BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2443
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
AB 2443
(Baker) - As Introduced February 19, 2016
SUBJECT: Local control and accountability plans: state
priorities: school climate: school psychologists
SUMMARY: Adds the number of practicing school psychologists
working on school climate issues to the indicators used to
assess school climate for purposes of Local Control and
Accountability Plans.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires school district and county offices of education to
adopt LCAPs and update them annually.
2)Requires each LCAP to address eight state priority areas,
including school climate.
3)Requires school climate to be measured by all of the
following, as applicable:
a) Pupil suspension rates;
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b) Pupil expulsion rates; and
c) Other measures, including surveys of pupils, parents,
and teachers on the sense of safety and school
connectedness.
FISCAL EFFECT: State mandated local program
COMMENTS: The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) was enacted
to provide a more equitable distribution of education
dollars-especially among districts with populations of low
income pupils, English learners, and pupils in foster care-and
to provide more local discretion over the use of those dollars.
Accountability for the use of those dollars is achieved though
the requirement to adopt and annually revise LCAPs. Each LCAP
must address eight state priorities that include a mix of inputs
(such as appropriate teacher assignment and level of parental
involvement) and outputs (such as performance on academic
assessments or English learner reclassification rates).
One of the eight state priorities to be addressed by each LCAP
is school climate, as measured by suspension rates; expulsion
rates; and other measures, including surveys of pupils, parents,
and teachers on the sense of safety and school connectedness.
This bill adds another measure of school climate: the number of
practicing school psychologists working on school climate
issues.
Student mental health issues. Information provided by the
author's office indicates that, nationally, 6.3% of high school
students report having made a suicide attempt in the past 12
months, and 26.1% report feeling sad or hopeless almost every
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day for two or more weeks in a row. According to the California
Department of Education's (CDE's) Student Mental Health Policy
Workgroup, suicide is the third leading cause of death for youth
between the ages of 10 and 24. Mental health issues among
students include depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia,
personality disorder, anxiety disorder, eating disorders, and
alcohol/drug abuse. Few would question that mental health
disorders among our youth is a serious concern and that schools
provide a logical point of intervention. While this bill
specifies only school psychologists, information provided by the
author's office concludes that school counselors also can fill a
vital role in helping to identify and address mental health
issues.
Few would question that there is a shortage of school
psychologists and counselors in California's schools relative to
both the national average and recommended staffing levels.
However, the number of psychologists in a school is not
necessarily a useful measure of a school's climate. This is
because the number of psychologists can be interpreted as either
a positive or a negative indicator of school climate.
Specifically, it could be a negative indicator if the school
climate is poor enough to warrant additional psychologists.
Alternatively, it could be a positive indicator if it reflects
efforts by a school to maintain an already-positive school
climate. To be useful, an indicator cannot be ambiguous. Also,
while mental health issues among our your is a serious concern,
the presence of pupils with mental health problems in a school
is not necessarily related to school climate. Accordingly, in
order to have a less ambiguous indicator and to strengthen the
connection between school psychologists and counselors and
school climate, staff recommends the bill be amended to,
instead, add the following measure of school climate: "The
extent to which pupils have access to school psychologists or
counselors to address issues including, but not necessarily
limited to, mental health concerns, conflict resolution, and
bullying reduction."
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Related legislation. Last year, both houses of the Legislature
unanimously passed AB 580 (O'Donnell), which would have required
the CDE to develop model referral protocols for voluntary use by
schools to assist teachers and other school staff in recognizing
potential mental health concerns and making timely referrals to
appropriate support personnel. The Governor vetoed the bill
with the following message:
I am returning Assembly Bill 580 without my signature.
This bill requires the California Department of
Education to develop model referral protocols to
address the appropriate and timely referral by school
staff of students with mental health concerns.
California does not currently have specific model
referral protocols for addressing student mental
health as outlined by this bill. However, the
California Department of Education recently received a
grant from the federal Department of Health and Human
Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration to identify and address critical
student and family mental health needs.
It's premature to impose an additional and overly
prescriptive requirement until the current efforts are
completed and we can strategically target resources to
best address student mental health.
In addition, AB 2246 (O'Donnell) requires local educational
agencies (LEAs) to adopt policies for the prevention of student
suicides, and requires the California Department of Education
(CDE) to develop and maintain a model suicide prevention policy.
This bill is currently pending in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Association of School Psychologists
Opposition
None received
Analysis Prepared by:Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087