BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó






                         SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                                Carol Liu, Chair
                           2013-2014 Regular Session
                                        

          BILL NO:       SB 177
          AUTHOR:        Liu
          INTRODUCED:    February 6, 2013
          FISCAL COMM:   Yes            HEARING DATE:  April 3, 2013
          URGENCY:       No             CONSULTANT:Lynn Lorber

           NOTE :   This bill has been referred to the Committees on  
          Education and 
                  Human Services.  A "do pass" motion should include  
          referral to the 
                  Committee on Human Services.

           SUBJECT  :  Homeless Youth Education Success Act.
          
           SUMMARY
           
          This bill requires the Department of Education and  
          Department of Social Services to convene a workgroup  
          regarding the educational support of homeless youth, and  
          restates federal law regarding the immediate enrollment of  
          homeless youth and posting of the educational rights of  
          homeless youth. 

           BACKGROUND
           
          The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Children and Youths  
          Program requires state educational agencies to ensure that  
          homeless children and youth have equal access to the same  
          free public education as is provided to other children and  
          youth.  States are required to review and undertake steps  
          to revise any laws, regulations, practices, or policies  
          that may act as barriers to the enrollment, attendance, or  
          success in school of homeless children and youth.  
          (United States Code, Title 42, § 11431 et seq.)

          The McKinney-Vento Act requires each local educational  
          agency to designate a staff person as a liaison for  
          homeless children and youth, and carry out specific duties,  
          such as ensuring immediate enrollment, access to  








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          educational opportunities offered to other students, and  
          providing notice of the rights of homeless youth.  (42 USC  
          § 11432(g)(1)(j)(ii))

          Current state law generally mirrors the federal  
          McKinney-Vento Act.  State law relative to evidence of  
          residency prohibits those provisions from being construed  
          as limiting access to pupil enrollment in a school district  
          as otherwise provided by law, including immediate  
          enrollment and attendance guaranteed to a homeless child or  
          youth without any proof of residency or other  
          documentation.  
          (Education Code § 48204.1)

          Current state law, consistent with the McKinney-Vento Act,  
          prohibits schools from requiring proof of residency of a  
          parent of an unaccompanied youth, and requires schools to  
          accept a declaration of residency executed by the  
          unaccompanied youth in lieu of a declaration of residency  
          executed by his or her parent or legal guardian.  (EC §  
          48204.1)

          Current law requires that a foster child who changes  
          residences pursuant to a court order or decision of a child  
          welfare worker to be immediately deemed to meet all  
          residency requirements for participation in interscholastic  
          sports or other extracurricular activities.  Current law  
          also requires educators, county placing agencies, care  
          providers, advocates, and the juvenile courts to work  
          together to maintain stable school placement and to ensure  
          that each pupil who is in foster care, or who is homeless,  
          is placed in the least restrictive educational programs,  
          and has access to the academic resources, services, and  
          extracurricular and enrichment activities that are  
          available to all pupils, including interscholastic sports  
          administered by the California Interscholastic Federation.   
          (EC § 48850)

           ANALYSIS
           
           This bill  requires the Department of Education and  
          Department of Social Services to convene a workgroup  
          regarding the educational support of homeless youth, and  








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          restates federal law regarding the immediate enrollment of  
          homeless youth and posting of the educational rights of  
          homeless youth.  Specifically, this bill:

          1)   Requires the California Department of Education (CDE)  
               and the Department of Social Services to convene a  
               workgroup to adopt policies and practices to support  
               homeless children and youths and to ensure that child  
               abuse and neglect reporting requirements do not create  
               barriers to the school enrollment and attendance of  
               homeless children or youth, including but not limited  
               to, ensuring that a student who is a homeless child or  
               youth is not reported to law enforcement by school  
               personnel if the sole reason for the report is the  
               student's homelessness.

          2)   Restates the federal requirement that the local  
               educational agency (LEA) liaison for homeless children  
               and youths ensure that public notice of the  
               educational rights of homeless children and youths is  
               disseminated in schools within the liaison's LEA that  
               provide services pursuant to the federal  
               McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.

          3)   Extends to homeless children or youths the existing  
               requirements specific to foster youth that requires  
               those students be immediately deemed to meet all  
               residency requirements for participation in  
               interscholastic sports or other extracurricular  
               activities. 

          4)   References the federal definition of "homeless child  
               or youth" and "homeless children and youths."

           STAFF COMMENTS
           
           1)   Need for the bill  .  According to the author, "Typical  
               school policies such as waiting lists and requiring  
               parental signatures pose barriers to the enrollment of  
               homeless youth.  Since homeless youth by definition  
               live apart from their parents and legal guardians,  
               they generally attempt to enroll in school  
               independently or with the assistance of a friend,  








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               relative, or mentor."

           2)   Mandated reporting laws  .  This bill requires a  
               workgroup to be convened for the purpose of developing  
               policies and practices that, among other things,  
               ensure that child abuse and neglect reporting  
               requirements do not create barriers to school  
               enrollment and attendance of homeless youth. Current  
               law, the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act,  
               requires various professionals, including teachers,  
               instructional aides and classified school employees,  
               to report to law enforcement or child welfare  
               officials suspected cases of child abuse or neglect. 

          "General neglect" is defined by the Child Abuse and Neglect  
               Reporting Act as the negligent failure of a person  
               having the care or custody of a child to provide  
               adequate food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or  
               supervision where no physical injury to the child has  
               occurred.

          The federal McKinney-Vento Act defines "homeless children  
               and youths" as children and youths who lack a fixed,  
               regular, and adequate nighttime residence, and  
               includes children and youths who, among other  
               situations, are sharing the housing of other persons  
               due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a  
               similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer  
               parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of  
               alternative adequate accommodations.

