BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1933
Page A
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1933 (Brownley)
As Amended August 20, 2010
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |74-0 |(May 6, 2010) |SENATE: |35-0 |(August 24, |
| | | | | |2010) |
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Original Committee Reference: ED.
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.
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.
4)Specifies that the provisions in paragraphs 2 and 3 noted
above, shall not be construed to require a school district to
provide transportation services to allow a child to attend a
school or school district, unless required by federal law and
further specifies that this language should not be construed
to prohibit a district from, at its discretion, providing
transportation services.
5)Expresses the intent of the Legislature that the provisions of
this bill shall not supersede or exceed other laws governing
special education services for eligible foster children.
AB 1933
Page B
The Senate amendments:
1)Stipulate that the specified provisions shall not be construed
to require a school district to provide transportation
services to allow a child to attend a school or school
district, unless otherwise required by federal law and specify
that this language should not be construed to prohibit a
district from, at its discretion, providing transportation.
2)Express the intent of the Legislature that the provisions of
this bill shall not supersede or exceed other laws governing
special education services for eligible foster children.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar
to the version passed by the Senate.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, likely minor costs.
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 their
educational achievement. 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.
This often carries over to learning in the classroom."<1>
Recent federal law, the Fostering Connections to Success and
Increasing Adoptions Act (H.R. 6893/P.L. 110-351) (Fostering
Connections Act) 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
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<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
AB 1933
Page C
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 as long as they are under the jurisdiction
of the court.
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
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.
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 the school of origin for the duration of the school
year when the residential placement changes and remaining in the
same school is in the youth's best interest.
Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Avina / ED. / (916) 319-2087
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