BILL NUMBER: AB 1014 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Thurmond
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to add Section 48270 to the Education Code,
relating to pupils , and making an appropriation therefor
.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1014, as amended, Thurmond. Pupils: truancy.
truancy: Our Children's Success-The Early Intervention
Attendance Grant Program.
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 . The bill would establish
Our Children's Success- The Early Intervention
Attendance Grant Program under the administration of the State
Department of Education. The program would provide grants to
applicant public schools seeking to resolve the attendance problems
of pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 3, inclusive. The bill
would provide that public schools maintaining kindergarten or any of
grades 1 to 3, inclusive, could apply for grants under the program.
The bill would re quire the applications for grants
submitted by schools to the department to reflect a plan including
specified components .
The bill would require the department to give priority to
applicant schools that have prioritized pupil engagement in their
local control and accountability plans. The bill would appropriate an
unspecified sum from an unspecified source to the department for
purposes of implementing the bill.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no yes
. Fiscal committee: no yes .
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.
SEC. 2. Section 48270 is added to the
Education Code , to read:
48270. (a) Our Children's Success-The Early Intervention
Attendance Grant Program is hereby established under the
administration of the department. This grant program is established
for the purpose of helping public schools resolve the attendance
problems of pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 3, inclusive. This
grant program shall be implemented upon the appropriation of
sufficient funding under Section 3 of the act that added this
section.
(b) A public school maintaining kindergarten or any of grades 1 to
3, inclusive, seeking to participate in the grant program
established by this section may apply to the department for a grant
pursuant to this section. An application submitted by a public school
to the department under this subdivision shall reflect a plan that
includes, but is not necessarily limited to, all of the following
components:
(1) Establishment of a training program for key school officials
and attendance staff to identify pupils with chronic attendance
problems upon their second occurrence of tardiness or absence in a
school year, and the mailing of attendance letters to the pupil's
home in a timely manner.
(2) Establishment of a phone call outreach program, including a
minimum of two calls from a school official, not limited to a
recording, to follow up on those pupils whose attendance problems
continue during that school year after the attendance letters are
mailed.
(3) Establishment of a parent advocate position or positions,
designated for ongoing follow-up with the pupil and the parent
throughout the school year to ensure the pupil's continued consistent
school attendance. The number of these parent advocate positions may
vary according to the school's needs, resources, and the parent
advocate's ability to manage the workload.
(4) Establishment of an outreach worker position or positions
whose primary job is assisting families with a child or children who
have ongoing chronic attendance problems. The duties of an outreach
worker include sending letters, making phone calls and home visits,
and helping to connect the family to the appropriate local, state, or
federal programs in order to resolve issues that are creating
impediments to the child's consistent attendance in school. The
number of these outreach worker positions can vary according to the
school's needs, resources, and the outreach worker's ability to
manage the workload.
(5) Determining that the applicant school's plan is instituted, to
the best of the school's ability, before a pupil enters the school
attendance review board process.
(6) Establishment of a plan for teacher follow-up with pupils with
chronic attendance problems to make up for lost instructional time.
(7) Establishment of a plan to track pupil attendance and
aggregate data on tardiness and attendance throughout the school year
to determine whether improvement has been made.
(c) In evaluating applications for grants under this section, the
department shall give priority to applicant schools that have
prioritized pupil engagement in their local control and
accountability plans adopted pursuant to Section 52060.
(d) The grant program established by this section shall not be
construed as a replacement of, or a substitution for, the school
attendance review board process as described in this article.
SEC. 3. The sum of ____
dollars ($____) is hereby appropriated to the State Department of
Education for purposes of implementing Our Children's Success-
The Early Intervention Attendance Grant Program, as established
in Section 48270 of the Education Code. It is the intent of the
Legislature that the funds appropriated under this section be drawn
from sources that may include, but are not necessarily
limited to, the General Fund, the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund
established by Proposition 47 on the November 2014 statewide general
election ballot, federal and local government funds, and
contributions from nonprofit organizations and other private
entities.