          Homeless youth are not necessarily always in situations  
               that meet the definition of neglect pursuant to  
               mandated reporting laws yet may be subject to  
               reporting to law enforcement or child welfare  
               officials.  This bill requires a workgroup to be  
               convened to develop policies and practices that remove  
               possible barriers to the enrollment and attendance  
               such as mandated reporting solely due to homelessness  
               when in fact the youth may not be neglected or at risk  
               of harm.  This bill does not amend mandated reporting  
               laws.









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           3)   Eligibility for interscholastic athletics  .  Current  
               law states legislative intent that all students in  
               foster care and those who are homeless have access to  
               the academic resources, services, and extracurricular  
               and enrichment activities that are available to all  
               students, including interscholastic sports  
               administered by the California Interscholastic  
               Federation (CIF).  This bill extends to homeless youth  
               existing law that deems foster youth to meet residency  
               requirements for participation in interscholastic  
               sports or other extracurricular activities.  It  
               appears unlikely that students would falsely claim  
               homelessness to get around California Interscholastic  
               Federation (CIF) residency and eligibility rules, as  
               the CIF currently has a process to review so-called  
               hardship claims.  

           4)   Most of this bill restates federal law  .  This bill  
               extends to homeless youth existing law that deems  
               foster youth to meet residency requirements for  
               participation in interscholastic sports or other  
               extracurricular activities.  This bill also requires  
               public schools, including charter schools and county  
               offices of education to immediately enroll a homeless  
               child or youth seeking enrollment.  The federal  
               McKinney-Vento Act, and state law, guarantees the  
               immediate enrollment and attendance of a homeless  
               child or youth without any proof of residency or other  
               documentation.  This bill also requires school  
               district homeless liaisons to ensure public notice of  
               the educational rights of homeless youth, which is  
               consistent with the federal McKinney-Vento Act.   
               Further, the California Department of Education (CDE)  
               has on its website a poster in English and Spanish  
               stating these rights.

           5)   Scope of the workgroup  . This bill requires the CDE and  
               Department of Social Services to convene a workgroup  
               to adopt policies and practices to support homeless  
               children and youths.  The State Board of Education,  
               not the CDE, is the body responsible for adopting  
               education policy.  Therefore, staff recommends an  
               amendment to instead require the workgroup to develop  








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               policies and practices (page 3, line 8).

           6)   Applicability to charter schools .  This bill requires  
               public schools, including charter schools, and county  
               offices of education to immediately enroll a homeless  
               child or youth seeking enrollment.  Charter schools  
               may have different procedures for the admission and  
               enrollment of students, including a random drawing if  
               the number of students seeking enrollment exceeds the  
               school's capacity.  To accommodate those charter  
               schools, and considering that homeless youth may  
               attend a regular public school if not a charter  
               school, the author would like to amend this bill to  
               add an exception to immediate enrollment in a charter  
               school where the enrollment would be in conflict with  
               current law regarding the random drawing.  

           7)   Governor's Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF)  :  As  
               part of the 2013-14 Governor's Budget, the  
               administration proposes to restructure the existing  
               K-12 finance system and eliminate over 40 existing  
               programs while also repealing, what the administration  
               determines are countless "discretionary" provisions of  
               statute, while implementing a new formula known as the  
               Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF).  The LCFF would  
               consolidate the vast majority of state categorical  
               programs and revenue limit apportionments into a  
               single source of funding (12 categorical programs,  
               including Special Education, Child Nutrition,  
               Preschool, and After School programs, would be  
               excluded).  The LCFF proposal would also eliminate the  
               statutory and programmatic requirements for almost all  
               existing categorical   programs - the programs would be  
               deemed "discretionary" and programs in any of these  
               areas would be dependent on local district discretion.  
                To the extent that the LCFF or a modified version of  
               it is adopted as part of the budget, the majority of  
               currently required categorical activities would be  
               left to local districts' discretion.  Therefore, the  
               changes proposed by this bill for homeless youth could  
               be diluted, eliminated, rendered obsolete or  
               discretionary at the local level.      









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           8)   Technical amendments needed  .  This bill restates  
               federal law and should cross reference such.  Staff  
               recommends amendments to cite the federal  
               McKinney-Vento Act on page 3, at the beginning of  
               lines 4 and 33.  Also on line 33, language should  
               reflect that districts are currently required to  
               designate a liaison for homeless children and youth  
               (strike lines 33-36 and insert "Pursuant to the  
               federal McKinney-Vento Act, a local educational agency  
               liaison for homeless children and youths designated  
               pursuant to Section 11432(g)(1)(J)(ii) of Title 42 of  
               the Unites States Code, shall ensure that?").   
               Further, the cross reference to federal law on page 3,  
               line 29 should be corrected to "Section 11434a (2)."

           9)   Related legislation  .  AB 951(Medina) requires school  
               districts to ensure that all administrators and  
               certificated and classified staff are properly trained  
               regarding the rights of homeless children to receive  
               educational services, including an overview of the  
               federal McKinney-Vento Act.  
               AB 951 also requires districts to ensure that  
               sufficient public notice is provided to all parents  
               and students regarding the educational rights of  
               homeless children, and designate a liaison between the  
               school district and the homeless population to ensure  
               that homeless children are identified and served.  AB  
               951 is scheduled for hearing in the Assembly Education  
               Committee on April 3, 2013.

           SUPPORT
           
          California Coalition for Youth
          California Federation of Teachers
          California Police Chiefs Association
          Eureka City Schools Homeless Education Project
          National Association for the Education of Homeless Children  
          and Youth
          National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter

           OPPOSITION

           None on file.








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