BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 1014 (Thurmond) - Pupils: truancy: Our Children's Success-The
Early Intervention Attendance Pilot Grant Program.
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|Version: June 1, 2015 |Policy Vote: ED. 7 - 1 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: August 17, 2015 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill establishes the Our Children's Success - The
Early Intervention Attendance Pilot Grant Program for the
purpose of helping public schools resolve attendance problems of
pupils in kindergarten or grades 1 to 3.
Fiscal
Impact:
Cost pressure of up to $5 million to provide grant awards to
schools, school districts, and county offices of education.
Potential cost pressure to provide ongoing funding to support
continuation of the grant program. (Unknown, potential
Proposition 98 and/or special funds)
The California Department of Education (CDE) indicates the
need for four positions and about $379,000 to create and staff
the application review and implementation process of this
grant program according to the specified grant award
priorities. (General Fund)
AB 1014 (Thurmond) Page 1 of
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Background: The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act was approved by voters
as Proposition 47 in November 2014 and makes significant changes
to the state's criminal justice system. It reduces the
penalties for certain non-violent, non-serious drug and property
crimes, and requires that the resulting state savings be spent
on 1) mental health and substance use services; 2) truancy and
dropout prevention; and 3) victim services. Further,
Proposition 47 requires that 25 percent of the Safe
Neighborhoods School Fund be allocated to the CDE to administer
a grant program to reduce truancy, high school dropout, and
student victimization rates. In its February 2015 report, the
Legislative Analyst's Office estimates that the amount available
for this grant program will likely total between $25 million and
$50 million annually beginning in 2016-17.
A student who is absent from school without a valid excuse for
more than 30 minutes on three days in a school year is
considered a truant.
Proposed Law:
This bill establishes the Our Children's Success - The Early
Intervention Attendance Pilot Grant Program (grant program) to
help schools resolve the attendance problems in kindergarten and
grades 1 to 3. Implementation of this grant program is
contingent upon an appropriation of an unspecified amount
included in this bill, in which the fund source may be General
Fund, Proposition 47 funding, federal, local, or private funds.
A public school, school district, or county office of education
may apply to the CDE for a grant and submit a plan that includes
specified components. Some of the components include:
establishment of a staff training program to identify students
with chronic attendance problems upon their second occurrence of
tardiness or absence in the school year; establishment of a
phone call outreach program to follow up on students with
attendance problems; establishment of a parent advocate position
or positions to provide ongoing follow up; track absence and
attendance data over time and by certain demographics and
submission of data to the Department of Justice.
Applicants are required to include an estimate for a grant
AB 1014 (Thurmond) Page 2 of
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amount needed and are required to provide 20 percent in matching
funds. Grants of up to $500,000 are provided for three years.
The CDE is required to provide no less than ten grants and up to
$5 million in total grant funding.
The CDE is required to submit a report by January 1, 2021
evaluating the strategies and attendance data supplied by
successful applicants and recommendations on whether the program
should continue. This grant program becomes inoperative on
January 1, 2022.
Related
Legislation: SB 527 (Liu, 2015) establishes various
requirements for the grant program authorized by the Safe
Neighborhoods and School Act (Proposition 47) for truancy and
dropout prevention. SB 527 failed passage in this committee.
Staff
Comments: Ultimately the cost of this bill is unknown as
funding has not been identified to support this grant program.
It is also unknown the amount of applications that the CDE will
receive. However, there is potential for a significant number
of applications as individual schools may apply. There were
about 6,000 schools in the state with kindergarten and grades
one to three in 2013-14.
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