BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1023
S
AUTHOR: Liu
B
VERSION: April 3, 2014
HEARING DATE: April 22, 2014
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FISCAL: Yes
0
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CONSULTANT: Sara Rogers
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SUBJECT
Community Colleges: Foster Youth
SUMMARY
This bill permits the California Community Colleges
Chancellors Office to enter into agreements with community
college districts, in collaboration with the California
Department of Social Services (CDSS) and county child
welfare agencies, to provide additional funds for services
in support of postsecondary education for foster youth.
Additionally, this bill establishes eligibility and
participation requirements for the program.
ABSTRACT
Existing Law :
1. Establishes the Community College Extended
Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) to increase
the enrollment of students who are affected by
language, social and economic disadvantages, improve
the delivery of programs and services to the
disadvantaged and increase the number of students who
successfully complete their chosen educational
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objectives, are placed into career employment, and
transfer to four year institutions. (EC 69640, et seq)
2. Authorizes the Chancellors office, in cooperation
with the CDSS and the Employment Development
Department, to enter into agreements with community
college districts that have established cooperative
agencies resources for education (CARE) programs that
serve single head of households who receive CalWORKs.
Establishes that the purpose of the CARE program is to
provide additional funds for support services
including at a minimum child care and transportation
allowances, books and supplies, counseling, and other
related services. (EC 79150, et seq)
3. Establishes the California Work Opportunity and
Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) Act, to provide cash
benefits, employment training and other supports to
low-income families through a combination of state and
county funds and federal funds through the TANF block
grant. (WIC 11200, et seq.)
4. Establishes the California Fostering Connections to
Success Act (AB 12, Beall and Bass, Chapter 559
Statutes of 2010), which corresponds with the federal
Fostering Connections to Success Act that provides an
option for states to receive federal financial
participation for federally-eligible nonminor
dependents or former dependents of the juvenile court
who are between the ages of 18 and 21 and who satisfy
certain conditions, and provides for state-only
extended benefits for non-federally eligible youth.
(WIC 11403)
5. Establishes multiple programs of support for
dependent or former dependent children and the
families that care for them including:
Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster
Care (AFDC-FC); (WIC 11401)
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Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment program
(Kin-GAP); (WIC 11360; WIC 11385)
Adoption Assistance Program (AAP); (WIC 16115)
Non Relative Legal Guardianship (NRLG); (WIC
11405)
CalWORKs (for non-Title IV-E eligible children
in foster care residing with relatives). (WIC 11250)
This bill :
1. Makes various non-codified findings and
declarations describing the numbers of children and
youth in California's foster care system and the
educational attainment challenges facing current and
former foster youth.
2. Permits the Chancellor's Office of the California
Community Colleges, in cooperation with CDSS and
county child welfare agencies, to enter into
agreements with community college districts to create
the cooperating agencies foster youth educational
support program.
3. States that the program shall provide additional
funds for services in support of postsecondary
education for foster youth, and shall expand the
number of students participating in the Community
College EOPS program and shall not displace other
students.
4. Provides that support services shall include, but
not necessarily be limited to, child care and
transportation allowances, allowances for books and
supplies, counseling, career counseling, matriculation
and transfer counseling, monitoring of academic
progress, tutoring and mentoring, independent living
skills support, frequent in-person contact, outreach
and recruitment, other related services, and referrals
to mental health services and housing assistance.
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5. Permits a community college district to apply to
the board of governors for funding and provides that
the application shall:
Demonstrate that all existing district
resources reasonably available have been
exhausted;
Identify the number of foster youth who
will be served;
Describe the extent of cooperation
between the local county child welfare
department, CDSS, the local educational
opportunity programs and services program, and
the district.
1. Provides that eligibility shall be limited to
current or former foster youth in California who meet
both of the following requirements:
Dependency was established or continued
by the court on or after the youth's 16th
birthday;
Are no older than 25 years of age at the
commencement of any academic year of
participation;
8. Permits the director of the EOPS program on each
campus to authorize enrollment for qualified students
who are enrolled for at least nine units per semester.
9. Requires the Community Colleges board of governors
(BOG) to submit a report to the Governor, the
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education policy committees of the Legislature, and
the California Child Welfare Council describing its
efforts to serve students who are current and former
foster youth, commencing January 31, 2017, and every
two years thereafter. Additionally, requires that
reports include a review on a campus-by-campus basis
of the enrollment, retention, transfer, and completion
rates of foster youth, including categorical funding
of those programs.
