BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 2306 (Frazier) - Juvenile court school pupils
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|Version: June 14, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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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: This bill extends policies for graduation requirements
and completed coursework credit currently provided to students
who are in foster care or who are homeless to also apply to
students who transfer from a juvenile court school. This bill,
among other things, requires a school district to exempt a
student who transfers from a juvenile court school any time
after the completion of grade 10 from local graduation
requirements that are in addition to the coursework required by
the state.
Fiscal
Impact:
Mandate: Unknown, reimbursable state mandate costs,
potentially in the millions related to expanding the required
course of study for juvenile court schools to include foreign
language. Additional reimbursable state mandate costs related
AB 2306 (Frazier) Page 1 of
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to expanding the areas in which complaints may be made to
local educational agencies (LEAs) under the Uniform Complaint
Procedures (UCP). Likely minor costs related to awarding a
diploma for fulfilling statewide graduation requirements. See
staff comments. (Proposition 98)
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
indicates that the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) would
incur costs of $437,000 in which $50,000 is for regulatory
updates and staff training and $387,000 is for three
recreational therapists to engage youth in other activities
who opt out of school during classroom hours. See staff
comments. (General Fund)
The California Department of Education (CDE) indicates costs
to implement this bill are minor.
Background: Existing state law establishes a minimum set of courses
required for high school graduation. The governing boards of
LEAs are authorized to supplement the state minimum requirements
at the local level. In addition, the University of California
(UC) and the California State University (CSU) require a minimum
15-unit pattern of courses for admission as a first-time
freshman. These requirements exceed the minimum state
graduation requirements. Among the UC and CSU admission
requirements include, are two years of a foreign language.
Existing law requires county boards of education to adopt and
enforce a course of study and to evaluate a juvenile court
school program in accordance, among other things, the course of
study requirements for grades seven through 12, but excluding
foreign languages. (Education Code Section 48645.3(a))
Proposed Law:
This bill extends policies for graduation requirements and
completed coursework credit currently provided to students who
are in foster care or who are homeless to students who transfer
from a juvenile court school. This bill, among other things,
requires a school district to exempt a student who transfers
from a juvenile court school any time after completion of grade
10 from local graduation requirements that are in addition to
the coursework required by the state.
Specifically this bill:
AB 2306 (Frazier) Page 2 of
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Course of Study
Provides legislative intent that students in juvenile court
schools have a rigorous curriculum that includes a course of
study preparing them for high school graduation and career
entry and fulfilling the requirements for admission to the UC
or the CSU.
Requires that county offices of education adopt and enforce a
course of study pertaining to juvenile court schools that
includes foreign language.
Exemption of Local Graduation Requirements
Provides that if a student completes the statewide coursework
requirement for graduation while attending a juvenile court
school, the county office of education is required to issue to
the student a diploma of graduation and not require the
student to complete requirements that are in addition to the
statewide coursework.
Requires that if the school district determines that the
former juvenile court school student is reasonably able to
complete the school district's local graduation requirements
within the student's fifth year of high school, it must inform
the student of the option, the impact this option would have
on admission to college, and provide information about
transfer options at the California Community Colleges.
Upon transfer into a school, requires a school district to
notify the former juvenile court school student and other
individuals of the availability of the exemption of local
graduation requirements and whether the student qualifies for
an exemption.
AB 2306 (Frazier) Page 3 of
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Provides that if a former juvenile student is exempted from
local graduation requirements, the school is prohibited from
requiring that the student graduate early; must inform the
student and educational rights holder how the exemption will
affect college admission; and must provide information on
transfer options.
Completed Coursework Policies
Requires a school district and county office of education to
accept coursework satisfactorily completed by a former
juvenile court school student while attending another school,
as specified.
Prohibits a school district or county office of education from
requiring a former juvenile court school student to retake a
course if the student has satisfactorily completed the course
and requires the student to be allowed to take a course to
meet the eligibility requirements for admission to the CSU or
UC.
Uniform Complaint Procedures
Authorizes a complaint of noncompliance with the graduation
requirements exemption and coursework completion policies
above to be filed with the LEA under the UCP.
Requires the graduation requirements exemption and coursework
completion policies above to be included in the annual UCP
notification.
AB 2306 (Frazier) Page 4 of
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Related
Legislation: AB 379, (Gordon, Chapter 772, Statutes of 2015)
makes complaints alleging violations of the educational rights
afforded to students in foster care and students who are
homeless that are also being proposed in this bill for former
juvenile court school students, subject to the UCP.
Staff
Comments: This bill requires that county offices of education
adopt and enforce a course of study pertaining to juvenile court
schools that includes foreign language. This new requirement
could be deemed by the Commission on State Mandates as a state
reimbursable mandate. According to the CDE's website, in 2010
there were 83 juvenile court schools enrolling about 9,000
students. At an average teacher cost of $100,000, including
benefits, costs would be about $8.6 million for these schools to
hire one additional teacher to teach foreign language.
This bill expands the UCP process to include additional areas in
which complaints may be made to LEAs regarding violating certain
educational rights of former juvenile court school students.
Once a complaint is received, LEAs are required to investigate
and resolve it in accordance with requirements in state
regulations. This bill also requires information regarding the
rights of former juvenile court school students and the ability
to file a complaint through the UCP process to be included in
the school district's annual UCP notification. Based on the
Commission on State Mandate's statewide cost estimate for the
existing UCP mandate, costs to address a complaint can vary
significantly. If 50 complaints were to materialize from
implementation of this bill, costs could range from about
$20,000 (assume the lowest staff costs and minimal hours spent
on a complaint) to about $900,000 (assuming the highest paid
staff and maximum hours spent on a complaint) statewide. If
complaints were to materialize from this bill which subsequently
led to appeals, this could create workload at the CDE to address
those appeals.
Finally, since this bill's exemption of local graduation
requirements applies to students that transfer from a juvenile
court school and most of the DJJ's youth have attended a
AB 2306 (Frazier) Page 5 of
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juvenile court school, this bill appears to also exempt DJJ
youth from being required to adhere to requirements beyond the
state's graduation requirements. According to DJJ, given that
some students would opt out of the additional course
requirements, the youth would need to be occupied with other
beneficial activities. Therefore, DJJ cites the need for
additional recreational therapists to supervise these youth.
The author may wish to consider an amendment that would not
change the course requirements while youth are at the DJJ.
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