BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 854
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
854 (Weber)
As Amended August 31, 2015
2/3 vote. Urgency
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|ASSEMBLY: | 79-0 |(June 2, 2015) |SENATE: |38-0 |(September 9, |
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Original Committee Reference: ED.
SUMMARY: An urgency measure, this bill restructures the
existing Foster Youth Services (FYS) program by shifting the
primary function from direct services to coordination, and
allows program funds to be used to support all students in
foster care, irrespective of placement. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Renames the Foster Youth Services (FYS) program as the Foster
Youth Services Coordinating (FYSC) program, and states that
its purpose is to provide supplemental funding to county
offices of education or a consortium of county offices of
education. Makes the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) responsible for specified activities.
2)Requires a FYSC program to meet minimum standards established by
the SPI as a condition of continued funding.
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3)Provides that the allocation for any county office of education
or consortium of county offices, for the 2015-16 fiscal year,
is to be no less than the amount allocated to that county or
consortium in the 2014-15 fiscal year, including the
allocation amounts of the six district-run programs currently
in operation. Repeals authority for continued direct funding
of the six district-operated programs.
4)Requires the SPI, by October 31, 2015, to develop an allocation
formula to determine the allocation amounts for which county
office of education or consortium of county offices may be
eligible. Requires the SPI, within 30 days of developing the
allocation formula, to submit the allocation formula to the
appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature
and the Department of Finance for review. Requires the
Department of Finance to approve the allocation formula within
30 days of submission by the SPI. Authorizes the allocation
formula to be revised annually upon submission to the
appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature
and approval by the Department of Finance within 30 days of
submission by the SPI. Authorizes the SPI to include
additional criteria in the allocation formula, but requires at
a minimum the following criteria to be applied to the
allocation formula: the number of students in foster care in
the county, and the number of school districts in the county.
5)Requires the SPI, upon approval from the Department of Finance,
to use up to 5% of funding allocated for the FYSC program to
contract with a local educational agency to administer the
FYSC program, including providing technical assistance to
county offices of education or consortiums of county offices
of education in the implementation of the FYSC program.
6)Extends program eligibility to all foster youth, including those
placed in kinship care, by aligning the definition of foster
youth with the definition with the definition used in the
Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF).
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7)Requires that priority be given to foster youth who are living in
and out of home placements.
8)Requires, beginning with the 2015-16 fiscal year, a county office
of education or consortium of county offices of education to
coordinate with school districts within its jurisdiction and
ensure those districts are providing services to foster youth
as specified in the county's foster youth services
coordinating plan.
9)Requires a county office of education, or a consortium of county
offices of education receiving FYCS funds and the school
districts within the county to coordinate services to ensure
that for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 fiscal years, the level of
direct services is not less than what was provided in the
2014-15 fiscal year through the prior FYS program.
10)Requires each county office of education with a FYSC program to
develop and enter into an agreement with the county child
welfare agency to leverage federal Title IV-E funds and any
other funds that may be used to specifically address the
educational needs of students in foster care, or explain
annually in writing why an agreement is not practical or
feasible.
11)Requires FYCS programs to develop and implement a foster youth
services coordinating plan. The plan must include
establishment of on-going collaboration with local education
agencies, county child welfare agencies, and county probation
departments to determine the proper educational placement of
the foster youth.
12)Authorizes a school district, if it certifies that it is unable
to provide services that are established as needed and
identified by the school district, to enter into a temporary
agreement with the FYSC program to provide those services.
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13)States that the primary goal of the collaboration is to
minimize changes in school placement by supporting the
placement of foster youth in regular public schools.
14)Requires the FYSC program, if it is in the best interests of a
foster youth, to support local education agencies in
implementing existing statutes, such as ensuring transfers
are done at an educationally appropriate time, educational
records are quickly transferred, appropriate partial credits
are awarded, and the foster youth is quickly enrolled in
appropriate classes.
15)Requires a county office of education to establish policies and
procedures to ensure educational placement for a foster youth
is not delayed, including facilitating the establishment of
an individualized education program if applicable, and the
transfer of records, transcripts and other relevant
educational information.
16)Requires LEAs, county welfare agencies, and county probation
departments, in determining the appropriate educational
placement, to consult with specified individuals.
17)Authorizes a FYSC program to pay for transportation to allow
foster youth to remain in their schools of origin.
18)Requires each FYSC program to establish a local interagency
Executive Advisory Council, and authorize the council to
include representatives from the county child welfare agency,
the county probation department, local educational agencies,
local postsecondary educational institutions, and community
organizations. Makes the foster youth educational services
coordinator a permanent member of the council. Authorizes
the Executive Advisory Council to include, if possible,
foster youth, caregivers, educational rights holders,
dependency attorneys, court representatives, court-appointed
special advocates, and other interested stakeholders.
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19)Requires the Executive Advisory Council to regularly review the
recommendations of the FYSC program plan, and authorizes a
member of the Council or the foster youth educational
services coordinator to request the SPI to mediate a solution
in the event of a disagreement.
20)Encourages a FYSC program to first provide services to students
in foster care who reside in a group home, institutional
setting, or other placement with students with high academic
needs, as determined by the local Executive Advisory Council.
21)Deletes the existing requirement that the SPI form an advisory
committee to make recommendations regarding the allocation of
funding to school districts.
22)Makes changes to the FYSC bi-annual report to the Legislature.
