BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 379|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 379
Author: Gordon (D)
Amended: 6/17/15 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 9-0, 6/24/15
AYES: Liu, Runner, Block, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning,
Pan, Vidak
SENTATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/27/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 6/2/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Foster youth: complaint of noncompliance
SOURCE: Alliance for Childrens Rights
DIGEST: This bill expands the Uniform Complaint Procedures to
include complaints of non-compliance 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.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes rights for youth who are in foster care or who are
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homeless (where indicated), including:
a) Attend a regular public school when residing in a
licensed children's institution, except under specified
circumstances. (Education Code § 48853)
b) 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)
c) Not have grades and credits be lowered as a result of a
placement change or court appearance. (EC § 49069.5)
d) 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)
e) 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)
f) Students who are in foster care or who are homeless must
be exempt from local graduation requirements which exceed
state requirements. (EC § 51225.1)
1)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
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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)
2)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)
3)Requires the Office of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson to
produce a poster delineating the rights of foster children and
youth, and post it in specified foster care settings. (Health
and Safety Code § 1530.91)
4)Requires, though regulation, LEAs to adopt uniform complaint
procedures through which the public can register complaints
regarding educational programs and rights. (California Code of
Regulations, Title 5, § 4600 et seq.)
5)Establishes the Office of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson
within the California Department of Social Services. The
Ombudsperson is responsible, among other things, for accepting
and resolving complaints relating to the rights (primarily
non-educational) of foster youth. (Welfare and Institutions
Code § 16160 et seq.)
This bill:
1)Authorizes a complaint of non-compliance of certain educational
rights afforded to students in foster care and students who
are homeless to be filed with a LEA under the Uniform
Complaint Procedures (UCP).
2)Authorizes a complainant who is not satisfied with the decisions
of a LEA to appeal the decision to the California Department
of Education (CDE) through the existing UCP appeal process,
and requires that the complainant receive a written decision
regarding the appeal within 60 days of the CDE's receipt of
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the appeal.
3)Requires the LEA to provide a remedy to the affected student if
the LEA or the Superintendent of Public Instruction finds
merit in a complaint.
4)Requires that information regarding the rights and
responsibilities be included in the annual notification
required by the UCP.
5)Provides that the following educational rights and
responsibilities are subject to the UCP:
a) A student in foster care who resides in a licensed
children's institution or foster family home must attend a
school operated by the LEA except under specified
circumstances.
b) Students in foster care must be allowed to remain
enrolled in their school of origin when a placement change
occurs and pending resolution of a dispute regarding school
placement.
c) All educational and school placement decisions regarding
students in foster care must be made to ensure that the
student is placed in the least restrictive educational
programs and have access to academic resources, services,
and extracurricular and enrichment activities that are
available to all students.
d) Each LEA must designate a staff person as the
educational liaison for foster youth, who is responsible
for ensuring the proper educational placement and
enrollment of students, assisting in school transfer, and
coordinating with other personnel regarding expulsion
proceedings.
e) Students in foster care must be immediately enrolled
when transferring to a new school, even if the student has
outstanding fees or fines or is unable to produce school
records, and the transfer of the student's records must
occur within two business days of receipt of a request for
records.
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f) The LEA must compile the complete educational record for
a student in foster care, including a determination of seat
time, full or partial credits earned, and current classes
and grades.
g) The LEA must ensure that if a student in foster care is
absent due to a placement change made by the court or
placing agency, or a court required appearance or activity,
the student's grades and credits will not be lowered due to
this absence.
h) A school district must exempt a student who is in foster
care or is homeless, who transfers schools after the second
year of high school, from locally-imposed graduation
requirements.
i) LEAs must award and accept full or partial credit for
coursework satisfactorily completed by students in foster
care or students who are homeless while attending other
schools, even if the student did not complete the entire
course. The credits must be applied to the same or
equivalent course, the LEA cannot require a student to
retake a course if the student has satisfactorily completed
the course, and the student must be allowed to complete the
same or equivalent course when partial credit is awarded.
Background
Uniform Complaint Procedures. Required by federal law, the UCP
was established in 1991 as a means of creating a "uniform system
of complaint processing" for educational programs. The authority
for this process is located in regulations, not state statute.
These regulations require the adoption of the UCP by school
districts, county offices of education, charter schools
receiving federal funds, and local public or private agencies
which receive direct or indirect state funding to provide school
programs or special education or related services. The UCP
process generally involves the following steps:
1)The filing of a complaint by an individual, agency, or
organization.
2)The investigation and written response by the LEA within 60
days.
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3)An appeal by the complainant to the CDE within 15 days of
receiving the LEA response.
4)The response by the CDE to the appeal, with the investigation
completed within 60 days.
5)A request for reconsideration by the complainant or LEA within
35 days of receiving CDE's response to the appeal.
6)A response by the CDE within 35 days.
Complaints regarding pupil fees, harassment, discrimination,
bullying, intimidation, local control accountability plans and
some charter school requirements generally follow the UCP, but
differ slightly in terms of timelines, anonymity of
complainants, confidentiality, and with whom a complaint can be
filed.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, 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 LEAs to investigate and resolve
complaints. LEAs would also incur one-time costs to update
the annual UCP notice. See staff comments.
The CDE indicates that this bill requires 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.
Assuming 10% of school districts receive complaints for
noncompliance and submit a reimbursable state mandate claim,
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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 on State Mandates 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.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/27/15)
Alliance for Children's Rights (source)
All Saints Foster Care Project
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
John Burton Foundation for Children Without Homes
Public Counsel
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/27/15)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the Alliance for
Children's Rights, "although foster youth have possessed many
educational rights for over ten years, the reality is that the
education rights of foster youth are routinely ignored, One
reason for this is the lack of an appropriate enforcement
mechanism. This problem can be remedied by including foster
youth education rights in the California Department of
Education's existing Uniform Complaint Procedure."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 6/2/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,
Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd,
Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia,
Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray,
Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,
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Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea,
Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Chávez, Grove
Prepared by:Lynn Lorber / ED. / (916) 651-4105
8/30/15 19:42:05
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