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 ****