CalWORKs
grant by the needs of a child 16 years of age or older if the
county determines the child is not regularly attending school,
to require the reduction only if the county is informed by a
school district or county SARB that the child is a chronic
truant, subject to specified exceptions.
Prior Legislation: AB 814 (Bradford) 2013 was similar to this
measure but also authorized counties to establish a program
providing an incentive to teenagers and young adults to earn a
high school diploma or its equivalent. This bill was held on the
Suspense File of the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.
SB 1317 (Leno) Chapter 647/2010 defined a chronic truant as a
pupil subject to compulsory full-time education who is absent
from school without a valid excuse for 10 percent or more days
within the school year. Additionally, the bill established that
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a parent who fails to reasonably supervise and encourage a
pupil's required school attendance, after being offered
language-accessible 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 exceeding one
year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
Staff Comments: By
limiting the imposition of a grant penalty on CalWORKs cases in
which a child is reported as truant to only those cases with a
child age 16 or older, this bill would increase CalWORKs grant
costs on an ongoing basis. According to data from 2013,
approximately 4,600 CalWORKs cases were penalized due to a child
under the age of 16 years reported truant. Utilizing the
difference in the average grant for AUs of two and three for
one-parent cases and the difference in the average grant for AUs
of three and four for two-parent cases, annual costs for these
cases that would no longer be penalized would be about $4
million.
CalWORKs recipients in some counties are required to turn in
documentation from the school district that their children are
attending school before receiving or continuing to receive
benefits, however, this bill deletes this requirement for
children under 16 years of age. To the extent this requirement
is an existing barrier to CalWORKs recipients receiving or
retaining aid, the removal of this requirement could potentially
result in significant CalWORKs costs due to the removal of this
program requirement. The number of cases potentially impacted by
this provision of the bill is unknown, but could be significant.
By requiring a county to inform a family of how to enroll a
child 16 years of age or older in a continuation school, screen
the family for eligibility for family stabilization services if
the county determines that the child is a chronic truant, and
document the provision of information and screening, this bill
creates a state-reimbursable mandate. While it is unknown with
certainty how many children age 16 years or older would require
these services, for every 500 children (less than 10 per county
per year) who require these services, and assuming two hours of
time are required to complete the mandated activities, costs
would exceed $850,000 annually.
The Department of Education (CDE) anticipates the provisions of
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this bill will result in a minor impact to ADA in districts with
high poverty rates.