BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                             Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
                            2015 - 2016  Regular  Session

          AB 1567 (Campos) - Before and after school programs:   
          enrollment:  fees:  homeless and foster youth:  snacks or meals
          
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          |Version: June 22, 2016          |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0          |
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          |Urgency: No                     |Mandate: No                     |
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          |Hearing Date: August 1, 2016    |Consultant: Jillian Kissee      |
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          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.




          


          Bill  
          Summary:  Beginning July 1, 2017, this bill: (1) establishes  
          first priority for enrollment in before and after school  
          programs to be students who are identified as homeless and in  
          foster care, and (2) prohibits programs from charging a family  
          for a child that the program knows to be a homeless youth or a  
          foster care youth.


          Fiscal  
          Impact:  
           Though this bill does not expand services, it creates a  
            potentially significant Proposition 98 cost pressure to the  
            extent children whose families are currently able to pay  







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            family fees are displaced due to priority enrollment for  
            homeless and foster youth, whose fees would be waived.  This  
            would result in forgone revenue that would have otherwise  
            supported local programs, thereby creating cost pressures on  
            the After School Education and Safety (ASES) program.  See  
            staff comments.




          Background:  Existing law establishes the ASES program, a three year grant  
          program, to create incentives for establishing locally driven  
          before and after school enrichment programs that partner with  
          public schools and communities to provide academic and literacy  
          support and safe, constructive alternatives for youth.  The ASES  
          program serves students in kindergarten and grades 1 through 9.   
          Local educational agencies (LEAs) may operate a before school  
          component of a program, an after school component, or both, on  
          one or multiple school sites.  (Education Code § 8482 and  
          8482.3)
          Existing law specifies that every student attending a school  
          operating an ASES program is eligible to participate in the  
          program, subject to capacity.  Priority for funding is required  
          to be given to schools where a minimum of 50 percent of the  
          students in elementary schools and 50 percent of the students in  
          middle and junior high schools are eligible for free or reduced  
          cost meals through the school lunch program of the United States  
          Department of Agriculture.  A program is not required to charge  
          family fees or conduct eligibility determinations based on need.  
           Existing law continuously appropriates to the California  
          Department of Education (CDE) $550 million from the General Fund  
          for the ASES program.  (EC § 8482.6, 8482.5, and 8483.5)

          The federal McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and  
          Youths Program requires state educational agencies to ensure  
          that homeless children and youth have equal access to the same  
          free public education as is provided to other children and  
          youth.  States are required to review and take steps to revise  
          any laws, regulations, practices, or policies that may act as  
          barriers to the enrollment, attendance, or success in school of  
          homeless children and youth.  (United States Code, Title 42, §  
          11431, et seq.) 










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          Proposed Law:  
            Beginning July 1, 2017, this bill:
           Requires that if an ASES program charges family fees, it is  
            prohibited from charging a family for a child that the program  
            knows to be a homeless youth or a foster care youth;


           Establishes first priority for enrollment in before and after  
            school programs to be students who are identified as homeless  
            and in foster care;


           Establishes second priority for programs serving middle and  
            junior high school students to students who attend daily;


           Requires a program to inform the parent or caregiver of the  
            right of homeless children and foster children to receive  
            priority enrollment and how to make a request; and


           Requires program administrators to allow self-certification of  
            a student for purposes of identifying a student who is  
            eligible for priority enrollment.


          This bill provides that nothing in it be construed to require a  
          program to verify, or a school district to disclose to an after  
          school program, that a student applying for or participating in  
          the program is a homeless youth or a foster youth.   
          Administrators may obtain this information through the school  
          district liaison designated for homeless children if the school  
          district has the appropriate waiver.


          Finally, this bill provides legislative intent that an ASES  
          program be prohibited from using its core operating funds for  
          mandatory snacks or meals, but be required to instead seek to  
          qualify program sites as approved distribution sites for  
          federally funded after school snacks or meals provided for by  
          the National School Lunch Program, the Summer Food Service  
          Program, or the Child and Adult Care Food Program.










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          Related  
          Legislation:  AB 2615 (Wood, 2016) among other things, requires  
          programs that charge family fees to waive or reduce the cost of  
          these fees for students who are eligible for free or  
          reduced-price meals.  This bill prohibits, if a program charges  
          family fees, charging a family for a child if it is known that  
          the child is a homeless youth or is in foster care.  AB 2615 is  
          pending in this committee.
          AB 1426 (Cooper) increases the per-student daily and weekly  
          rates for ASES.  AB 1426 is pending in this committee.




          Staff  
          Comments:  According to the author, some of the poorest and most  
          vulnerable children do not have access to ASES programs because  
          they are unable to secure a spot on the waiting list or to pay  
          the minimal fee required by some programs.  This bill seeks to  
          ensure that state funded after school programs are available to  
          the neediest of children by giving priority access and waiving  
          fees for homeless or foster care youth.
          Priority for ASES funding is provided for schools that have a  
          minimum of 50 percent of students that are eligible for free- or  
          reduced-price meals, and funding priority is given to programs  
          serving the highest percentages of students eligible for those  
          meals.  Though the intent of the program is to not deny a child  
          access to an ASES program due to inability to pay, programs may  
          still charge family fees.  There are a number of payment  
          structures that programs employ such as donations, sliding scale  
          fees depending upon family income, and flat fees with  
          scholarships available.  Some programs do not charge fees at  
          all.  However, some programs use the revenue to help meet the  
          required local match of one-third of the total grant they  
          receive.  


          This bill provides that if an ASES program charges family fees,  
          it is prohibited from charging a family for a child that it  
          knows to be a homeless youth or a foster care youth.  Because  
          funding is capped at the $550 million annual appropriation, some  
          programs may have waitlists or limited slots in their programs.   








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          Providing priority enrollment and family fee waivers to homeless  
          and foster youth will likely displace other participants who may  
          be able to afford the fee which would be used to support the  
          program.  For example at Lake County Office of Education, family  
          fees range from $25 to $100 per month based on income level.  To  
          the extent 10 students in the highest income bracket are  
          displaced by this priority enrollment, the program could lose  
          $10,000 over the course of the school year.  The maximum grant  
          level for middle or junior high schools is $150,000.  However,  
          the priority enrollment ensures that some of the most  
          disadvantaged are served first.




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