BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1933
Page A
Date of Hearing: March 24, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 1933 (Brownley) - As Introduced: February 17, 2010
[This bill is double referred and will be heard by the Assembly
Human Services Committee as it relates to the issues under its
jurisdiction.]
SUBJECT : Foster children: education
SUMMARY : Requires a local educational agency (LEA) to allow a
child in foster care to remain in his or her school of origin
for the duration of the court's jurisdiction. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Requires a LEA, at the initial detention or any subsequent
change in placement of a foster child, to allow that child to
remain in his or her school of origin for the duration of the
court's jurisdiction, rather than for the duration of the
academic school year.
2)Provides that a LEA shall allow a child in foster care that
remains in his or her school of origin, following initial
detention or following a change in placement, to attend the
secondary schools designated for matriculation in accordance
with the established feeder patterns of the school district
when that child is transitioning between school grade levels.
3)Stipulates that if jurisdiction of the court has terminated
prior to the end of an academic school year, that a child
shall be allowed to remain in his or her school of origin for
the duration of the academic school year.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Allows a foster child to remain in his or her school of origin
for the duration of the school year when his or her
residential placement changes and when remaining in the same
school is in the child's best interest.
2)Requires that case plans for children in the child welfare
system promote educational stability by taking into
consideration proximity to the child's school attendance area
AB 1933
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in selecting the most appropriate home that will meet the
child's special needs and best interests.
3)Requires each LEA to designate a staff person as the
educational liaison for foster children to ensure and
facilitate the proper educational placement, enrollment in
school, and checkout from school of foster children, and to
assist foster children when transferring from one school to
another or from one school district to another in ensuring
proper transfer of credits, records, and grades.
4)Provides that the foster youth liaison, in consultation with
and the agreement of the foster child and the person holding
the right to make educational decisions for the foster child
may, in accordance with the foster child's best interests,
recommend that the foster child's right to attend the school
of origin be waived and that the foster child be enrolled in
any public school that pupils living in the attendance area in
which the foster child resides are eligible to attend.
5)Specifies that prior to making any recommendation to move a
foster child from his or her school of origin, the foster
youth liaison shall provide the foster child and the person
holding the right to make educational decisions for the foster
child with a written explanation stating the basis for the
recommendation and how this recommendation serves the foster
child's best interest.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Placement in foster care or changes in placement
while in foster care often result in school changes for foster
children, and these school changes are disruptive to the
educational achievement of these children. As a 2009 research
synthesis on school mobility points out, "School mobility can
contribute to low school performance and related difficulties
because it introduces discontinuities in learning environments
that alter or weaken instructional, school, and peer ecologies.
Subject-matter curricula and expectations in the classroom can
differ dramatically across schools, which in addition to the
process of adjustment itself, can adversely affect learning.
AB 1933
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This often carries over to learning in the classroom."<1>
Research supports that students who change schools frequently
are affected psychologically, socially and academically from
changing schools and that mobile students also face greater risk
of declines in academic achievement. Every time a child is
moved to a new school, he or she loses four to six moths of
educational attainment.<2> Furthermore, a 1999 study by
researchers at the University of California at Berkeley found
that high school students who changed schools even once were
less than half as likely to graduate even when controlling for
other variables that affect high school completion.<3> Prior
legislative efforts have sought to address issues of school
stability for foster children. As a result of AB 490 (Chapter
862, Statutes of 2003), current law allows a foster child to
remain in his or her school of origin for the duration of the
school year when his or her residential placement changes and
when staying in their school of origin is in the best interest
of the child. Current law also provides that all decisions
regarding educational placements for children in foster care
should be made in the best interest of the child.
Additionally, recent federal law, the Fostering Connections to
Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (H.R. 6893/P.L. 110-351)
requires state child welfare agencies to improve educational
stability for children in foster care. The federal law requires
child welfare agencies to coordinate with local education
agencies to ensure children remain in the school in which they
are enrolled at the time of placement into foster care, unless
it is not in the child's best interests. The Fostering
Connections Act also provides some assistance with
transportation costs to assist children in remaining in their
original schools. This bill, consistent with the Fostering
Connections Act, ensures foster children can remain in their
school of origin for the duration of the court's jurisdiction.
In addition, because current law allows a foster child to remain
in his or her school of origin only for the duration of a school
---------------------------
<1> Arthur J. Reynolds, Chin-Chih Chen, and Janette E. Herbers.
