BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 445 (Liu) - Pupil instruction and services: homeless
children
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|Version: April 15, 2015 |Policy Vote: ED. 8 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: May 4, 2015 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill requires that if there is a change in
residence once a child becomes homeless, the local educational
agency (LEA) must allow the child to continue their education in
the school of origin, as defined, during the duration of
homelessness. This bill also sets forth requirements for LEAs
to allow children to continue their education in the school of
origin if they are no longer homeless and to allow homeless
children to matriculate with their peers according to school
district feeder patterns, as specified.
Fiscal
Impact:
This bill is unlikely to result in significant costs to the
state. This bill does not require schools to provide
transportation based solely on a student's homeless status and
defaults to federal law.
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This bill may result in a reimbursable state mandate; however,
costs are anticipated to be minor, if any, as the state
provides funding on a per-pupil basis.
Background: This bill extends the right to remain in the school of origin
to homeless, which is currently provided to students who are in
foster care. For example, current law requires LEAs to allow a
foster child to continue his or her education in the school of
origin for the duration of the jurisdiction of the court after
changing residential placement. In addition, if the
jurisdiction of the court ends prior to the end of an academic
year, the foster youth must be allowed to continue in the school
of origin through the duration of the school year. Similar
matriculation and transportation provisions are provided for
foster youth in current law as for homeless children in this
bill.
The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act defines
homeless individuals as people who lack a fixed, regular, and
adequate nighttime residence, and includes children and youths
who, among other situations, are sharing the housing of other
persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar
reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping
grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations.
It also requires LEAs to continue the child's education in the
school of origin for the duration of homelessness, according to
the child's best interest, as specified. In addition, it
requires the state and LEAs to adopt policies and practices to
ensure that transportation is provided, at the request of the
parent or guardian, to and from the school of origin, as
specified.
Proposed Law:
This bill sets forth provisions governing where LEAs must allow
a homeless child to continue their education.
Specifically, this bill requires if there is a change in
residence once a child becomes homeless, the LEA serving the
child must allow the child to continue their education in the
school of origin, as defined, for the duration of the child
being homeless. If a child's homelessness status changes and is
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no longer homeless, and the change occurs before the end of the
academic year, this bill requires the LEA to allow the child to
continue their education in the school of origin, as specified.
To preserve the ability to matriculate with the homeless child's
peers, this bill requires that if a child is transitioning
between grade levels, the LEA shall allow the homeless child to
continue in the school district of origin in the same attendance
area. If the homeless child is transitioning to a middle school
or high school, and the school designated for matriculation is
in another school district, the LEA must allow the homeless
child to continue to the school designated for matriculation in
that school district. The new school must immediately enroll
the homeless child.
Finally, this bill does not require school to provide
transportation based solely on a student's homeless status.
Related
Legislation:1. SB 252 (Leno, 2015) prohibits a fee from being charged to homeless
youth for the high school proficiency exam and the high school
equivalency tests. SB 252 is pending in this committee.
SB 177 (Liu, Ch. 491, 2013) among other things, required school
districts, charter schools, and county offices of education to
immediately enroll a homeless youth.
Staff
Comments: To the extent to which the provisions in this bill go
beyond what is required by the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act, the state could be vulnerable to a reimbursable
state mandate. However, because state funding is provided to
school districts based on student attendance, it is unlikely to
impose significant costs to the state.
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