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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