BILL ANALYSIS
AB 374
Page A
Date of Hearing: April 29, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 374 (Block) - As Amended: April 14, 2009
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:11-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) to produce a consequences of dropping out (CDO) notice to
inform pupils of the consequences of dropping out of school
prior to reaching 18 years old or completing high school
graduation requirements, as specified. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the SPI to make the CDO notice available to school
district by posting it on the State Department of Education's
(SDE) website.
2)Requires the CDO notice to include the following information:
(a) specified consequences of dropping out before high school
graduation, such as reduced income; likelihood of engaging in
criminal activity and receiving public assistance; and the
less likelihood of properly caring for and educating children;
(b) the right and procedures of a pupil reenrolling in school
to complete graduation requirements; and (c) the availability
of alternative educational services, as specified.
3)Encourages a local education agency (LEA) to download the CDO
notice and distribute it to pupils enrolled in grades 9-12,
inclusive.
FISCAL EFFECT
One-time GF costs, likely in excess of $150,000, to the SDE to
develop the CDO notice and post it on its Internet website. In
addition, there may annual, minor absorbable GF cost to maintain
AB 374
Page B
and update the CDO.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the California Dropout Research Project
(CDRP) March 2009 statistics, the statewide graduation rate is
71.5%, which falls between the two rates reported by the
SDE.<1> The graduation rate for Asians exceeds 90%, while the
graduation rate for Whites is 80%. Graduation rates for
African American and Hispanic students are much lower at 60%,
or more than 20 percentage points below the rate for Asian and
White students.
The CDRP released a report in October 2008 entitled: Why
Students Dropout of School: A Review of 25 Years of Research
(Rumberger and Lim), which asserts that "No single factor can
completely account for a student's decision to continue in
school until graduation. Dropping out is more of a process
than an event; for many students, the process begins in early
elementary school. A number of long-term studies that tracked
groups of students from preschool or early elementary school
through the end of high school were able to identify early
indicators that could significantly predict whether students
were likely to drop out or finish high school. The two most
consistent indicators were early academic performance and
academic and social behaviors."
Furthermore, the report states "the decision to drop out is
not simply a result of what happens in school. Clearly
students' behavior and performance in school influences their
decision to stay or leave, but students' activities and
behaviors outside of school-particularly engaging in deviant
and criminal behavior-also influences their likelihood of
remaining in school."
This bill requires the SPI to develop a CDO notice and make it
available on SDE's Internet website.
2)Fiscal implications of high school dropouts . According to the
CDRP's report: The Economic Losses of High School Dropouts in
California (Belfield and Levin, August 2007), California
---------------------------
<1>In February 2009, the SDE reported a 9th grade to graduate
rate of 67.7% and a No Child Left Behind rate of 80.6%.
AB 374
Page C
experiences $46.4 billion in total in total economic losses
from each cohort of 120,000 20 year olds who never complete
high school; this is the equivalent of 2.9% of the Annual
State Gross Product. The authors further state that the
average high school graduate earns $290,000 more over a
lifetime than a high school dropout and pays $100,000 more in
federal, state, and local taxes. Likewise, more the
two-thirds of high school dropouts will use food stamps during
their working lifetime and a high school graduate is 68% less
likely to be on any welfare program.
3)Encourages versus authorize . This bill encourages LEAs to
download and distribute the CDO notice to pupils in grades
9-12. The act of encouraging in state law is something that
this committee attempts to avoid simply because it does not
have significance. However, authorizing an entity to do
something has more meaning. As such, this committee
recommends that the bill be amended to authorize LEAs to
distribute the CDO notice to all pupils, not just those in
grades 9-12.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081