BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 1068
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|Author: |Leyva |
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|Version: |March 31, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: April 13, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Lynn Lorber |
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Subject: Homeless children and youth: local educational agency
liaisons: training materials
SUMMARY
This bill requires the California Department of Education to
provide specified informational and training materials to local
educational agency (LEA) liaisons for homeless youth, and adopt
policies and practices to ensure that liaisons for homeless
youth participate in professional development and other
technical assistance programs.
BACKGROUND
Existing federal law, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance
Act:
1) Defines "homeless children and youths" as children and
youths 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. (United States Code, Title 42, § 11431, et
seq.)
2) Requires state educational agencies to ensure that homeless
children and youth have equal access to the same free
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public education as is provided to other children and
youth. States are required to review and undertake steps
to revise any laws, regulations, practices, or policies
that may act as barriers to the enrollment, attendance, or
success in school of homeless children and youth. (42, USC
§ 11431, et seq.)
3) Requires each LEA to designate a staff person as a liaison
for homeless children and youth, and carry out specific
duties, such as ensuring immediate enrollment, access to
educational opportunities offered to other students,
referrals to appropriate services, and providing notice of
the rights of homeless youth.
(42, USC § 11432)
4) Effective July 1, 2016, as amended by the federal Every
Student Succeeds Act, requires state educational agencies
to develop professional development opportunities for LEA
liaisons other school personnel who provide services to
homeless youth to improve the identification of homeless
youth and heighten awareness of, and capacity to respond
to, specific needs in the education of homeless youth.
(42, USC § 11432)
5) Establishes general rights for homeless children and youth
as follows:
a) The choice of schools the youth is eligible to
attend.
b) No homeless youth shall be required to attend a
separate school.
c) Homeless youth shall be provided comparable
services, including transportation services,
educational services, and meals through school meal
programs.
d) Homeless youth should not be stigmatized by
school personnel.
(42, USC § 111432)
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6) Existing federal law, the Every Student Succeeds Act:
a) Requires the state plan to describe how the state
education agency will provide support to local
educational agencies (LEA), and requires the LEA plan
to describe the services that will be provided to
support the enrollment, attendance, and success of
homeless youth.
b) Requires states to report disaggregated
achievement and graduation data for homeless youth.
c) Increases dedicated funding for LEAs for services
to homeless youth.
(United States Code, Title 20)
Existing state law:
1) Requires an LEA liaison for homeless youth to ensure
that public notice of the educational rights of homeless
children and youths is disseminated in schools within the
liaison's LEA that provide services. (Education Code §
48852.5)
2) Requires LEAs to allow a student who is homeless to
remain in his or her school of origin through the duration
in homelessness, and imposes requirements related to the
transition between grade levels. (EC § 48852.7)
3) Establish homeless youth as a subgroup for purposes of,
among other things, accountability, local control and
accountability plans, renewal of charter schools, advice
and assistance by the California Collaborative for
Educational Excellence, and intervention by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction. (EC § 52052, §
476607.3, § 52060, § 52066, § 52071, § 52071.5, § 52072, §
52072.5)
ANALYSIS
This bill requires the California Department of Education to
provide specified informational and training materials to LEA
liaisons for homeless youth, and adopt
policies and practices to ensure that liaisons for homeless
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youth participate in professional development and other
technical assistance programs. Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to
provide informational materials to local educational agency
(LEA) liaisons for homeless children and youth regarding
the educational rights of homeless children and youth under
state and federal law, updates and changes to state and
federal law regarding the rights of homeless students, the
responsibilities of LEA liaisons relating to homeless
children and youth, and the resources available to schools
to assist homeless children and youth.
2) Requires the CDE to adopt policies and practices to ensure
that LEA liaisons for homeless children and youth
participate in professional development and other technical
assistance programs that are deemed appropriate by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction in accordance with the
federal Every Student Succeeds Act.
3) Requires the CDE to provide training materials to LEA
liaisons for homeless children and youth to assist liaisons
with providing professional development and other support
to school personnel providing services pursuant to the
federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.
4) Provides that the training materials are intended to
support liaisons in meeting the requirements of the federal
Every Student Succeeds Act.
5) Authorizes the CDE to use and adapt informational and
training materials from state or national sources when
applicable and appropriate.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author, "Federal law
requires LEAs to designate a homeless student liaison to
help identify these students and assist them in accessing
the rights and resources available to them by law. Despite
the many responsibilities of these liaisons, California
does not provide a training program or instructional
materials that would help liaisons better assist their
students and train other staff on how to identify and help
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homeless students. The federal Every Student Succeeds Act
now requires states to develop professional development
programs for liaisons, requires liaisons to participate in
professional development as well as train other school
personnel who provide services to homeless students. While
these requirements are important, they also significantly
increase the workload of already strained staff who receive
little support from the state to help serve California's
over 300,000 homeless students. SB 1068 seeks to address
these issues."
2) Services for homeless youth. Existing law imposes general
requirements for services, such as the immediate enrollment
in school, access to educational opportunities offered to
other students, referrals to appropriate services, and
providing notice of the rights of homeless youth. LEAs are
authorized to use dedicated federal funds to provide
tutoring or supplemental instruction, expedited evaluations
of needs, professional development for educators, early
education, and referral to other services. This bill
requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to
provide informational materials to local educational agency
(LEA) liaisons for homeless youth regarding the educational
rights of homeless youth, updates and changes to state and
federal law regarding the rights of homeless students, the
responsibilities of LEA liaisons relating to homeless
youth, and the resources available to schools to assist
homeless children and youth. This information is generally
available on the CDE's website, but in several different
locations; this bill requires CDE to provide all of the
information to liaisons, rather than relying upon liaisons
to gather the information themselves.
3) Professional development. The recently reauthorized
federal Every Student Succeeds Act, among other things,
amended the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act
to require states to develop professional development
opportunities for LEA liaisons and other school personnel
who serve homeless youth. This bill requires the CDE to
provide training materials to LEA liaisons for homeless
youth to assist liaisons with providing professional
development and other support to school personnel providing
services to homeless youth. The CDE does not currently
directly provide training materials but provides links to
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related information on its website.
4) Prior legislation. AB 951 (Medina, 2013) required school
districts that designate a liaison for homeless children
and youths, as required under the federal McKinney-Vento
Homeless Assistance Act, to ensure the liaison is properly
trained regarding the rights of these children to receive
educational services. AB 951 was held in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
SUPPORT
California Coalition for Youth
Los Angeles Unified School District
National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and
Youth
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
OPPOSITION
None received.
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