10. Requires the BOG, in conjunction with CDSS to adopt
guidelines for the program and requires the BOG to be
responsible for the administration of the funds for
the program.
11. Provides that the program shall be operative only
if funds have been appropriated for purposes of this
article for that fiscal year.
FISCAL IMPACT
This bill has not been reviewed by a fiscal committee
however Senate Education Committee states that, based on
data currently available from community colleges, it is
possible that approximately 16,000 current and former
foster youth would be eligible for the program established
by this bill. This bill provides that it is to be
implemented only if sufficient funds are appropriated. The
existing CARE program received $9.3 million in the 2013-14
fiscal year and served 6,482 students in the 2012-13 fiscal
year.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
According to the author, children and youth in California's
foster care system face many serious challenges including
disproportionately low rates of educational attainment. The
author cites a 2013 study, published by the Stuart
Foundation, which found that youth in foster care were 47
percent less likely to enter a California Community College
(CCC) than the general student population and 51 percent
less likely to return after the first year. The author
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states that this bill creates an additional supplemental
component of the community college EOPS program which has
been shown to improve the academic success of educationally
disadvantaged students. Additionally, the author states
that this bill is modeled upon the existing CARE program.
Post-Secondary Educational Attainment for Former Foster
Youth
A 2013 report entitled "At Greater Risk: California Foster
Youth and the Path from High School to College" states that
foster youth confront multiple risk factors for low
educational attainment including disabilities, language
barriers, emotional trauma, lower educational attainment in
high school, and less of a support system due to disrupted
social connections. The report states that foster youth are
among the most vulnerable young Californians, are more
likely to attend schools with low performance rankings
according to the Academic Performance Index and that about
one quarter of foster youth had a disability in contrast to
one-tenth of the general population. Additionally, the
report states that relative to the general student
population, foster youth performed poorly on the California
Standards Test in English-Language arts, with nearly a
quarter scoring far below basic level on the test and
another 27 percent scoring in the next lowest category,
below basic. The report concludes that these and other
findings point to the "overarching importance of providing
foster youth with the support they need to complete high
school as well as enroll and succeed in college at the same
rates as other students."
Categorical Programs in CCCs serving disadvantaged students
Several specialized categorical programs are funded to
serve numerous populations of disadvantaged and at risk
students for the purpose of increasing enrollment and
student success within these communities. Some relevant
programs include:
Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS)
The EOPS program was created to encourage the enrollment,
retention and transfer of students handicapped by language,
social, economic and educational disadvantages, and to
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facilitate the successful completion of their goals and
objectives in college. EOPS offers academic and support
counseling, financial aid and other support services. The
Governor proposes to provide EOPS with $88.6 million in
total funding in FY 14-15.
Cooperative Agencies Resources for Education (CARE) Program
The CARE program is a subset of EOPS that specifically
assists students, who are single heads of households
receiving CalWORKs, with supportive services as they
acquire the education, training and marketable skills
needed to transition from welfare-dependency to employment
and eventual self-sufficiency for their families. There
are currently 113 CARE programs in all 72 community college
districts in California. The appropriation for FY 11-12 was
$9.3 million and the program served 8,150 students that
year.
CalWORKs student services
This categorical program provides child care, career
counseling, subsidized employment, and other supplemental
services to CCC students receiving CalWORKs assistance.
These services are in addition to those provided to all
CalWORKs recipients by county welfare departments.
Disabled Student Programs and Services (DSPS)
The DSPS program provides support services and educational
accommodations to students with disabilities. Examples of
services that are over and above those regularly offered by
the college would be test-proctoring, assessment for
learning disabilities, specialized counseling, interpreter
or captioning services for hearing-impaired or deaf
students, mobility assistance, note-taker services, reader
services, speech services, transcription services,
on-campus transportation, specialized tutoring, access to
adaptive equipment, job development/placement, registration
assistance, special parking and specialized instruction. A
Student Educational Contract (SEC) is developed for each
student served by DSPS.
Extended Foster Care (AB 12)
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As of January 1, 2014, any youth who turned 18 while under
the order of foster care placement is eligible to
participate in extended foster care until the age of 21, if
the youth meets one of the following requirements:
Is completing high school or an equivalent program;
Is enrolled in college, community college or a
vocational educational program at least half time;
Is employed (paid) at least 80 hours a month;
Is participating in a program or activity designed
to remove barriers to employment;
Is unable to meet the above requirements due to a
medical condition as verified by a health
practitioner.
