BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 379 (Gordon) - Foster youth: complaint of noncompliance.
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|Version: June 17, 2015 |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: July 6, 2015 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill expands the Uniform Complaint Procedures to
include complaints of noncompliance with certain rights and
responsibilities regarding the education of students who are in
foster care or who are homeless, including school placement
decisions, responsibilities of foster youth liaisons, provisions
regarding school transfers, exemption from locally-imposed
graduation requirements, and the awarding of partial credit for
completed coursework.
Fiscal
Impact: This bill could drive a significant increase in state
costs, depending on how many complaints and appeals are filed.
Mandate: Unknown, potentially significant ongoing reimbursable
state mandate costs for local educational agencies (LEAs) to
investigate and resolve complaints. LEAs would also incur
one-time costs to update the annual UCP notice. See staff
comments.
The California Department of Education (CDE) indicates that
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this bill would require 1.5 positions and $192,000 General
Fund. Actual workload would depend on the number of appeals
received. The CDE currently receives between 45 and 50
appeals per year related to pupil fees but the department
experienced an initial surge in appeals when pupil fees was
first added.
Background: Existing law provides the following educational rights for
foster and homeless
To attend a regular public school when residing in a
licensed children's institution, except under specified
circumstances. (Education Code § 48853)
To remain in his or her school of origin when a new
placement occurs, and while the resolution of a dispute
regarding educational placement is pending.
(EC § 48853 and § 48853.5)
To not have grades and credits be lowered as a result of
a placement change or court appearance. (EC § 49069.5)
They be promptly transferred between schools and have
educational records transferred within two business days,
and be immediately enrolled in a new school, even if he or
she has outstanding fees, fines, textbooks, or money due to
the prior school, or is unable to produce clothing or
records required for enrollment. (EC § 48853.5 and §
49069.5)
Students who are in foster care or who are homeless must
be awarded full or partial credit for coursework
satisfactorily completed at another school, even if he or
she hasn't completed the entire course, and not be required
to retake some or all of a course he or she has taken at
another school.
(EC § 49069.5 and § 51225.2)
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Students who are in foster care or who are homeless must
be exempt from local graduation requirements which exceed
state requirements. (EC § 51225.1)
Existing law requires each local educational agency (LEA) to
designate a staff person as the educational liaison for foster
youth, and requires that person to ensure and facilitate the
proper educational placement, enrollment in school, and checkout
from school of foster youth, and to ensure proper transfer of
credits, records, and grades when students change schools or
school districts. (EC § 48853.5)
Existing law requires each LEA to designate a staff person as
the education liaison for homeless youth, and requires that
person to ensure public notice of the educational rights of
students who are homeless, and to provide services pursuant to
the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. (United
States Code, Title 42, § 11432)
Proposed Law:
This bill expands the Uniform Complaint Procedures (UCP) to
allow complaints of noncompliance to be filed with the LEA for
certain existing rights of students who are in foster care or
are homeless. Areas in which complaints can be made include
school placement decisions, responsibilities of foster youth
liaisons, school transfer requirements, exemption from
locally-imposed graduation requirements, and the awarding of
partial credit for completed coursework.
This bill requires that if the local educational agency finds
merit in the complaint, or the CDE finds merit in an appeal, the
local educational agency must provide a remedy to the affected
student. This bill authorizes appeals of LEA decisions to the
CDE and requires the complainant seeking the appeal to receive a
written decision within 60 days. This bill also requires that
information regarding the rights of foster care or homeless
students and the ability to file a complaint through the UCP
process to be included in the annual notification requirement by
the UCP.
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Related
Legislation: The following bills expand the UCP to include
additional areas in which complaints may be filed with LEAs.
AB 1391 (Gomez, 2015) regarding the required minimum
instructional minutes for physical education. AB 1391 is
pending in this committee.
SB 81 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, 2015)
regarding an alleged violation by a local agency of federal
or state law or regulations governing adult education
programs or regional occupational centers and programs. SB
81 is enrolled.
SB 425 (Hernandez, 2015) regarding an alleged violation
by a local agency of federal or state law or regulations
governing adult education programs or regional occupational
centers and programs, including allegations of unlawful
discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or bullying. SB
425 is pending in the Assembly Higher Education Committee.
AB 907 (Burke, 2015) is nearly identical to SB 425. AB 907
is pending in the Senate Education Committee.
AB 1012 (Jones-Sawyer, 2015) regarding provisions in the
bill including prohibiting a school district from assigning
any students in grades 7-12 to any "course period without
educational content", unless specifically authorized. AB
1012 is pending in the Senate Education Committee.
AB 302 (Cristina Garcia, 2015) regarding provisions in
the bill for LEAs to provide reasonable accommodations for
a student breastfeeding. AB 302 is pending in the Senate
Education Committee.
Staff
Comments: This bill expands the UCP process to include
additional areas in which complaints can be made to LEAs
regarding violating certain educational rights of foster youth
and homeless students. Once a complaint is received, LEAs are
required to investigate and resolve the claims in accordance
with requirements in state regulations. This bill also requires
the information regarding the rights of foster care or homeless
students and the ability to file a complaint through the UCP
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process to be included in the school district's annual UCP
notification.
The Commission on State Mandates approved a test claim in 2012
related to the filing, investigation, and resolution of two
types of complaints: those that claim violations of laws
governing specified educational programs and those that claim
discrimination in violation of antidiscrimination laws.
According to the Commission's draft statewide cost estimate,
costs submitted by 12 school districts varied due to the type of
staff used and the time staff took to handle claims. Staff were
paid between $52 and $175 per hour and spent from nine to 105
hours per claim.
Assuming ten percent of school districts receive complaints for
noncompliance and submit a reimbursable state mandate claim,
costs could be between $47,000 and $1.8 million based on the
range of costs incurred by school districts for the existing UCP
mandate. If the Commission determines the requirements of this
bill to be a state reimbursable mandate, this could create
pressure for the state to increase funding in the K-12 mandate
block grant to reflect its inclusion.
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