BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1014
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Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
1014 (Thurmond) - As Amended May 4, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill establishes the Our Children's Success-The Early
Intervention Attendance Pilot Grant Program, to be administered
by the California Department of Education (CDE), for the
purposes of awarding three-year grants to help public schools
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resolve the attendance problems of pupils in grades K-3.
Specifies the grant program shall be implemented upon the
appropriation of sufficient funding, yet to be determined.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Authorizes a pubilc school maintaining any of grades K-3,
inclusive, to apply to the CDE for a grant through submission
of an application that may reflect various approaches to
achieving increased attendance, as specified. Plan components
may include staff training, a phone call outreach program,
establishment of a parent advocate position, establishment of
an outreach worker position, establishment of a plan for
teacher follow up with pupils with chronic attendance, or a
plan to track pupil attendance and data.
2)Specifices the grant program shall not be construed as a
replacement of, or a substitution for, the school attendance
review board process.
3)Requires the CDE to give priority to public schools with the
highest truancy rates in urban, rural and suburban areas.
4)Requires grant recipents to submit a report to the CDE at the
conclusion of the grant. This report is required to specify
how the grant funds were used and the strategies employed to
address pupil attendance problems. The report is required to
also include pupil attendance data measured both before and
after the implementation of the grant.
5)Requires CDE, on or before January 1, 2021, to submit a
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report to the respective committees on appropriations and
committees on education of the Assembly and the Senate. This
report shall evaluate the strategies and the attendance data
of the public schools that received funds from the grant
program and include a recommendation on whether the grant
program should continue.
6)Appropriates an unspecified amount to the CDE for purposes of
implementing the grant program. Expresses the intent of the
Legislature that the funds appropriated pursuant to this bill
be drawn from sources that may include, but are not
necessarily limited to, the General Fund, the Safe
Neighborhoods and Schools Fund, federal and local government
funds, and contributions from nonprofit organizations and
other private entities. The program sunsets on January 1,
2022.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Unknown Proposition 98/GF cost pressure, potentially in the
millions, to implement the Our Children's Success-The Early
Intervention Attendance Pilot Grant Program. Program
requirements would be contingent upon state, federal or
non-state funding; however, no specific funding source has
been identified. Actual costs will depend on the total grant
amount. There are approximately 5,560 elementary schools that
maintain kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 3, and all are
eligible to apply for the grant.
2)General Fund administrative costs to the CDE of approximately
$600,000 to create and review the application, assist with
implementation of the grant, and provide technical assistance.
These costs assume applications flow from the district. CDE
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anticipates additional staff resources if individual school
sites submit applications. Additional costs in the range of
$150,000 to $200,000 to complete the report at the end of the
pilot, most likely through a contract.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the a recent Attorney General report,
school districts lost approximately $1.4 billion in the
2010-11 school year due to absences. The author believes that
early intervention will not only improve student attendance,
it will be a good investment in increasing a school's ADA.
This bill appropriates an unspecified amount of funds to
establish the Our Children's Success - The Early Intervention
Attendance Grant Program. The grant program is intended to
provide outreach to pupils from kindergarten through grade 3.
A school interested in receiving a grant must submit an
application to the CDE.
2)Considerations. As currently drafted, the bill authorizes
individual school sites to apply for funding. The author may
wish to consider authorizing school districts to apply for
grant funding, instead of individual elementary schools; this
could allow districts to develop district-wide programs and
target funding to elementary schools most in need of
resources. This approach would likely also decrease workload
at the state level when processing applications.
The bill also contains an appropriation with no dollar amount.
The committee should consider whether the bill should move
forward with an unspecified appropriation.
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Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081