BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 1058 (Baker) - Pupil safety: child abuse prevention:
training.
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|Version: April 20, 2015 |Policy Vote: ED. 8 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: June 22, 2015 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill requires the State Department of Education
(SDE), in consultation with the State Department of Social
Services (DSS), to establish guidelines and best practices for
child abuse prevention, and post links to existing training
resources on the SDE's website. This bill also encourages
public schools, as specified, to participate in child abuse
prevention training and to provide all school employees with
this training at least once every three years.
Fiscal
Impact:
The SDE indicates that 0.5 position and about $59,000 General
Fund is needed to establish guidelines and best practices for
child abuse prevention with DSS and for the SDE to post links
to existing training resources on its website. The SDE cites
minor ongoing costs to maintain the website and provide
technical assistance to local educational agencies.
AB 1058 (Baker) Page 1 of
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Background: Current law (established by Chapter 797, Statutes of 2014)
requires the SDE, in consultation with the DSS, to do all of the
following:
(1) Develop and disseminate information to public schools,
as specified, and their school personnel regarding the
detection and reporting of child abuse.
(2) Provide statewide guidance on the responsibilities of
mandated reporters who are school personnel, in accordance
with the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act. The
guidance must include information on the identification and
reporting requirements of child abuse and neglect.
(3) Develop 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, including the use of an online training
module developed by DSS.
Schools are also required to provide annual training to their
employees and persons working on their behalf who are mandated
reporters on reporting requirements, using the online training
module provided by DSS or other local training option. The
training is required to include information that the failure to
report an incident of known or reasonably suspected child abuse
or neglect is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in a
county jail, or by a fine of $1,000, or both.
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
AB 1058 (Baker) Page 2 of
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within 36 hours.
Current law requires school districts and county offices of
education to create comprehensive school safety plans for their
schools and requires the school safety plans to include child
abuse reporting procedures, as specified.
Proposed Law:
This bill requires the SDE, in consultation with the Office of
Child Abuse Prevention in the DSS, to establish guidelines and
best practices for child abuse prevention, and post links to
existing training resources on the SDE's website.
This bill also encourages school districts, county offices of
education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated
by the SDE, and charter schools to participate in child abuse
prevention training and to provide all employees with training
in child abuse prevention once every three years.
Related
Legislation:
AB 1432 (Gatto), Chapter 797, Statutes of 2014, requires local
education agencies to annually train employees on their duties
regarding the mandated reporting of child abuse and neglect, as
specified.
Staff
Comments: This bill, among other things, encourages schools to
participate in child abuse prevention training and to provide
all school employees with training in child abuse prevention at
least once every three years. Currently, schools are required
to provide annual training to their employees and persons
working on their behalf who are mandated reporters. Staff notes
that the SDE provides links on its website to information for
local educational agencies on various topics relating to child
abuse including contacts pertaining to child abuse prevention,
information on supporting families, preventative programs, and
public awareness.
According to the author's office, this bill builds upon the work
of AB 1432 (which focuses on training mandated reporters of
AB 1058 (Baker) Page 3 of
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their duties) by requiring that specified training of teachers
or other school employees also include child abuse prevention.
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