BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1455| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 1455 Author: Block (D) Amended: 6/8/16 Vote: 21 SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 9-0, 4/13/16 AYES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Huff, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan, Vidak SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 6-0, 4/25/16 AYES: Lara, Bates, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen NO VOTE RECORDED: Beall SENATE FLOOR: 38-0, 5/2/16 AYES: Allen, Anderson, Bates, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Cannella, De León, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Stone, Vidak, Wieckowski, Wolk NO VOTE RECORDED: Hertzberg, Runner ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 8/11/16 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Pupil enrollment: military dependents SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill provides that a student meets residency requirements for school attendance if the student's parent is transferred or is pending transfer to a military installation that is within the boundaries of the school district. SB 1455 Page 2 Assembly Amendments modify the definition of military installations to include facilitates under the jurisdiction of the United States Coast Guard and specify the types of addresses a parent may provide as proof of residence for the purposes of meeting residency requirements for school attendance to include; a temporary on-base billeting facility; a purchased or leased home or apartment; or federal government or public-private venture off-base military housing. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Requires students to attend the public full-time day school or continuation school or classes in which the residency of either the parent or legal guardian is located. (Education Code § 48200) 2)Provides, until July 1, 2017, that a student complies with the residency requirements for school attendance in a school district if the student: a) Is placed within the boundaries of the school district in a licensed children's institution, licensed foster home, or a foster family home. b) Is a foster child who remains in his or her school of origin. c) Has been approved for interdistrict attendance. d) Resides within the boundaries of the school districts and whose parent or legal guardian is relieved of SB 1455 Page 3 responsibility, control, and authority through emancipation. e) Lives in the home of a caregiving adult that is located within the boundaries of that school district. f) Resides in a state hospital located within the boundaries of the school district. g) Is a child of a parent who is employed and lives at the place of employment within the boundaries of the school district for a minimum of three days during the school week. (EC § 48204) 1)Authorizes, until July 1, 2017, school districts to deem a student to have complied with the residency requirements for school attendance in a school district if at least one parent or the legal guardian is physically employed within the boundaries of that district for a minimum of 10 hours during the school week. (EC § 48204) 2)Requires reasonable evidence of residency to be established by documentation showing the name and address of the parent or legal guardian within the school district, including but not limited to the following: a) Property tax payment receipts. b) Rental property contract, lease, or payment receipts. c) Utility service contract, statement, or payment receipts. SB 1455 Page 4 d) Pay stubs. e) Voter registration. f) Correspondence from a government agency. g) Declaration of residency executed by the parent or legal guardian. (EC § 48204.1) 3)Enacts the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. The Compact provides for the uniform treatment of military children transferring between school districts and states. Among other things, the Compact is meant to address issues related to: a) Records, enrollment, placement and attendance, including the transfer of unofficial and official records, and placement in comparable courses, programs, and the same grade level regardless of age. b) Granting of additional excused absences to a pupil whose parent has been called to or returned from active duty. c) Eligibility for enrollment and participation in extracurricular activities, including allowing military dependents to attend the same school and participation in programs and extracurricular activities with the consent of a non-custodial parent or other person who is caring for that child (standing in loco parentis). d) Graduation, including the use of best efforts to waive required courses for pupils who successfully completed similar coursework, and consider granting a diploma from SB 1455 Page 5 the sending school for pupils who transfer in their senior year of high school. e) Binding effect of the Compact, whereby all member states' laws conflicting with the Compact are superseded by the Compact and all rules and bylaws developed by the commission are binding upon member states. (EC § 49700, et seq.) This bill: 1)Provides that a student meets residency requirements for school attendance if the student's parent is transferred or is pending transfer to a military installation that is within the boundaries of the district. 2)Requires parents to provide proof of residence within 10 days after the published arrival date provided on official documentation. 3)Allows a parent to use any of the following addresses as related to his or her military move: a) A temporary on-base billeting facility; b) A purchased or leased home or apartment; or c) Federal government or public-private venture off-base military housing. 4)Requires a school district to accept applications by electronic means for enrollment, including into a specific school, program, and/or course. SB 1455 Page 6 5)Makes the following definitions for the purpose of this bill: a) "Active military duty," means full-time military duty status in the active uniformed service of the United States, including the California National Guard and the State Military Reserve. b) "Military installation" means a base, camp, post, station, yard, center, homeport facility for any ship, or other activity under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense or the United States Coast Guard. c) "Parent" means the natural or adoptive parent or guardian of a dependent child. 6)Establishes if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this bill contains costs mandated by the state, the state will reimburse applicable entities. Comments 1)Need for the bill. According to the author, children of military service members transferring on official military orders to California are not eligible to register in high school courses, enroll in specialized academic programs or enter random lotteries for consideration into a charter or magnet school until they are physically located within the district boundaries. As a result, these students often miss course and program registration deadlines. This bill allows, by electronic means, transferring military families to enroll their children in a school, program or course prior to being physically located within the boundaries of the school district. SB 1455 Page 7 2)The Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. The Compact is an interstate agreement that provides guidance as to how local school districts address the transition needs of military children. With the passage of AB 343 (Saldana, Chapter 237, Statutes of 2009), California ratified its participation in the Compact. Under the Compact, districts are required to be flexible in applying their local rules to students in order to facilitate enrollment, placement, advancement, eligibility for extracurricular activities, and on-time graduation. These provisions, however, do not guarantee placement. It's not clear how districts apply rules to application or program deadlines. Separate from the Compact, this bill aims to provide military families transferring to a California the ability to start the school enrollment process as soon as a written military transfer order is given. School districts are required to accept applications by electronic means for enrollment in a specific school or program within the school district and course registration for these students. Parents must provide proof of residence within 10 days after the published arrival date provided on official documentation. 3)Affected school districts? The provisions in this bill apply to students of active-duty members of the United States uniformed services, National Guard and Reserve on active-duty orders. California hosts more than 30 military installations and 168 active-duty service members. Presumably, the surrounding districts of those military installations may be the most affected by the requirements outlined in this bill. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: Yes According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, the fiscal impact of this bill is unknown, likely minor state mandated costs for school districts to accept applications electronically SB 1455 Page 8 for attendance and process course registration for students of military families. SUPPORT: (Verified8/11/16) Marine Corps Installations West-Marine Corps Base OPPOSITION: (Verified8/11/16) None received ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 8/11/16 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon NO VOTE RECORDED: Roger Hernández, Low Prepared by:Olgalilia Ramirez / ED. / (916) 651-4105 8/12/16 13:23:59 **** END **** SB 1455 Page 9