BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                              Senator Carol Liu, Chair
                                2015 - 2016  Regular 

          Bill No:             AB 1058              
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          |Author:    |Baker                                                |
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          |Version:   |April 20, 2015                             Hearing   |
          |           |Date     June 10, 2015                               |
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          |Urgency:   |No                     |Fiscal:    |Yes              |
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          |Consultant:|Lenin Del Castillo                                   |
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          Subject:  Pupil safety:  child abuse prevention:  training

            SUMMARY
          
          This bill requires the California Department of Education (CDE)  
          to establish guidelines and best practices for child abuse  
          prevention and post on its website links to existing training  
          resources.  Additionally, this bill encourages school districts,  
          county offices of education (COEs) and charter schools to  
          participate in child abuse prevention training and provide all  
          school employees with training in child abuse prevention at  
          least every three years.  

            BACKGROUND
          
          Under the existing Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, all  
          school district teachers and employees are considered to be  
          "mandated reporters," including instructional aides, teacher  
          assistants, classified employees, and employees of a school  
          district police or security department.  Mandated reporters are  
          required to report to any law enforcement department knowledge  
          or observations they may have of a child they know or reasonably  
          suspect to have been the subject of child abuse or neglect.  The  
          individual report must be made by telephone immediately or as  
          soon as practicable with a written or electronic follow up  
          within 36 hours.  

          The Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act also specifies that  
          employers are strongly encouraged to provide their employees who  
          are mandated reporters with training in the duties imposed,  







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          including training in child abuse and neglect identification and  
          training in child abuse and neglect reporting.  School districts  
          that do not train their employees in the duties of mandated  
          reporters are required to report to CDE the reasons why this  
          training is not provided. 

          Additionally, current law requires any mandated reporter, with  
          the exception of child visitation monitors, prior to commencing  
          his or her employment, to sign a statement on a form (provided  
          by the employer) to the effect that he or she has knowledge of  
          the mandated reporting procedures and will comply with those  
          provisions.  Further, current law provides that the statement  
          shall inform the employee that he or she is a mandated reporter  
          and inform the employee of his or her reporting obligations and  
          confidentiality rights.  (Penal Code § 11164 et seq.)

          Current law requires school districts and COEs to create  
          comprehensive school safety plans for their schools and requires  
          the school safety plans to include child abuse reporting  
          procedures, as specified.  (Education Code § 32282)

          Current law also requires the State Office of Child Abuse  
          Prevention to develop and disseminate information to all school  
          districts and district school personnel regarding the detection  
          of child abuse.   The information may be disseminated by the use  
          of literature, as deemed suitable by the California Department  
          of Education (CDE). Staff development seminars and any other  
          appropriate means of instructing school personnel in the  
          detection of child abuse and neglect and the proper action that  
          school personnel should take in suspected cases of child abuse  
          and neglect, shall be developed by the CDE.  (Education Code §  
          44691)  

            ANALYSIS
          
          This bill:

          1)Requires the CDE, in consultation with the Office of Child  
            Abuse Prevention in the State Department of Social Services,  
            to establish guidelines and best practices for child abuse  
            prevention, and post on its Internet Web site links to  
            existing training resources.










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          2)Encourages school districts, county offices of education,  
            state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the  
            CDE, and charter schools to participate in child abuse  
            prevention training and provide all school employees with  
            training in child abuse prevention at least once every three  
            years.


          STAFF COMMENTS
          
          1)Need for the bill.  According to the author's office,  
            California has taken important measures to ensure that school  
            administrators, staff, and teachers receive appropriate  
            training on child abuse detection and reporting, yet there are  
            no requirements for training on how to prevent the  
            circumstances on campus that might allow the abuse to happen.   
            AB 1432 (Gatto, Chapter 797, Statutes of 2014) made an  
            important step towards reducing child abuse by requiring  
            school districts to ensure teachers and other school employees  
            complete annual training on the identification and reporting  
            requirements when child abuse is suspected.  This bill builds  
            upon the pivotal groundwork of AB 1432 by including in state  
            law the requirement that specified training of teachers or  
            other school employees also includes abuse prevention  
            training, i.e., how to avoid situations that could become  
            compromising or improper.  The author further states that this  
            bill will help to protect children from predators on campus,  
            and it will help protect teachers and staff from false claims  
            of abuse.

          2)Existing training.  While it is unclear how wide spread the  
            availability of child abuse prevention materials may be, there  
            are some online training programs currently available. These  
            training materials focus on training teachers on what types of  
            behavior may cross the line in terms of appropriateness and  
            provide examples of behavior that could protect the teacher  
            from false child abuse claims. Examples include not sending  
            personal emails and texts to students, not giving students  
            rides in cars, and not being alone in a classroom with a  
            student without the door open.

            The bill encourages schools to provide child abuse prevention  
            training; it would be discretionary and not required.   
            However, schools may already incorporate this training into  








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            existing mandated reporter training activities. 
           
          3)Related and prior legislation.   
          
            AB 1432 (Gatto), Chapter 797, Statutes of 2014, required local  
            education agencies (LEAs) to annually train employees on their  
            duties regarding the mandated reporting of child abuse and  
            neglect, as specified.


            AB 135 (Buchanan) from 2014 would have required LEAs to adopt  
            policies and provide employees with regular reminders of their  
            responsibilities as mandated reporters.  This measure failed  
            passage in the Senate Appropriations Committee.


            AB 1338 (Buchanan) from 2013 would have required the governing  
            board of a school district and county office of education  
            (COE) and the governing body of a charter school, to adopt a  
            policy on the reporting of child abuse and the  
            responsibilities of mandated reporters in accordance with the  
            Child Abuse and Neglect and Reporting Act (CANRA) and review  
            the mandated reporting requirements with all school personnel  
            within the first six weeks of each school year.  This measure  
            failed passage in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.


            SUPPORT
          
          California Catholic Conference
          Child Abuse Prevention Center 
          Child Abuse Prevention Council of Contra Costa County
          Child Abuse Prevention Council of San Joaquin County 
          Partners in Prevention

            OPPOSITION
           
           None received.

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