BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1593
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
1593 (Obernolte) - As Amended March 29, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill adds a student's attendance of their naturalization
ceremony to become a United States citizen to the list of
authorized excused school absence.
FISCAL EFFECT:
AB 1593
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No significant state fiscal impact. School districts lose
funding if a student is absent, regardless of whether or not the
absence is excused or unexcused. School districts can recover a
day of lost attendance if the student chooses to attend Saturday
school. It is likely that students would need to be absent from
school to attend their naturalization ceremony, regardless of
the proposed change to categorize the absence as "excused". To
the extent this bill changes behavior and leads to more students
choosing to miss school that otherwise would not, this bill
could further decrease funding to school districts.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. Current law categorizes certain activities as
"excused absences", including illness, medical appointments,
and serving as a member of a precinct board. This bill adds a
pupil's attendance at their naturalization ceremony as an
excused absence.
2)Background. State funding for school districts is driven by
average daily attendance (ADA) which is generally calculated
by dividing days of attendance by days taught. Prior to 1997,
the excused absence of a pupil was included along with regular
pupil attendance in the ADA calculation. SB 727 (Rosenthal),
Chapter 855, Statutes of 1997 eliminated excused absences from
this calculation so that all absences are not included in the
calculation.
Although the designation of "excused" no longer makes a
difference with regard to per pupil funding, an accumulation
of unexcused absences can result in a student being declared
truant. A student is deemed to be truant if he or she is
absent from school for three full days in one school year
without a valid excuse. This bill would ensure students who
miss school due to a naturalization ceremony would not be
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penalized for missing school for this event.
Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081