BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 374
AUTHOR: Block
AMENDED: June 1, 2009
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: July 15, 2009
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : Consequences of dropping out notice.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
produce a notice to pupils about the consequences of dropping
out of school before reaching 18 years of age or graduating
from high school.
BACKGROUND
Current law:
1) Provides that each person between the ages of 6 and 18
years not exempted by existing law is subject to
compulsory full-time education and shall attend the public
full-time day school or continuation school or classes and
for the full length of the schoolday.
2) Requires a parent, guardian, or other person having
control or charge of the pupil to send the pupil to
school, as specified.
3) Establishes a process whereby a pupil who has been deemed
a habitual truant (at least nine unexcused absences in one
school year) is referred to a county or local school
attendance review board (SARB), or to county probation if
that county does not have a SARB, for the purposes of
referring the pupil to community resources that address
truancy issues.
4) Establishes a State SARB for the purpose of making
recommendations on the needs of high-risk youth.
As reported by the California Department of Education, the
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state's dropout rate for the 2006-07 school year was 24.2%, and
the dropout rate for that time period for the Los Angeles
Unified School District was 33.6%.
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ANALYSIS
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) to produce a notice to pupils about the consequences of
dropping out of school before reaching 18 years of age or
graduating from high school. Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires the consequences of dropping out notice to
include, but is not limited to, all of the following:
a) The potential consequences of dropping out
include:
i) Greater difficulty finding a job.
ii) Reduced income and purchasing power.
iii) Greater likelihood of engaging in
criminal activity.
iv) Greater likelihood of spending time in
jail, prison, or both.
v) Greater likelihood of receiving
welfare, other forms of public assistance, or
both.
vi) Fewer choices about where to live.
vii) Lesser likelihood of properly caring
for and educating children.
b) The right of a pupil to reenroll in school to
complete the requirements for graduation from high
school and the procedure for reenrollment.
c) The availability of alternative educational
services, including continuation school, independent
study, adult education, community college, and the
General Educational Development (GED) tests.
2) Requires the SPI to post the notice on the California
Department of Education's website.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Will it make a difference ? Will posting a notice on the
California Department of Education's (CDE's) website
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affect dropout rates? A prior version of this bill
encouraged schools to download the notice from the CDE
website and distribute it to pupils; however, that
provision was removed due to cost pressure concerns.
Research on dropout prevention recommends the following:
a) Use data systems that support a realistic
diagnosis of the number of pupils who drop out and
that help identify individual pupils at high risk of
dropping out.
b) Assign adult advocates to pupils at risk of
dropping out.
c) Provide academic support and enrichment.
d) Implement programs to improve pupils' classroom
behavior and social skills.
e) Personalize the learning environment and
instructional process.
f) Provide rigorous and relevant instruction to
better engage pupils in learning and provide the
skills needed to graduate and to serve them after
they leave school.
g) Ensure that both the social and academic needs
of pupils are met prior to entry into high school.
h) Address school-level conditions and the
resources provided to schools.
i) Provide fully-credentialed teachers.
2) Efforts in Chicago to reduce dropout rates . The Chicago
Public Schools district implemented several options to
help reduce the dropout rate, including adding seats in
alternative high schools, making it easier for pupils to
attend night school, and requiring potential dropouts and
their parents to sign a consent form warning of the
possible pitfalls of quitting school. That school
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district released data in 2005 showing a 1.7% reduction in
the dropout rate from the prior school year. This
improvement was not attributed to any specific
intervention, but was based on all of the efforts
undertaken by the district to reduce dropout rates. There
is no data as to any effect a notice has as a stand-alone
dropout prevention strategy.
3) Fiscal impact . According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee analysis, this bill would impose one-time
General Fund costs, likely in excess of $150,000, upon the
CDE to develop and post the notice on its Internet
website. In addition, there may be annual, minor
absorbable General Fund costs to maintain and update the
notice.
However, the CDE believes the costs associated with this bill
would be less than $150,000, as the State School
Attendance Review Board can develop the form and CDE can
post that form on its website for a minimal cost.
SUPPORT
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
California Teachers Association
Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities
OPPOSITION
None received.