BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1059|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1059
Author: Liu (D)
Amended: 5/28/10
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 8-0, 4/21/10
AYES: Romero, Huff, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Price,
Simitian, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Maldonado
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 10-0, 5/24/10
AYES: Kehoe, Cox, Alquist, Corbett, Denham, Leno, Walters,
Wolk, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Price
SUBJECT : Local educational agencies: districts of
residence
SOURCE : Mental Health Advocacy Services, Inc.
Public Counsel Law Center
DIGEST : This bill clarifies the district of residence
for a seriously emotionally disturbed pupil with
exceptional needs who has been detained in a juvenile hall
and is subsequently placed in a residential treatment
facility.
ANALYSIS :
Current law:
CONTINUED
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1. Provides that a pupil complies with the residency
requirements for school attendance in a school district,
if he/she is any of the following:
A. A pupil placed within the boundaries of that
school district in a group home or foster home.
B. A pupil for whom interdistrict attendance has been
approved.
C. An emancipated pupil whose residence is located
within the boundaries of that school district.
D. A pupil who lives in the home of a caregiving
adult that is located within the boundaries of that
school district.
E. A pupil residing in a state hospital located
within the boundaries of that school district.
F. Until July 1, 2012, a school district may deem a
pupil to have complied with the residency
requirements in the district if at least one parent
is physically employed within the boundaries of that
district.
2. Requires the county board of education to administer and
operate juvenile court schools.
3. Requires, when an assessment determines that a pupil is
seriously emotionally disturbed and any member of the
individualized education program (IEP) team recommends
residential placement based on relevant assessment
information, the IEP team to be expanded to include a
representative of the county mental health department.
4. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
ensure that local education agencies provide special
education and those related services and designated
instruction and services contained in a pupil's IEP that
are necessary for the pupil to benefit educationally
from his or her instructional program.
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5. Provides that the involvement of an administrator of the
special education local plan area (SELPA) in the IEP
team discussion of where to place the pupil shall in no
way obligate a public education agency to pay for the
residential costs and the cost of non-educational
services for a pupil placed in a group home or foster
family home.
6. Requires a local educational agency to appoint a
surrogate parent for a pupil under one or more of the
following circumstances:
A. The pupil is a dependent or ward of the court, has
no responsible adult to represent him/her, and either
has an IEP in place or has been referred for
assessment of special needs.
B. No parent for the pupil can be identified.
C. The local educational agency, after reasonable
efforts, cannot discover the location of a parent.
7. Provides that the surrogate parent shall serve as the
pupil's parent and shall have the rights relative to the
pupil's education that a parent has. The surrogate
parent may represent the pupil in matters relating to
special education and related services, including the
identification, assessment, instructional planning and
development, educational placement, reviewing and
revising the IEP, and in all other matters relating to
the provision of a free appropriate public education of
the pupil.
State regulations require the local education agency to be
financially responsible for:
1. The transportation of a pupil with a disability to and
from the mental health services specified in the pupil's
IEP.
2. The transportation of a pupil to and from the
residential placement as specified in the IEP.
3. The special education instruction, non-mental health
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related services, and designated instruction and
services agreed upon in the non-public, non-sectarian
school services contract or a public program arranged
with another special education local plan area or local
education agency.
Federal regulations require:
1. A recipient of federal Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA) funds that operates a public
elementary or secondary education program or activity to
provide a free appropriate public education to each
qualified handicapped person who is in the recipient's
jurisdiction, regardless of the nature or severity of
the person's handicap. This section authorizes a
recipient to place or refer a handicapped person for
aid, benefits, or services other than those that it
operates or provides, and specifies that the recipient
remains responsible for ensuring that the requirements
of federal IDEA regulations are met with respect to any
handicapped person so placed or referred.
2. A placement in a public or private residential program,
including non-medial care and room and board, to be at
no cost to the parents of the child if such placement is
necessary to provide special education and related
services to a child with a disability.
This bill addresses confusion as to which LEA is
responsible for the provision and payment of education
costs among the subset of seriously emotionally disturbed
pupils with exceptional needs in the foster care system
that have been detained in a juvenile hall and who are
subsequently placed in a residential treatment facility.
While residing in the juvenile hall, the county board of
education has responsibility for the provision of
education, including the provision of special education
services. Generally, when a pupil is released from the
juvenile hall, the responsibility for their education
returns to the district in which their parent or guardian
resides. If no parent or guardian is in the picture, the
responsibility for the payment and provision of educational
services will fall to the district in which the residential
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facility is located. In some cases, however, the
recommended placement may be to an out-of-state facility.
In such an instance, it is not always clear which district
is responsible for the costs and provision of the pupil's
education. This confusion has occasionally led to
litigation and to a delay in the provision of appropriate
services for the pupil.
This bill clarifies which LEA is responsible for
educational costs in these situations, as follows:
1. For pupils who have a parent, guardian, or individual
acting as a parent (e.g., grandparent, stepparent, or
other relative), the responsible district is the
district in which the parent, guardian, or individual
acting as parent resides.
2. For pupils who have a foster or surrogate parent, as
defined, the responsible district is the district in
which the pupil will be placed.
3. For pupils who have a foster or surrogate parent and who
receive a placement to an out-of-state facility, the
responsible district would be the last district in which
the pupil was enrolled prior to the pupil's detainment
in juvenile hall.
This bill requires the county office of education to
determine the responsible school district and notify the
district of its responsibility. This bill further allows
impacted districts to appeal the designation of
responsibility to the county board of education, which
would be required to issue a decision within 60 days. This
decision would be final.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/28/10)
Mental Health Advocacy Services, Inc. (co-source)
Public Counsel Law Center (co-source)
Augustin Egelsee, L.L.P.
California Association for Parent-Child Advocacy
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Center for Juvenile Law and Policy, Loyola Law School
Children's Advocacy Institute
Children's Law Center
National Center for Youth Law
OPPOSITION : (Verified 5/28/10)
Special Education Local Plan Area Administrators
Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
the lack of clarity in existing law can make it difficult
to determine which local education agency is legally
responsible to provide services for foster youth with
special education needs who are detained in juvenile hall.
One of the problems resulting from this uncertainty is that
a school district that the child may never have attended
could be held responsible for the provision of services.
Disputes are costly and time consuming, and these pupils
are not receiving necessary services until the dispute is
resolved.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : Opponents contend that the
district of residence has always been the school district
in which a pupil's custodial parent resides, this bill
shifts costs to county offices, and would have a serious
negative impact because county offices are struggling to
operate those programs within the existing inadequate
funding model.
PQ:mw 5/28/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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