Additionally, some youth who turn 18 in guardianship, under
the Kin-GAP program or under the Adoption Assistance
Program are eligible for extended foster care (if the youth
was 16 or older at the time of guardianship or has a
disability). Youth who are not eligible for extended foster
care may be eligible for CalWORKs.
California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids
(CalWORKs)
The CalWORKs program provides monthly income assistance and
employment-related services aimed at helping families meet
basic needs and move permanently out of poverty.
Participants must engage in welfare-to-work activities as a
condition of aid, unless the recipient is exempt. Foster
youth who are not enrolled in, or eligible for, extended
foster care may be eligible to enroll in CalWORKs. CalWORKs
is supervised by CDSS and administered by the counties,
which determine eligibility, cash grant levels, work
participation, exemptions, time limits, and sanctions.
Prior Legislation:
SB 705 (Block) 2013, Would have appropriated $50 million
from an unspecified source, to the Board of Governors of
the CCC, to be allocated equally to Disabled Students
Programs and Services and Extended Opportunity Programs and
Services (EOPS). This bill died in Senate Appropriations
Committee.
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AB 194 (Beall) Chapter 458, Statutes of 2011, Requires
California Community Colleges and the California State
University, and requests the University of California, to
give priority enrollment in classes to foster youth or
former foster youth, as defined.
Staff Comments:
1. This bill would create a new categorical program
within the CCC system to provide additional support to
current and former foster youth who are attending
community college. While there are several
disadvantaged student services programs that may have
overlap with some of the characteristics of some
foster youth, there is no specific categorical program
intended to provide additional support and services to
foster youth who face unique challenges and barriers.
It is important that a specialized program serving the
needs of foster youth does not supplant existing
services that may be available to foster youth. This
bill provides that the program shall not supplant
existing EOPS and CARES resources, however there may
be additional programming available to foster youth
through CalWORKs student services, the Student Success
Program, as well as the disabled students program.
Additionally, students may receive services through
Extended Foster Care, or county mental health
services.
Additionally, active participation from CDSS and
county child welfare agencies, as called for in the
bill, is important to ensure that students can
successfully navigate the varied eligibility
requirements and services of the many programs that
may be aiding foster youth to maximize the
effectiveness of all programs.
Staff recommends adding the following language to
Section 79160 of the bill:
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To the extent possible, the Department of Social
Services, in consultation with the County Welfare
Directors Association of California, the
California Probation Officers Association and
other advocates, shall consult with the
Chancellor's Office to ensure that services
provided under this Article to eligible youths
are coordinated with, and shall not supplant,
other services provided by the county and state
including medical and mental health care,
services provided by a THP+FC or THP-Plus
provider, and any other services identified in a
youths Transitional Independent Living Plan, if
applicable.
2. This bill permits the Chancellor's office to enter
into agreements with community college districts, in
cooperation with CDSS and county child welfare
agencies for purposes of enacting this program.
Staff recommends the author amend the bill to include
county probation departments that are responsible for
nonminor wards as follows:
Page 3 lines 37-40
79156. The Chancellor's Office of the California
Community Colleges, in cooperation with the State
Department of Social Services, and county child
welfare agencies, and county probation
departments may enter into agreements with
community college districts to provide additional
funds for services in support of postsecondary
education for foster youth through a program to
assemble and coordinate cooperating agency
resources.
Page 4 lines 24-27
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The application shall also describe the extent of
cooperation between the local county child
welfare department, the county probation
department, the state Department of Social
Services, the local educational opportunity
programs and services program, and the district.
3. Staff notes that the Governor's budget proposes
additional flexibility with regard to categorical
programs in the CCC system, including the EOPS
program. It is unclear whether this proposed
flexibility would have an impact on any appropriation
that may be provided in the budget act for the
purposes of funding this new foster youth educational
support program.
4. This bill limits eligibility to youth whose
dependency was established or continued by the court
on or after the youth's 16th birthday, thereby
excluding former foster youth whose dependency was
terminated prior to turning 16 due to guardianship or
adoption. Such youth may face similar barriers to
academic achievement and would not be eligible for
extended foster care services, under current language.
POSITIONS
Support: Alliance for Children's Rights
Aspiranet
California Alliance of Child and Family
Services
California Youth Connection
Children Now
Children's Law Center of California
First Place for Youth
Imperial Valley Regional Occupational
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Program
Junior League of Los Angeles, Inc.
Legal Services for Children
National Association of Social Workers
National Center for Youth Law
Pepperdine University
Public Counsel
San Gabriel Children's Center, Inc.
Ventura County Board of Supervisors
1 Individual
Oppose: None received.
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