BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1567|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1567
Author: Campos (D)
Amended: 8/17/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 9-0, 6/15/16
AYES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Huff, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan,
Vidak
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/11/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 6/1/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Before and after school programs: enrollment:
fees: homeless and foster youth: snacks or meals
SOURCE: California 9to5
Childrens Defense Fund California
Western Center on Law and Poverty
DIGEST: This bill, beginning July 1, 2017, establishes first
priority for enrollment in before and after school programs to
students who are identified as homeless and in foster care, and
prohibits programs from charging a family for a child that the
program knows to be a homeless youth or a foster care youth.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/17/16 include double-jointing
provisions to avoid chaptering problems with AB 2615 (Wood).
ANALYSIS:
AB 1567
Page 2
Existing federal law:
1)Enacts the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Children and Youths
Program which 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 undertake 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.)
2)Enacts the McKinney-Vento Act which requires each local
educational agency to designate a staff person as a liaison
for homeless children and youth, and carry out specific
duties, such as ensuring immediate enrollment, access to
educational opportunities offered to other students, and
providing notice of the rights of homeless youth. (USC, Title
42, § 11432(g)(1)(j)(ii))
Existing state law:
1)Establishes the After School Education and Safety (ASES)
program consisting of before and after school components,
serving students in grades K-9, each of which must include an
educational and literacy element and an educational enrichment
element. (Education Code § 8482)
2)Specifies that every student attending a school operating ASES
program is eligible to participate in the program, subject to
capacity. A program is not required to charge family fess or
conduct eligibility determinations based on need. (EC §
8482.6)
This bill, beginning July 1, 2017, establishes first priority
for enrollment in before and after school programs to students
who are identified as homeless and in foster care, and prohibits
programs from charging a family for a child that the program
knows to be a homeless youth or a foster care youth.
AB 1567
Page 3
Specifically it:
1)Prohibits a before and after school program from charging
family fees if the program knows that the child is a homeless
youth, as defined in the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act (USC, Title 42, § 11434(a)) or knows that the
child is in foster care.
2)Modifies priority for enrollment of students in before and
after school programs as follows:
a) Provides first priority to students who are identified
by the program as homeless youth, as defined by federal
law, and to students who are identified by the program as
being in foster care.
b) For programs serving middle or junior high school
students, second priority shall go to students in middle or
junior high school who attend daily. Current law
establishes priority enrollment solely for students in
middle or junior high school.
3)Prohibits anything in the bill's provisions from being
construed to:
a) Require a program to verify, or a school 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.
b) Require or authorize the disenrollment of a current
participant in order to secure the enrollment of a pupil
who has priority for enrollment.
4)Requires a program to inform the parent or caregiver of a
pupil of the right of homeless children and foster children to
receive priority enrollment and how to request priority
enrollment.
5)Requires program administrators to allow a student to
self-certify as a homeless youth or foster care youth, for
purposes of identifying a student who is eligible for priority
AB 1567
Page 4
enrollment. Specifies that administrators of a program may
also obtain this information through the school district
liaison designated for homeless children, provided that the
school district has a waiver on file allowing for the release
of this information.
6)Expresses the intent of the Legislature that an ASES program
not use its core operating funds for mandatory snacks or
meals, but 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, School Breakfast Program, or the
Child and Adult Care Food Program.
7)Includes double-jointing provisions to avoid chaptering
problems with AB 2615 (Wood).
Comments
1)Need for the bill. According to the United States Department
of Education, 4 percent of California's students (284,086)
were known to have experienced homelessness at some point
during the 2013-2014 school year. According to the author,
California's after school programs offer quality learning and
development opportunities that can make a difference for all
the children they serve but especially for low-income
children. The author asserts that some of the poorest and most
vulnerable children do not have access to the 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 afterschool programs are available to
the neediest of children by giving priority access and waving
fees for homeless or foster care youth.
2)After School Education and Safety (ASES) program. The ASES
Program is the result of the 2002 voter-approved initiative,
Proposition 49. The program funds the establishment of local
before and after school education and enrichment programs.
These programs are created through partnerships between
schools and local community resources to provide literacy,
academic enrichment and safe constructive alternatives for
AB 1567
Page 5
students in kindergarten through ninth grade (K-9). A
nutritious snack is provided daily to students participating
in the program. The snack provided must meet specified state
or federal standards. The current funding level for the ASES
program is $550 million. This bill provides priority for
enrollment in before and after school programs to homeless
youth, as defined by the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act, and to foster care students.
3)Family fees. As written, this bill prohibits a before and
after school program from charging family fees for services
provided to a homeless or foster care youth. The bill allows
families to self-certify that a student is homeless or is a
foster care student and authorizes an ASES program to obtain
this information through the school district liaison
designated for homeless children.
Current law does not require ASES programs to charge family
fees or to conduct individual eligibility determinations based
on need or income. It appears that ASES programs have the
ability to charge family fees; however, it is unlikely that
many programs charge fees, or reap significant fees, as ASES
programs serve schools where a minimum of 50% of the students
are eligible for free- or reduced-price meals, and funding
priority is given to programs serving the highest percentages
of students who are eligible for free and reduced-price meals.
Given the current nature of the program and its focus on low
income families these provisions are consistent with the
program's operations and policies.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Committee on Appropriation, this bill
would impose to the following costs:
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
AB 1567
Page 6
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 program.
SUPPORT: (Verified 8/12/16)
California 9to5 (co-source)
Children's Defense Fund - California (co-source)
Western Law Center on Law and Poverty (co-source)
California Food Policy Advocates
Hunger Action Los Angeles
OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/12/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 6/1/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth
Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto,
Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper,
Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim,
Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis,
Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte,
O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting,
Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
Prepared by:Olgalilia Ramirez / ED. / (916) 651-4105
8/18/16 16:50:30
AB 1567
Page 7
**** END ****