BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SCR 67
Author: Liu (D), et al.
Amended: 8/26/13
Vote: 21
SUBJECT : School Attendance Awareness Month
SOURCE : Children Now
Superintendent of Public Instruction
DIGEST : This resolution designates September 2013 as School
Attendance Awareness Month, and encourages public officials,
educators, and communities in California to observe the month
with appropriate activities and programs.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/26/13 clarify this resolution is
relative to school attendance, correct a misspelling, and
specify that the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the authors and coauthors for appropriate
distribution.
ANALYSIS : This resolution makes the following legislative
findings:
1.Good school attendance is essential to pupil achievement and
graduation, and systemic approaches are needed to reduce
chronic absenteeism rates in California, with a focus starting
as early as kindergarten.
2.The impact of chronic absence hits low-income pupils and
children of color particularly hard if they do not have the
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resources to make up for lost time in the classroom.
Low-income pupils and children of color are more likely to
face systemic barriers to getting to school, such as
unreliable transportation, lack of access to health care,
unstable or unaffordable housing, and even unfair disciplinary
policies.
3.Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, Attorney
General Kamala D. Harris, and Secretary of California Health
and Human Services Diana Dooley jointly hosted an interagency
forum on chronic absence to encourage state and local
collaboration to improve the overall health, safety, and
well-being of our children by promoting public awareness and
reforms that improve school attendance.
4.The Legislature enacted SB 1357 (Steinberg, Chapter 704,
Statutes of 2010) to establish a definition and reporting
mechanisms for chronic absence and AB 97 (Assembly Budget
Committee, Chapter 47, Statutes of 2013) to establish chronic
absence as a state priority for our schools to be included in
the recently enacted local control accountability plans.
School attendance can be improved, and chronic absence
significantly reduced, when schools, parents, and communities
work together to monitor and promote good attendance and
address hurdles that keep children from getting to school.
This resolution designates September 2013 as School Attendance
Awareness Month, and encourages public officials, educators, and
communities in California to observe the month with appropriate
activities and programs.
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/30/13)
Children Now (co-source)
Superintendent of Public Instruction (co-source)
Bay Area Council
California School Health Centers Association
California State PTA
The Education Trust - West
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Partnership for Children and Youth
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PQ:nl 8/30/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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