Amended in Assembly June 1, 2015

Amended in Assembly May 4, 2015

Amended in Assembly March 26, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 1014


Introduced by Assembly Member Thurmond

(Coauthor: Assembly Member Bonta)

February 26, 2015


An act to add and repeal Section 48270 of the Education Code, relating to pupils, and making an appropriation therefor.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1014, as amended, Thurmond. Pupils: truancy: Our Children’s Success-The Early Intervention Attendance Pilot 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 make various findings and declarations regarding truancy. The bill would establish the Our Children’s Success-The Early Intervention Attendance Pilot Grant Program under the administration of the State Department of Education. The program would provide grants to applicant publicbegin delete schoolsend deletebegin insert schools, school districts,end insertbegin insert and county offices of educationend insert seeking to resolve the attendance problems of pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 3, inclusive. The bill would provide thatbegin delete public schoolsend deletebegin insert the above entitiesend insert maintaining kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 3, inclusive, could apply for grants under the program. The bill would authorize the applications for grants submitted bybegin delete public schoolsend deletebegin insert the above entitiesend insert to the department to reflect a plan including specified components.

The bill would require the department to give priority in awarding grantsbegin delete under this bill to applicant public schoolsend deletebegin insert end insertbegin insertto those applicants who demonstrate financial need for the grant andend insert that have the highest truancy rates in urban areas, rural areas, and suburban areas, respectively. The bill would require the grants to be awarded for 3 years and to be used to address attendance problems of pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 3, inclusive, pursuant to the plans submitted by thebegin delete applicant public school.end deletebegin insert applicantend insertbegin insert. The bill would provide that each grant awardedend insertbegin insert be for no more than $500,000 and would require the applicant to provide a 20% match.end insert The bill would requirebegin delete public schoolsend deletebegin insert an applicantend insert receiving a grant to submit a report, containing specified data, to the department at the conclusion of the grant. The bill would require the department to submit a report, on or before January 1, 2021, to the respective appropriations committees and education committees of the Assembly and the Senate, and would require this report to include a recommendation on whether the grant programbegin delete established under the billend delete should continue. These provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2022.

The bill would appropriate an unspecified sum from an unspecified source to the department for purposes of implementing the bill.

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

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:

3(a) Only 17 percent of chronically absent kindergartners and
4first graders in California read proficiently by grade 3 and pupils
5who do not read proficiently by grade 3 are four times more likely
6to drop out of school. Children who drop out of school cost the
7state more than $46 billion each year, including more than $1
8billion in juvenile crime costs alone.

P3    1(b) Ninety percent of elementary school pupils with severe
2attendance problems, missing 36 or more days in the school year,
3are estimated to be from low-income families.

4(c) In the 2013-14 school year, 250,000 elementary school
5pupils andbegin delete 1end deletebegin insert oneend insert in 10 pupils from low-income families were
6chronically absent, missing 10 percent or more of the school year.

7(d) In the 2013-14 school year, African American elementary
8school pupils were the highest subgroup, including homeless pupils,
9to be truant and these pupils are chronically truant at four times
10the rate of all other pupils.

11(e) In the 2012-13 school year, one in five, or 744,085,
12elementary school pupils were truant, an increase of 1.2 percent
13from the 2011-12 school year.

14(f) In the 2010-11 school year, California schools lost $1.4
15billion in average daily attendance funding due to pupil absences
16and California school districts have lost over $3.5 billion between
17the 2010-11 and 2013-14 school years.

18

SEC. 2.  

Section 48270 is added to the Education Code, to read:

19

48270.  

(a) Our Children’s Success-The Early Intervention
20Attendance Pilot Grant Program is hereby established under the
21administration of the department. This grant program is established
22for the purpose of helping public schools resolve the attendance
23problems of pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 3, inclusive.
24This grant program shall be implemented upon the appropriation
25of sufficient funding under Section 3 of the act that added this
26section.

27(b) A publicbegin delete schoolend deletebegin insert school, school district,end insertbegin insert or county office of
28educationend insert
maintaining kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 3,
29inclusive, seeking to participate in the grant program established
30by this section may apply to the department for a grant pursuant
31to this section. An application submitted by a public begin deleteschoolend deletebegin insert school,
32school district, or county office of educationend insert
to the department
33under this subdivision may reflect a plan that includes, but is not
34necessarily limited to, all of the following components:

35(1) Establishment of a training program for key school officials
36and attendance staff to identify pupils with chronic attendance
37problems upon their second occurrence of tardiness or absence in
38a school year, and the mailing of attendance letters to the pupil’s
39home in a timely manner.

P4    1(2) Establishment of a phone call outreach program, including
2a minimum of two calls from a school official, not limited to a
3recording, to follow up on those pupils whose attendance problems
4continue during that school year after the attendance letters are
5mailed.

6(3) Establishment of a parent advocate position or positions,
7designated for ongoing followup with the pupil and the parent
8throughout the school year to ensure the pupil’s continued
9consistent school attendance. The number of these parent advocate
10positions may vary according to the school’s needs, resources, and
11the parent advocate’s ability to manage the workload.

