BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1068
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Date of Hearing: June 15, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
SB
1068 (Leyva) - As Amended March 31, 2016
SENATE VOTE: 36-0
SUBJECT: Homeless children and youth: local educational agency
liaisons: training materials
SUMMARY: Requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
to provide specified informational and training materials to
local education agency (LEA) liaisons for homeless youth.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires CDE to provide informational materials to LEA
liaisons regarding the educational rights of homeless children
and youth under state and federal law.
2)Requires CDE to provide training materials to LEA liaisons to
assist them in providing professional development and other
support to school personnel providing services pursuant to the
federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.
3)Specifies that the training materials are intended to support
LEA liaisons in meeting the requirements of the federal Every
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Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
4)Authorizes CDE to adapt informational and training materials
from state or national sources when applicable and
appropriate.
5)Requires CDE to adopt policies and practices to ensure that
LEA liaisons participate in professional development and other
technical assistance programs that are deemed appropriate by
the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), in accordance
with ESSA.
EXISTING LAW:
Federal law:
1)Defines, in the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance
Act, "homeless children and youth" as individuals who lack a
fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, including
children who are sharing the housing of other people, living
in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camp grounds, emergency
or transitional shelters, abandoned in hospitals or awaiting
foster care placement, or who are living in a place not
generally used for sleeping, such as cars, parks, public
spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train
stations, and migratory children living in the circumstances
above
2)Requires state educational agencies to ensure that homeless
children and youth have equal access to the same free 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
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to the enrollment, attendance, or success in school of
homeless children and youth
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 and access to
educational opportunities offered to other students, providing
referrals to appropriate services, and providing notice of the
rights of homeless youth
4)Establishes ESSA, which:
a) Requires state educational agencies to develop
professional development opportunities for LEA liaisons and
other 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
b) Requires the state plan to describe how the state
education agency will provide support to LEAs, and requires
the LEA plan to describe the services that will be provided
to support the enrollment, attendance, and success of
homeless youth
c) Requires states to report disaggregated achievement and
graduation data for homeless youth
d) Increases dedicated funding for LEAs for services to
homeless youth.
5)Establishes general rights for homeless children and youth,
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including the right to:
a) Remain in the same school when they move
b) Enroll in a new school without typically required
records such as proof of residency, immunizations, school
records, or other papers
c) Comparable services, including transportation services,
educational services, and meals through the school meal
program
State law:
1)Requires LEA liaisons to ensure that the public notice of the
educational rights of homeless children and youth is
disseminated in schools
2)Requires LEAs to allow a student who is homeless to remain in
his or her school of origin through the duration of
homelessness, and requires that homeless students be
immediately enrolled
3) Requires a school district to exempt a homeless student who
transfers between schools any time after the completion of his
or her second year of high school from local graduation
requirements unless the school district makes a finding that
the student can reasonably meet these requirements
4)Establishes homeless youth as a subgroup for purpose of, among
other things, accountability, local control and accountability
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plans, renewal of charter schools, advice and assistance by
the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, and
intervention by the SPI.
FISCAL EFFECT:
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, CDE estimates
costs of about $50,000 to implement the requirements of this
bill (Federal Funds).
COMMENTS:
Need for the bill. According to the author's office, "Federal
law requires Local Education Agencies (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 homeless
student 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 homeless students.
The federal Every Student Succeeds Act now also 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."
Homeless students in California. According to a 2014 report by
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the California Research Bureau (California State Library), 4% of
California students (nearly 270,000) faced homelessness in the
2012-13 school year. This is twice the national average, and
represents 21 percent of the homeless students in the country.
The report also noted that this population is growing, due to
the recent economic recession and improved reporting.
The report noted that homeless students encounter many obstacles
to their education, such as poor access to basic necessities,
supplies, and a reasonable environment in which to do homework.
Their learning is also compromised by high rates of mobility,
hunger, illness, mental health conditions, abuse, neglect, and
trauma.
According to Columbia University's National Center for Children
in Poverty, students who experience homelessness are at high at
risk for poor educational outcomes. Homeless children:
Are more likely to be retained
Are more likely to change school placement (nearly 40%
changed school from two to five times in the last 12
months)
Often have missed significant amounts of school (nearly
40% missed more than one week of school in the past three
months)
Have reading, spelling, and mathematics scores are more
often below grade level
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Are more likely to require a special education
evaluation (almost 50%), but less than 23% of those with
any disability have ever received special education
evaluation or special education services
Are much less likely to complete high school
ESSA includes new requirements for professional development for
homeless youth liaisons. The federal McKinney-Vento Act's
Education for Homeless Children and Youth program is designed to
eliminate the barriers that homeless children and youth have
faced in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school.
ESSA 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 in order to assist them in providing professional
development to school personnel who provide services to homeless
youth. Some states already provide training materials for LEA
liaisons directly on their websites. The CDE does not currently
directly provide training materials, but does provide links to
related information on its website.
Prior legislation. SB 445 (Liu), Chapter 289, Statutes of 2015,
provided that students who are homeless have the right to remain
in their schools of origin and the right to immediate
enrollment.
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SB 252 (Leno), Chapter 384, Statutes of 2015, prohibited CDE
from charging the fee required for the high school proficiency
exam and the high school equivalency tests to homeless children
and youth.
AB 104 (Committee on Budget), Chapter 13, Statutes of 2015,
established homeless students as a subgroup for purposes of
Local Control and Accountability Plans.
AB 1166 (Bloom), Chapter 171, Statutes of 2015, allowed homeless
students to be exempt from local graduation requirements even if
they are not notified of this right within 30 days of
enrollment, if they are no longer homeless, or if they transfer
to another school or district.
AB 1806 (Bloom), Chapter 767, Statues of 2014, extended to
homeless students policies and procedures for suspension,
expulsion, graduation requirements, and completed coursework to
students who are homeless that were provided to students in
foster care.
SB 177 (Liu), Chapter 491, Statutes of 2013, required school
districts, charter schools, and county offices of education to
immediately enroll homeless students.
AB 951 (Medina) of the 2013-14 Session would have required
school districts that designate a liaison for homeless children
and youth, 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. This bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Coalition for Youth
California School Boards Association
Junior Leagues of California
K to College
Los Angeles County Office of Education
National Association for Education of Homeless Children and
Youth
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
Opposition
None on file
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Analysis Prepared by:Christine Aurre and Tanya Lieberman / ED. /
(916) 319-2087