BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1166
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Date of Hearing: April 8, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
AB 1166
(Bloom) - As Introduced February 27, 2015
SUBJECT: Pupils in foster care: pupils who are homeless
children or youth: school transfer: exemption from local
graduation requirements
SUMMARY: Allows students in foster care and those who are
homeless to be eligible for the exemption from local graduation
requirements even if they are not notified of this right within
30 days of enrollment, and allows homeless students to be exempt
even if they are no longer homeless or if they transfer to
another school or district. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires that students in foster care and those who are
homeless who are not notified of the right to be exempt from
local graduation requirements within 30 days of transfer into
a school (as required by current law) be eligible for the
exemption once they are notified, even if their court
jurisdiction or homelessness has ended.
2)Requires that if a student who is homeless is exempted from
local graduation requirements, the exemption continue to apply
even if the student is no longer homeless or transfers to
another school or district.
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EXISTING LAW:
1)Permits school district governing boards to establish local
graduation requirements in excess of those of the state.
2)Requires school districts to exempt students in foster care
and those who are homeless who transfer between schools after
their second year in high school from local graduation
requirements.
3)Requires school districts to notify specified individuals,
including students in foster care and those who are homeless,
within 30 days of the date that they transfer into a school,
that they are exempt from local graduation requirements, and
whether individual students qualify for the exemption.
4)Requires that the exemption from local graduation requirements
continue to apply to students in foster care even if their
court jurisdiction is terminated, or if students transfer to
another school or district.
5)Defines, in the federal McKinney-Vento Act, "homeless children
and youth" as individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and
adequate nighttime residence, including children who are
sharing the housing of other people, living in motels, hotels,
trailer parks, or camp grounds, emergency or transitional
shelters, abandoned in hospitals or awaiting foster care
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placement, or who are living in a place not generally used for
sleeping, cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings,
substandard housing, bus or train stations, and migratory
children living in the circumstances above.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
Need for the bill. The author's office states, "AB 1806 [Bloom,
Chapter 767, Statutes of 2014] required notification of homeless
liaisons when homeless youth with special needs are at risk of
expulsion, exempted these homeless students in their last two
years of high school from district-specific [graduation]
requirements, and clarified that homeless youth have the same
rights as foster children when it comes to receiving partial
credit for work they completed at other school. The bill was
meant to help homeless youth graduate, taking into consideration
their special circumstances. The bill did not address if these
arrangements would apply to students who find housing or
students who weren't recognized as homeless when they were. The
bill will close these loopholes by clarifying the students who
have been homeless but no longer are should still receive the
same education-related rights as currently homeless students."
Homeless youth education outcomes. According to Columbia
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University's National Center for Children in Poverty,<1>
children who experience homelessness are highly at risk for poor
educational outcomes. Among them, homeless children:
Are more likely to be retained
Are more likely to change school placement (nearly 40%
changed school from two to five times in the last 12
months)
Often have missed significant amounts of school (nearly
40% missed more than one week of school in the past three
months)
Have reading, spelling, and mathematics scores are more
often below grade level
Are more likely to require a special education
evaluation (almost 50 percent), but less than 23 percent of
those with any disability have ever received special
education evaluation or special education services
Are much less likely to complete high school
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<1>
Aratani, Yuriko. Homeless Children and Youth: Causes and
Consequences. National Center on Children in Poverty, Columbia
University, 2009. Retrieved on 3/28/15:
http://nccp.org/publications/pub_888.html
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McKinney-Vento program eligibility when homeless students obtain
stable housing. According to the CDE, when students receiving
services through the federal McKinney-Vento homeless education
program obtain stable housing they remain eligible for services
through the end of the academic year, and then become ineligible
for services.
Related legislation this session. AB 379 (Gordon), approved by
this Committee on March 25th, would make complaints alleging
violations of certain educational rights afforded to students
who are homeless subject to the Uniform Complaint Procedures.
AB 891 (Campos), pending in this Committee, provides homeless
and low-income youth with priority for enrollment in before and
after school programs and free transportation to and from
school, and requires the Department of Social Services to
provide youth in families receiving benefits through the
California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids program
additional assistance for specified purposes.
AB 982 (Eggman), pending in the Assembly Human Services
Committee, gives homeless children priority for enrollment in
subsidized child care and development programs.
SB 445 (Liu), pending in the Senate Education Committee, would
require a local educational agency to allow a homeless child to
continue his or her education in his or her school of origin
through the duration of his or her homelessness, and provides a
right to immediate enrollment.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
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Support
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Tanya Lieberman / ED. / (916) 319-2087