12(4) Establishment of an outreach worker position or positions
13whose primary job is assisting families with a child or children
14who have ongoing chronic attendance problems. The duties of an
15outreach worker include sending letters, making phone calls and
16home visits, and helping to connect the family to the appropriate
17local, state, or federal programs in order to resolve issues that are
18creating impediments to the child’s consistent attendance in school.
19The number of these outreach worker positions can vary according
20to thebegin delete school’send deletebegin insert applicant’send insert needs, resources, and the outreach
21worker’s ability to manage the workload.

22(5) Determining that thebegin delete applicant school’send deletebegin insert applicant’send insert plan is
23instituted, to the best of thebegin delete school’send deletebegin insert applicant’send insert ability, before a
24pupil enters the school attendance review board process.

25(6) Establishment of a plan for teacher followup with pupils
26with chronic attendance problems to make up for lost instructional
27time.

28(7) Establishment of a plan to trackbegin insert both longitudinal, pupil
29levelend insert
pupil attendance and aggregate data on tardiness and
30attendance throughout the school year to determine whether
31improvement has been made.

begin insert

32(8) Establishment of a plan to assess trends in attendance and
33chronic absence rates among pupils who are English learners,
34eligible for a free or reduced-price meal, or are foster youth, as
35those terms are defined in Section 42238.01, and target resources
36towards those groups of pupils who are most at risk for ongoing
37attendance problems.

end insert
begin insert

38(9) (A) Submission of deidentified, aggregate data on chronic
39absence and attendance rates to the Bureau of Children’s Justice
40within the Department of Justice for inclusion in the report “In
P5    1School + On Track” prepared by the Office of the Attorney
2General.

end insert
begin insert

3(B) For purposes of this paragraph, “deidentified” means
4information that cannot be used to identify an individual pupil.

end insert
begin insert

5(c) The applicant shall include an estimate for the amount of
6the grant needed in the application and shall be required to provide
720 percent matching funds for any amount requested to encourage
8applicants to apply for less than the maximum grant amount
9specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (f).

end insert
begin delete

10(c)

end delete

11begin insert(d)end insert The grant program established by this section shall not be
12construed as a replacement of, or a substitution for, the school
13attendance review board process as described in this article.

begin delete

14(d)

end delete

15begin insert(e)end insert (1) The department shall award grants under this section
16based on the selection criteria in paragraph (2).

17(2) The department shall give prioritybegin delete to applicant public schoolsend delete
18begin insert to those applicants who demonstrate financial need for the grant
19andend insert
with the highest truancy rates in each of the following areas:

20 (A) Urban areas.

21 (B) Rural areas.

22(C) Suburban areas.

begin delete

23(e)

end delete

24begin insert(f)end insertbegin insert(1)end insertbegin insertend insert Grants under this section shall be awarded for three
25years, and shall be used to address the attendance problems of
26pupils in kindergarten and in grades 1 to 3, inclusive, pursuant to
27the plans submitted by the applicantbegin delete public schoolend delete under
28subdivision (b).

begin insert

29(2) Each grant awarded pursuant to this section shall be for no
30more than five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000).

end insert
begin insert

31(3) The department shall provide no less than 10 grants.

end insert
begin insert

32(4) The department shall award no more than five million dollars
33($5,000,000) in total grant moneys.

end insert
begin delete

34(f)

end delete

35begin insert(g)end insertbegin deleteA public school end deletebegin insertAn applicant end insertthat receives a grant under this
36section shall submit a report to the department at the conclusion
37of the grant. This report shall specify how the grant funds were
38used and the strategies employed to address pupil attendance
39problems. The report shall also include pupil attendance data
40measured both before and after the implementation of the grant.

begin delete

P6    1(g)

end delete

2begin insert(h)end insert On or before January 1, 2021, the department shall submit
3a report to the respective committees on appropriations and
4committees on education of the Assembly and the Senate. This
5report shall evaluate the strategies and the attendance data of the
6begin deletepublic schoolsend deletebegin insert applicantsend insert that received funds from the grant
7program established under this section. The report shall include,
8but not necessarily be limited to, a recommendation on whether
9the grant program should continue.

begin delete

10(h)

end delete

11begin insert(i)end insert This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2022,
12and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that
13is enacted before January 1, 2022, deletes or extends that date.

14

SEC. 3.  

 The sum of ____ dollars ($____) is hereby
15appropriated to the State Department of Education for purposes
16of implementing Our Children’s Success-The Early Intervention
17Attendance Grant Program, as established in Section 48270 of the
18Education Code. It is the intent of the Legislature that the funds
19appropriated under this section be drawn from sources that may
20include, but are not necessarily limited to, the General Fund, the
21Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund established by Proposition
2247 on the November 2014 statewide general election ballot, federal
23and local government funds, and contributions from nonprofit
24organizations and other private entities.



O

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