23)Clarifies that charter schools are included in the definition
of "local educational agency" for the purposes of the FYSC
program.
24)Includes an urgency clause.
The Senate amendments:
1)Rename the FYS program as the Foster Youth Services
Coordinating Program and state that it is established to
provide supplemental funding to county offices of education,
or a consortium of county offices of education, to coordinate
and ensure that local educational agencies within its
jurisdiction are providing services to foster youth, with the
purpose of ensuring positive educational outcomes.
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2)Require that FYSC programs meet minimum standards established
by the SPI as a condition of continued funding.
3)Require that, as a condition of receiving funds, a county
office of education, or a consortium of county offices of
education, work with local educational to ensure that the
level of direct services provided to support foster youth
students is not less than what was provided in the 2014-15
fiscal year.
4)Provides that the allocation for any county office of
education or consortium of county offices, for the 2015-16
fiscal year, is to be no less than the amount allocated to
that county or consortium in the 2014-15 fiscal year,
including the allocation amounts of the six district-run
programs currently in operation. Repeals authority for
continued direct funding of the six district-operated
programs.
5)Require the SPI, by October 31, 2015, to develop an allocation
formula to determine the allocation amounts for which county
office of education or consortium of county offices may be
eligible, through a process specified above.
6)Delete some required elements of FYSC program plans.
7)Authorize a school district, if it certifies that it is unable
to provide specified services that are established as needed
and identified by the school district, to enter into a
temporary agreement with the FYSC program to provide those
services.
8)Delete the requirement that the California Department of
Education (CDE) identify a state FYS coordinator in the
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department.
9)Make changes to the bi-annual FYS report to the Legislature.
10)Clarifies that charter schools are included in the definition
of "local educational agency" for the purposes of the FYSC
program.
11)Add an urgency clause.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the FYS program to carry out a number of
activities to support the education of foster youth.
2)Establishes a hierarchy of services provided through FYS
programs, as follows: tutoring, mentoring, counseling,
transitioning services, emancipation services, timely IEP
programs, establishing efficient records transfer.
3)Establishes a number of rights for students in foster care.
Among them are rights to immediate enrollment, rights to have
educational records transferred in a timely manner, rights to
remain in students' schools of origin, rights to exemptions
from locally adopted graduation requirements in excess of
state requirements, and the right to have partial credit
awarded for coursework.
4)Requires all LEAs to designate a staff person as the
educational liaison for foster children, and requires that
person to ensure and facilitate the proper educational
placement, enrollment in school, and checkout from school of
foster children, and to ensure proper transfer of credits,
records, and grades when students change schools or school
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districts.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, this bill would implement the $25.4 million
Proposition 98 (1988) allocation included in the Budget Act of
2015 to fund foster youth services. Costs to the CDE of about
$274,000 and two positions to implement this bill.
COMMENTS:
Budget provides increase in funding, contingent on legislation.
SB 97 (Budget and Fiscal Review Committee), Chapter 11, Statutes
of 2015, provided an augmentation of $10 million for the FYS
program pursuant to legislation enacted in 2015 that aligns
program requirements to reflect the establishment of the Local
Control Funding Formula. This bill is the legislation meeting
that requirement.
The "Invisible Achievement Gap." A 2013 report by the Center
for the Future of Teaching and Learning at WestEd, titled "The
Invisible Achievement Gap," for the first time linked education
and child welfare data to identify the achievement gap for
students in foster care relative to their peers. It found,
based on 2009-10 educational data, that students in foster care
represented a subgroup distinct in many ways from other
low-income students. Among the findings in this report were
that foster youth:
1)Have among the lowest scores in English-language arts
2)Have the lowest scores in mathematics of any subgroup
3)Have the highest dropout rate, nearly three times the rate of
other students
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4)Have the lowest high school graduation rate of any subgroup
The report also found that students in foster care are more
likely to change schools during the school year, more likely to
be enrolled in low-performing schools, less likely to
participate in state assessments, and significantly more likely
to be enrolled in nontraditional schools.
FYS program outcomes. In its 2014 report to the Legislature,
the CDE reported that for students served by FYS in the 2012-13
school year:
1)Seventy two percent of foster youth served gained more than
one month of academic growth per month of tutoring received,
surpassing the target objective by 12%.
2)Sixty two percent of eligible twelfth graders completed a high
school program (compared to the general foster care graduation
rate of 58%).
3)0.19 percent of foster youth served were expelled, surpassing
the target of less than 5%.
4)Students exceeded their attendance target rate of 90%.
Refocusing the FYS program around support and coordination. The
FYS program was largely built around a direct service model,
providing tutoring, mentoring, counseling, and other services to
students - services for which there was little dedicated funding
in 1973. The program statute still reflects this model,
requiring a hierarchy of services, for example, starting with
tutoring.
Over the course of this program's history the landscape of school
finance and accountability has changed dramatically. Most
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notably, through the LCFF, school districts are both receiving
more support for, and being held accountable for, the educational
needs and outcomes of students in foster care as never before.
This bill proposes to replace the FYS model in statute with a new
role for the program - one of support, coordination, planning,
and leadership. Given LCFF and many other policy changes since
the FYS program statute was written, an updating is justified.
The programmatic changes in this bill would shift the role of the
FYS from direct services to the creation of a kind of support
infrastructure for the education of students in foster care.
Analysis Prepared by:
Tanya Lieberman / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN:
0002012