BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 1593
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|Author: |Obernolte |
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|Version: |March 29, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: June 8, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Lenin DelCastillo |
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Subject: Pupil attendance: excused absences: naturalization
ceremony
SUMMARY
This bill allows a pupil's attendance at his or her
naturalization ceremony to become a United States citizen to be
deemed an excused absence for purposes of computing average
daily attendance (ADA).
BACKGROUND
Existing law:
1) Specifies that excused absences are deemed to be absences
in computing ADA and shall not generate state apportionment
payments.
(Education Code § 48205)
2) Provides that the absence of a student is to be excused
when the absence is:
a) Due to his or her illness, or quarantine under
the direction of a county or city health officer.
b) For the purpose of having medical, dental,
optometric, or chiropractic services rendered.
c) For the purpose of attending the funeral
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services, as specified.
d) For the purpose of attending jury duty.
e) Due to the illness or medical appointment of a
child of whom the student is the custodial parent.
f) For justifiable personal reasons, including an
appearance in court, observation of a religious
holiday or ceremony, or attendance at an employment or
educational conference, as specified.
g) For the purpose of serving as a member of a
precinct board for an election pursuant to Elections
Code Section 12302.
h) For the purpose of spending time with an
immediate family member who is an active duty member
of the military, as specified. (EC § 48205)
1) Provides that any pupil subject to compulsory full-time
education or to compulsory continuation education who is
absent from school without a valid excuse on any day or is
tardy for more than 30 minutes, or any combination thereof,
for three days in a school year shall be classified as
"truant."
2) Provides that a valid excuse may include other reasons that
are within the discretion of school administrators and
based on the facts of the pupil's circumstances.
(Education Code § 48260)
ANALYSIS
This bill adds a pupil's attendance at his or her naturalization
ceremony to become a United States citizen to the list of
excused absences in current law.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author's office,
"under existing law a school district is not required to
excuse the absence of a student who is attending his or her
own naturalization ceremony to become a U.S. citizen. If a
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student is not granted an excused absence, the pupil may be
subject to potential consequences including a truancy
sanction and the inability to make up missed homework,
tests, quizzes or participation in extracurricular
activities."
2) Compulsory education. The state's compulsory education law
requires every child between the ages of 6 through 18 to
attend school full-time and their parents and legal
guardians to be responsible for ensuring that children
attend school. Specifically, a student who is absent from
school without a valid excuse on any day or is tardy for
more than 30 minutes, or any combination thereof, for three
days in a school year is considered to be "truant."
However, existing law provides discretion for school
administrators to designate an excuse as "valid" based on
the facts of the pupil's circumstances.
The author's office indicates that this bill will ensure
that students will not be punished for missing school for
something as important as becoming a citizen of this
country.
3) Fiscal impact. According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill would have 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."
4) Related and prior legislation.
SB 946 (Leyva) deems a student who is serving as a member
of a precinct board for an election to be participating in
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independent study for purposes of calculating average daily
attendance (ADA), and thus allows the school district to
generate state apportionment payments for the student's
absence. This bill was held on the Senate Appropriations
Committee's suspense file.
SB 1014 (Liu) authorizes a school to grant parental leave
to a student who is a parent, and provides that such
absences generate ADA if the school district files an
expectant and parenting student policy to the California
Department of Education. This bill is currently pending in
the Assembly.
AB 2684 (Stone, 2014) was similar to SB 946 (Leyva) and
deemed a student who is serving as a member of a precinct
board for an election to be participating in independent
study for purposes of calculating average daily attendance.
AB 2684 was held on the Senate Appropriations Committee's
suspense file.
AB 387 (Bonilla, Chapter 610, Statutes of 2011) added
spending time with an active duty family member who is on
military deployment, as specified, to the list of reasons
that justify a pupil's excused absence from school.
AB 466 (Hancock, 2007) was nearly identical to SB 946
(Leyva) and AB 2684 (Stone, 2014), and was vetoed by
Governor Schwarzenegger. The veto message read:
I vetoed substantively similar bills in prior years.
This bill would allow schools to receive funding for
times when students are volunteering as elections
precinct board members through independent study
programs. While civic and other volunteer activities
can offer many educational opportunities to students,
these activities should be in addition to, and not in
place of, valuable classroom learning time with a
teacher. Independent study programs are intended to
help schools address the needs of students who are
unable to attend school in a traditional classroom
setting for an extended period of time - not to be
used as means to circumvent the fulfillment of
criteria for instruction required in order to receive
school funding.
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SUPPORT
Asians Americans Advancing Justice
California Federation of Teachers
California Teachers Association
Los Angeles County Office of Education
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education
Secretary of State Alex Padilla
OPPOSITION
None received.
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