BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1457| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: SB 1457 Author: Morrell (R), et al. Amended: 5/27/16 Vote: 21 SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 4-4, 3/30/16 (FAIL) AYES: Huff, Leyva, Mendoza, Vidak NOES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Monning NO VOTE RECORDED: Pan SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 5-4, 4/20/16 AYES: Huff, Leyva, Mendoza, Pan, Vidak NOES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Monning SENATE FLOOR: 15-18, 5/23/16 (FAIL) AYES: Anderson, Bates, Berryhill, Cannella, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Huff, Mendoza, Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Stone, Vidak NOES: Block, De León, Glazer, Hall, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Liu, McGuire, Mitchell, Monning, Pavley, Roth, Wieckowski, Wolk NO VOTE RECORDED: Allen, Beall, Hertzberg, Hueso, Leyva, Pan, Runner SUBJECT: Pupil instruction: excused absences: religious or moral instruction SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill modifies the time allowed under existing law for a student to be excused from school to receive moral and religious instruction. Specifically, this bill removes the existing cap on the number of excused absences for this purpose and replaces it with provisions that allow students in grades SB 1457 Page 2 K-8 to attend the exercises or instruction for no more than two hours per school week and for no more than the number of hours required to complete one course for students in grades 9-12. Senate Floor Amendments of 5/27/16 (1) remove the bill's contents that expand the authority of school districts to authorize students to be excused from school to receive moral and religious instruction and receive elective credits for this purpose; and (2) modify the time allowed under existing law for students to be excused for religious exercises or to receive moral and religious instruction. Senate Floor Amendments of 5/4/16 require the secular criteria that are used as part of a school board's policy in determining whether to authorize credit for the completion of released time instruction to include, but not be limited to, the following: (1) the number of hours of classroom instruction time; (2) a review of the course syllabus that reflects course requirements and materials used; (3) the methods of assessment used in the course; and (4) the course is taught by a certificated teacher. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Provides for pupils, with the written consent of their parents or guardians, to be excused from school in order to participate in religious exercise or to receive moral and religious instruction at their respective places of worship or at other suitable places away from school property designated by the religious group, church, or denomination, which shall be in addition and supplementary to the instruction in manners and morals required elsewhere. 2)Provides that such absences shall not be deemed absences in computing average daily attendance (ADA), if all of the following conditions are complied with: a) The governing board of the school district adopts a resolution permitting pupils to be absent from school for such exercises or instruction. SB 1457 Page 3 b) The governing board of the school district adopts regulations governing the attendance of pupils at such exercises or instruction and the reporting thereof. c) Each pupil so excused shall attend school at least the minimum school day for his grade for elementary schools, and as provided by the relevant provisions for secondary schools, as specified. d) No pupil shall be excused from school for such purpose on more than four days per school month. (Education Code § 46014) This bill removes the provision in existing law that allows a student to be excused from school in order to participate in religious exercises or to receive moral and religious instruction for no more than four days per school month and replaces it with the following: 1)The student, if in kindergarten or in grades 1 through 8, inclusive, may attend the exercises or instruction for no more than two hours her school week. 2)The student, if in grades 9 through 12, inclusive, may attend the exercises or instruction for no more than the number of hours required to complete one course at that pupil's school. Comments Recent amendments. This bill previously expanded the authority of school districts to authorize a student to be excused from school to receive moral and religious instruction by removing the cap on the number of excused absences and by authorizing a local governing board to adopt a policy to allow students to earn up to two elective credits towards their high school graduation requirements for the completion of this instruction. While this bill has been amended to eliminate the statutory authority to provide elective credit, this bill continues to potentially expand the time allowed for students to be excused from school for religious instruction while still generating public funding (ADA) for the school. SB 1457 Page 4 Clarification of the bill's effect. As noted, students are already permitted to be excused from school to participate in religious exercise and receive religious or moral instruction for no more than four days per school month. This bill expands the ability of school districts to generate ADA for these absences by allowing students in high school to be excused for the time that it takes to complete one course. While the students would be required to meet the minimum day requirement in current law for a school district to receive full ADA (which is typically four hours), this bill effectively allows them to be excused for approximately one hour per day for religious instruction. Over the course of a month, this equates to a total of 20 hours per month which exceeds the time allowed under current law (8-12 hours per month assuming 2-3 hours per day, capped at four times per month). This also assumes this bill would allow these absences to occur each year a student is in high school since this bill does not expressly limit them to the time required to complete one course over the duration of the student's tenure in high school. Why is existing law a problem? Current law already allows for students to be excused to participate in religious exercise or to receive religious or moral instruction as long as specified conditions are met. Such absences are currently limited to no more than four days per school month and a school district may generate ADA for these absences, as long as all statutory requirements are met. Blurring the lines between the separation of church and state? While no funds are being provided directly to the entity providing the instruction, this bill expands the ability of school districts to receive public funding (ADA) for students who are receiving religious instruction from non-school personnel and away from the schoolsite during the regular school day. While current law allows for some accommodation of religious instruction during the school day, should the ability of students attending public schools receiving public dollars via ADA to be excused from the regular school day to receive religious instruction be further expanded? SB 1457 Page 5 Average daily attendance. This bill expands the ability of a school district to generate ADA for absences due to religious and moral instruction beyond the four days currently allowed under law, raising the following questions and issues to consider: 1)How much public funding should reasonably be generated by a school district for religious or moral instruction by an entity other than a public school? 2)Are the conditions outlined in this bill sufficient to ensure that absences for this purpose would not be excessive? 3)Are additional limitations or time restrictions necessary to ensure that these absences are not frequent or excessive? 4)Under current law, the generation of ADA generally requires that a student be under the direct supervision of school personnel. How much ADA should be generated for instruction that is not directly provided or overseen by the school district? 5)Could the bill result in a student missing core curriculum subject courses to attend religious or moral instruction? FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:NoLocal: No SUPPORT: (Verified5/31/16) None received OPPOSITION: (Verified5/31/16) California Teachers Association SB 1457 Page 6 Prepared by:Lenin DelCastillo / ED. / (916) 651-4105 6/2/16 10:47:23 **** END ****