School Mobility and Educational Success: A Research Synthesis
and Evidence on Prevention. University of Minnesota: 2009
<2> Homeless in America: A Children's Story- Part One. Homes
for the Homeless and Institute for Children and Poverty. 1999.
<3> A Road Map for Learning: Improving Educational Outcomes in
Foster Care. Casey Family Programs. 2004.
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year, that child may not be allowed to attend the corresponding
secondary schools which other children in that school attend and
thus remain in the attendance area of their school of origin.
AB 1933 would give foster children the opportunity to
matriculate from one grade level to the next with their peers.
Lastly, this bill gives children for whom the court's
jurisdiction ends prior to the end of the school year, the
ability to remain in the school of origin for the remainder of
that school year. This provision is intended to allow children
that are reunified or adopted the opportunity to also have some
stability in educational placement, in acknowledgement that
children who are returned home also experience a move that can
often times be disruptive.
Suggested amendment : It has been noted that there are cases in
which a child returns home but the court's jurisdiction is not
dismissed, and in those cases some might argue that the child
would cease being a "foster" child. The language in current
statute could be interpreted to require that the child must be a
"foster child" (i.e. currently placed out of home) to have the
right to the stability of a school placement provided by current
law and by this bill. To address this issue, staff recommends
the following amendment on page 2 lines 3-9:
48853.5. (a) This section applies to any a foster
child who has been removed from his or her home
pursuant to Section 309 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, is the subject of a petition filed
under Section 300 or 602 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, or has been removed from his or her
home and is the subject of a petition filed under
Section 300 or 602 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code, hereinafter "foster child."
Arguments in Support : Public Counsel writes, "The law currently
provides for school stability for the duration of each
individual school year or longer, if it is in the child's best
interest. Unfortunately, existing law does not ensure that
youth will attend school with their peers as they progress
through school levels; it has also been read by some as limiting
a foster youth's ability to stay at a school only until the end
of the academic school year, even if it is in their best
interest to stay longer. This means that the problems stemming
from school placement change are merely delayed until the child
is next uprooted from his or her school."
AB 1933
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The California Court Appointed Special Advocates Association
writes, "AB 1933 gives children- and those that care about them-
the option to keep the child in the school of origin until the
case stabilizes, and therefore not mandating a change in schools
until it makes sense to do so. This will give the child a
chance to make and maintain lasting connections with peers,
teachers, coaches, counselors, and others met through school.
It is these connections to caring individuals that really makes
the difference."
Related legislation : SB 1353 (Wright) indicates that the "best
interests of the child" includes, but is not limited to, minimal
disruptions to school attendance and educational stability, as
specified. Requires the foster youth liaison to consult with
the county placing agency in making school transfer decisions
for pupils in foster care and require that minimal educational
disruption result from the transfer in order for a transfer to
take place. Requires a child's case plan contain assurances
that all efforts are made to eliminate or reduce the need for
transfer from the school of origin during the academic year,
semester, or term of instruction when a foster child's placement
is changed. SB 1353 is pending in the Senate Education
Committee.
Previous legislation : AB 1067 (Brownley) of 2009, conforms state
law to federal law intended to ensure educational stability for
children in foster care, including requiring local education
agencies to allow foster children to remain in the school in
which they were enrolled at the time of foster care placement
and requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to take all
reasonable actions to maximize eligibility for available federal
funding for reasonable travel costs for children in foster care,
in accord with federal law. AB 1067 was held in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
AB 490 (Steinberg), Chapter 862, Statutes of 2003, created new
duties and rights related to the education of dependents and
wards in foster care, including giving foster youth the right to
remain in their school of origin for the duration of the school
year when their residential placement changes and remaining in
the same school is in the child's best interest.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
AB 1933
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Support
Alliance for Children's Rights
Angel's Flight At Risk Youth Services
California Alliance for Child and Family Services
California Court Appointed Special Advocates Association
California Rural Legal Assistance
California State PTA
California Youth Connection
Children's Advocacy Institute
Common Ground
Compton Unified School District
Families in Schools
Learning Rights Law Center
My Friend's Place
National Center for Youth Law
Public Counsel
United Friends of the Children
Youth Law Center
Individuals
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Avi?a / ED. / (916) 319-2087