BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 343
AUTHOR: Salda?a
AMENDED: June 1, 2009
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: July 1, 2009
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Lynn Lorber
NOTE: This bill has been referred to the Committees on
Education and Judiciary. A "do pass" motion should include
referral to the Committee on Judiciary.
SUBJECT : Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for
Military Children.
SUMMARY
This bill enacts, until January 1, 2013, the Interstate
Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children,
which addresses issues experienced by children of military
families who transfer schools.
BACKGROUND
The Council of State Governments, in cooperation with the
United States Department of Defense Office of Personnel and
Readiness, has drafted the Interstate Compact on
Educational Opportunity for Military Children (compact)
which addresses the educational transition issues of
children of military families. The compact addresses key
issues encountered by military families: transfer of
records, course sequencing, graduation requirements, and
age of entrance to kindergarten. In addition, the compact
provides for a detailed governance structure at both the
state and national levels with built in enforcement and
compliance mechanisms.
As of June 19, 2009, the compact has been enacted by 22
states. The compact became operable, and thus obligated
adopting states to comply with the compact once it was
adopted by 10 states.
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Current law (AB 2049, Salda?a, Chapter 589, 2008) required
the Superintendent of Public Instruction to convene a task
force to review and make recommendations regarding the
compact. The task force completed this review and released
recommendations, all of which have been included in this
bill.
Current law (AB 2102, Salda?a, Chapter 608, 2006) required
the California Department of Education to establish a
formal liaison with the U.S. Department of Defense and
school districts and county offices of education that
enroll military dependents.
ANALYSIS
This bill enacts the Interstate Compact on Educational
Opportunity for Military Children. Specifically, this
bill:
Addresses issues related to:
1) 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.
2) Granting of additional excused absences to a pupil
whose parent has been called to or returned from
active duty.
3) 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).
4) Graduation, including the use of best efforts to waive
required courses for pupils who successfully completed
similar coursework, and consider granting a diploma
from the sending school for pupils who transfer in
their senior year of high school.
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5) State coordination, whereby a state council is
established for the purpose of coordinating among
state agencies. This bill specifies the membership of
California's state council.
6) National coordination, whereby California appoints a
voting member to the joint body of member states
(commission). This bill specifies that, in
California, the Superintendent of Public Instruction
is to appoint this representative. This bill allows
the commission to levy an annual assessment to cover
costs of operations and activities of the commission.
Membership on the commission is at the discretion of
states.
7) Withdrawal and dissolution, requires that, once
effective, the compact is to remain binding upon
member states and specifies that a state may withdraw
by specifically repealing the statute that enacted the
compact.
8) Binding effect of 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.
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public instruction
to reconvene the task force pursuant to AB 2049 (see prior
legislation) to review and make recommendations about the
compact.
This bill requires a final report to be submitted to the
Legislature by
December 1, 2012.
This bill sunsets on January 1, 2013.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Nature of interstate compacts . Individual states are
free to adopt or decline to adopt any compact; states
ratifying compacts are bound to observe the terms of
the agreement until the compact is formally renounced
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by the state. Compact provisions take precedence over
conflicting state laws. This bill requires the task
force pursuant to AB 2049 (see prior legislation) to
reconvene to review and make recommendations regarding
the implementation of the compact in California,
including conflicts with state law, costs to schools,
and any unintended consequences.
2) Fiscal impact . According to the Assembly
Appropriations Committee analysis, this bill would
impose:
a) General Fund costs, of approximately
$61,000, for California's contribution to the
funding of the commission. There are a little
more than 61,000 military children in the
state. In October 2008, the Educational
Opportunity for Military Children Commissioners
voted to adopt a $1 per military child
assessment for the state's participation in the
commission. The intention is to use that $1
per child to fund California's participation in
the commission.
b) General Fund administrative costs to the
Superintendent of Public Instruction, likely
less than $50,000.
c) Potential increase in state reimbursable
mandated costs, likely less than $150,000 to
local educational agencies to implement
requirements of the compact.
3) Prior legislation . AB 2049 (Saldana, Chapter 589,
2008) required the Superintendent of Public
Instruction to convene and support a task force to
review and make recommendations regarding the compact.
See Background for more information about the work of
the task force.
AB 1809 (Saldana, 2008) was similar to this bill and was
held on the Assembly Appropriations Committee's
suspense file.
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AB 2102 (Saldana, Chapter 608, 2006) established
procedures, including requiring the California
Department of Education to establish a formal liaison
with the Department of Defense and school districts
that enroll military dependents, to facilitate and
smooth the transfer of school-age military dependents
and their school records.
SUPPORT
AMVETS, Department of California
Balfour Beatty Communities
California Association of Federally Impacted Schools
California School Boards Association
California State Commanders Veterans Council
California Teachers Association
Central Union School District
Lincoln Military Housing
Military Child Education Coalition
San Diego Military Advisory Council
San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
San Diego Unified School District
Secretary of the Air Force
Secretary of the Army
Secretary of the Navy
Several individuals
OPPOSITION
None received.