BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 177
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Date of Hearing: August 14, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
SB 177 (Liu) - As Amended: August 5, 2013
SENATE VOTE : 39-0
SUBJECT : Homeless Youth Education
SUMMARY : Changes the requirements for enrolling homeless
children and youth in public schools. Specifically, this bill :
1) Requires that all homeless children or youth, similar to
foster children who have changed residence pursuant to a
court order or decision of a child welfare worker, be
deemed to have met the residency requirements for immediate
participation in interscholastic athletics or other
extracurricular activities.
2) Requires that all homeless children or youth be
immediately enrolled in the public school in which the
child or youth seeks enrollment, including charter schools,
except when enrollment is in conflict with the established
admission policies of a charter school.
3) Requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
and the California Department of Social Services (DSS) to
identify representatives from their own and other state
agencies that have experience in homeless youth issues to
develop policies and practices to support homeless children
and youth and to ensure that child abuse and neglect
reporting requirements do not create barriers to school
enrollment and attendance, as specified.
4) Requires the policies and practices developed by
representatives of the CDE, the DSS, and other identified
agencies be presented to the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI) and the DSS to be considered for
implementation or dissemination, as appropriate.
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5) Requires a local educational agency's (LEA) liaison for
homeless children and youth, identified pursuant to the
federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistant Act, to
disseminate in schools within the LEA notice of the
educational rights of homeless children and youth.
6) Makes technical and non-substantive changes to these
sections.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Defines "homeless children and youth" as individuals who lack
a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. This
definition also includes:
a) Children and youth who are sharing the housing of other
persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a
similar reason;
b) Children who may be living in motels, hotels, trailer
parks, shelters, or awaiting foster care placement;
c) Children and youth who have a primary nighttime
residence that is a public or private place not designed
for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping
accommodation for human beings;
d) Children and youth who are living in cars, parks, public
spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or
train stations, or similar settings, or;
e) Migratory children who qualify as homeless because they
are children who are living in similar circumstances to
those listed above.
2)Specifies the purpose of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Act is to
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ensure that homeless children and youth have access to the
education and other services that they need so that these
pupils may have the same opportunities to meet the same
challenging state student academic achievement standards to
which all pupils are held.
3)Makes many of the provisions of the McKinney-Vento Homeless
Act applicable to all LEAs, regardless of whether the LEA
receives additional grant monies through the program.
4)Requires, as a condition of receiving grant monies under the
McKinney-Vento Homeless Act, each LEA to identify a liaison
for homeless children and youth. This liaison has the duty to
ensure that homeless children and youth are identified by
school personnel and, through coordination activities with
other entities and agencies, homeless children and youth
enroll in, and have a full and equal opportunity to succeed
in, schools of that LEA.
5)Provides for immediate enrollment and an attendance guarantee
to a homeless child or youth without any proof of residency or
other documentation.
6)Prohibits schools from requiring proof of residency of an
unaccompanied youth's parent(s), 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(s) or legal guardian(s).
7)Requires that a foster child who changes residences pursuant
to a court order or decision of a child welfare worker be
immediately deemed to meet all residency requirements for
participation in interscholastic sports or other
extracurricular activities.
8)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,
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including interscholastic sports administered by the
California Interscholastic Federation.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, this bill has the following fiscal effects:
1)Workgroup: The requirement to develop specified
recommendations will likely result in a minor additional
workload. The group's recommendations will likely create cost
pressure to implement them.
2)Mandate: Potentially significant reimbursable costs for LEAs
to implement new enrollment and eligibility requirements.
COMMENTS : California reported 248,904 homeless children and
youth enrolled in schools in the 2011-12 school year. However,
the number of homeless pupils in the state is undoubtedly
larger; in some cases, school districts that are located next to
each other report vast discrepancies in the number of homeless
pupils enrolled. During the 2012-13 fiscal year, 82 LEAs
received grant money under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Act in
amounts ranging from $220 to $24,308. Yet, in an independent
survey conducted by the California Research Bureau, three
quarters of California's homeless youth were not in school. Most
of the 54 youth surveyed were between the ages of 17 and 24, yet
only six had graduated from high school or attained a GED. At
the same time, a majority of California youth surveyed expressed
the desire to return to school and had life goals (such as
becoming a teacher, social worker, or working in the medical
field) that require extensive education to achieve. In
discussing these issues, the National Center for Homeless
Education opined:
Extra-curricular school activities, such as sports,
music, theater, debate, and clubs, are often a key to
engaging children and youth in school. They can
provide students with a sense of belonging, stability,
pride, and responsibility and strengthen a student's
application for higher education admission and
scholarships. Homelessness, however, can create
barriers to participation in extra-curricular
activities. Homeless students who change schools
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during the school year may not meet residency
requirements related to sports or may enter school in
the middle of the season. They may lack birth
certificates, physical examinations, and other
documents normally required prior to participation and
may not be able to pay for equipment or fees.
This bill addresses these barriers and seeks to provide homeless
pupils with the opportunity to fully participate in all aspects
of their education.
Homeless students move frequently, in part due to limited length
of stays available at shelters, the need to search for safe and
affordable housing, the need to search for employment, or the
need to escape from abusive or unsafe living situations. For
homeless pupils, this results in frequent changes in schools.
According to the Institute for Children and Poverty, these
frequent moves mean that homeless pupils are nine times more
likely to repeat a grade, four times more likely to drop out of
school, and three times more likely to be placed in special
education programs than their housed peers. Thus, the immediate
enrollment for these pupils is imperative. The language that
requires districts to immediately enroll a pupil in a school is
intended to ensure that the disruption of homelessness is
minimized when it comes to their education.
In addition to the proposed changes addressing the enrollment of
a homeless child or youth, this bill requires a workgroup to
develop recommended policies and practices to support homeless
children and youth and to ensure that child abuse and neglect
reporting requirements do not create barriers to school
enrollment and attendance. These recommendations will then be
presented to the SPI and DSS to be considered for implementation
or dissemination, as appropriate. This provision of the bill
allows those with experience in this area to identify and
meaningfully address enrollment barriers in a manner that best
serves homeless pupils. The author has put few parameters
around the recommendations that may emerge from these
representatives in an effort to ensure these experienced
individuals are able to make the recommendations that will best
remove barriers to school enrollment and attendance.
Pending Legislation: AB 1068 (Bloom), restricts the release of
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directory information for pupils who are identified as a
homeless child or youth and allows access of pupil records to
specified individuals for those pupils who are identified as
homeless. This measure passed out of the Assembly Education
Committee by a vote of 7-0.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
All Saints Church Foster Care Project (PRIOR VERSION)
California Alliance of Child and Family Services
California Coalition for Youth (PRIOR VERSION)
California Federation of Teachers (PRIOR VERSION)
California State Parent Teacher Association (PRIOR VERSION)
California Teachers Association
California Youth Empowerment Network (PRIOR VERSION)
Children Now (PRIOR VERSION)
Disability Rights California (PRIOR VERSION)
National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and
Youth (PRIOR VERSION)
National Association of Social Workers - California Chapter
(PRIOR VERSION)
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Jill Rice / ED. / (916) 319-2087