BILL NUMBER: AB 1014	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Thurmond

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2015

   An act relating to pupils.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1014, as introduced, Thurmond. Pupils: truancy.
   Existing law requires a pupil subject to compulsory full-time
education or to compulsory continuation education who is absent from
school without a valid excuse 3 full days in one school year or tardy
or absent for more than a 30-minute period during the schoolday
without a valid excuse on 3 occasions in one school year, or any
combination thereof, to be classified as a truant. Existing law
requires, upon a pupil's initial classification as a truant, a school
district to notify the pupil's parent or guardian of specified
information using the most cost-effective method possible.
   This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that would recognize and resolve the current school
truancy crisis, help facilitate the return of chronically absent
children to consistent and enduring school attendance, and recognize
the importance of foundational education in the early years. The bill
would also make various findings and declarations regarding truancy.

   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the of the
following:
   (a) Only 17 percent of chronically absent kindergartners and first
graders in California read proficiently by grade 3 and pupils who do
not read proficiently by grade 3 are four times more likely to drop
out of school. Children who drop out of school cost the state more
than $46 billion each year, including more than $1 billion in
juvenile crime costs alone.
   (b) Ninety percent of elementary school pupils with severe
attendance problems, missing 36 or more days in the school year, are
estimated to be from low-income families.
   (c) In the 2013-14 school year, 250,000 elementary school pupils
and 1 in 10 pupils from low-income families were chronically absent,
missing 10 percent or more of the school year.
   (d) In the 2013-14 school year, African American elementary school
pupils were the highest subgroup, including homeless pupils, to be
truant and these pupils are chronically truant at four times the rate
of all other pupils.
   (e) In the 2012-13 school year, one in five, or 744,085,
elementary school pupils were truant, an increase of 1.2 percent from
the 2011-12 school year.
   (f) In the 2010-11 school year, California schools lost $1.4
billion in average daily attendance funding due to pupil absences and
California school districts have lost over $3.5 billion between the
2010-11 and 2013-14 school years.
  SEC. 2.  It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation
that would do both of the following:
   (a) Recognize and resolve the current school truancy crisis and
help facilitate the return of chronically absent children to
consistent and enduring school attendance.
   (b) Recognize the importance of foundational education in the
early years by focusing on the chronically absent kindergarten and
grades 1 to 3, inclusive, aged children.