BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 796
AUTHOR: Carter
INTRODUCED: February 26, 2009
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: June 17, 2009
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : Excused absences: Participation in civic
engagement activities.
SUMMARY
This bill adds participation in civic engagement activities
offered by a non-profit organization or governmental entity
to the list of reasons that justify a pupil's excused
absence from school.
BACKGROUND
Current law specifies a number of reasons, such as illness
or attendance at a funeral of a family member, which are to
be considered "excused absences" and thereby exempt the
pupil from being considered absent without excuse and
subject to possible truancy sanction. When a pupil's
absence is for a "justifiable personal reason" as specified
in law, then the absence may be excused, but only if it is
requested in writing by the pupil's parent or guardian and
approved by the school principal acting under policies
established by the school district governing board.
Prior to 1997, the excused absence of a pupil would be
included along with regular pupil attendance in the
computation of average daily attendance (ADA) which is used
to generate school revenue limit funding. SB 727
(Rosenthal, Chapter 855, 1997) eliminated excused absences
from the ADA calculation and adjusted school district
revenue limits to hold districts fiscally harmless from the
resultant reduction in ADA counts. Therefore, the
designation of an absence as "excused" no longer makes a
difference with regard to "per pupil" school funding.
Current law requires schools to allow pupils to complete
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all assignments and exams missed during an excused absence
that can be reasonably provided, and requires that excused
pupils, who complete such make-up work satisfactorily and
in a reasonable time, receive full academic credit for that
work.
ANALYSIS
This bill expands the list of reasons that justify an
excused absence from school. Specifically, this bill:
1) Adds participation in civic engagement activities
offered by a non-profit organization or governmental
entity to the list of reasons that justify a pupil's
excused absence from school.
2) Limits participation in civic engagement activities
that count as an excused absence to no more than 10
days per academic year.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) What are "civic engagement activities? " This bill
does not define "civic engagement activities," nor
does it provide any parameters for such activities.
Should this bill be amended to include a definition of
what are, or are not, considered civic engagement
activities? Should individual schools or school
districts develop a list of authorized civic
engagement activities?
2) Related legislation . SB 520 (Pavley) authorizes a
school district to offer one credit for each 12 hours
of community service outside of regular school hours
provided by a high school pupil, up to a maximum of 5
credits per pupil per semester, and for a maximum of 2
semesters. SB 520 requires a school district that
elects to offer credit for community service to keep a
list of suitable community service organizations from
which a pupil may choose an organization whereto
complete the volunteer hours. SB 520 is pending in
the Assembly Education Committee.
3) Prior legislation . AB 2396 (Carter, 2008) was
identical to this bill. AB 2396 was vetoed by the
Governor, whose veto message read:
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While I recognize that there are many civic and
other educational opportunities outside of the
classroom, nothing under current law prohibits
parents from working with a school to allow their
child to participate in civic opportunities if
they choose to do so, even without this measure.
AB 750 (Carter, 2008) would have excused the absence
of a pupil who has engaged in leadership or civic
engagement activities an excused absence for the
purpose of a school district calculating average daily
attendance (ADA). The bill was held on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee's suspense file.
AB 1320 (Carter, 2007) would have deemed a pupil who
serves as a member of a precinct board (i.e., a high
school pupil at least 16-years-old) or engaging in
other leadership or civic engagement activities as
participating in an independent study for the purpose
of calculating ADA for a school district. AB 1320
was held on the Assembly Appropriations Committee's
suspense file.
SB 278 (Lowenthal, Chapter 204, 2007) added
"attendance at an educational conference on the
legislative or judicial process offered by a nonprofit
organization" to the list of reasons that justify a
pupil's absence from school.
SUPPORT
Alliance for Education Solutions
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
California Association of Nonprofits Policy Council
California Association of Student Council
California Coalition for Youth
California Teachers Association
Youth Leadership Institute
OPPOSITION
None received.