BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 387
AUTHOR: Bonilla
AMENDED: April 26, 2011
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: June 15, 2011
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Kathleen
Chavira
SUBJECT : Excused absences due to military deployment
SUMMARY
This bill adds spending time with an active duty family
member who is on military deployment, as specified, 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
required 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.
Current law requires schools to allow pupils to complete
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.
(Education Code �48205)
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
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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.
(Education Code 4600 et. al.)
ANALYSIS
This bill expands the list of reasons that justify an
excused absence from school. Specifically, this bill:
1) Adds spending time with an active duty family member
of the uniformed services who is on military
deployment to the list of reasons that justify a
pupil's excused absence from school. Specifically,
the family member must have been:
a) Called to duty for a combat zone or combat
support position.
b) Be on leave from duty in a combat zone or
combat support position.
c) Have immediately returned from
deployment to a combat zone or combat support
position.
2) Defines "uniformed services" as the U.S. Army, Navy,
Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard, as well as
the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Public Health
Services.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . In 2009, the Legislature passed
and the Governor signed AB 343 (Saldana, Chapter 237,
Statutes of 2009) to adopt the recommendations from
the Interstate Compact Opportunity for Military
Children. The purpose of the Compact was to reduce
the educational obstacles faced by children of
military personnel when they are required to transfer
across states. This bill amends current law to reflect
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the recommendations of the Compact that students with
a family member who is being deployed be able to be
excused from attendance requirements in order to be
able to visit with the family member being deployed.
2) Goes further than the Compact. This bill provides an
open ended authority for a student to be kept from
school attendance as a result of a family member's
deployment. The Compact added Section 49701, Article
V, Section E to the Education Code which provides that
the student be granted additional excused absences at
the discretion of the local education agency
superintendent.
Consistent with the language of the Compact, staff
recommends the bill be amended to clarify that the
excused absences be granted for a period of time to be
determined at the discretion of the local education
agency superintendent.
3) Why is it necessary ? Although current law ensures
that the designation of an absence as "excused" no
longer makes a difference with regard to "per pupil"
school funding (i.e. the school is held harmless), an
accumulation of unexcused absences can result in a
student being declared truant. This bill ensures that
a student who is unable to attend school as the result
of a family member's deployment is protected from
those consequences.
4) History . Beginning in 2006, the Council of State
Governments, in cooperation with the United States
Department of Defense Office of Personnel and
Readiness, began drafting the Interstate Compact on
Educational Opportunity for Military Children
(Compact) which addresses the educational transition
issues of children of military families. The Compact
addresses key issues encountered by military families:
transfer of records, course sequencing, graduation
requirements, and age of entrance to kindergarten. In
addition, the Compact provides for a detailed
governance structure at both the state and national
levels with built-in enforcement and compliance
mechanisms.
In 2008, AB 2049 (Saldana, Chapter 589, Statutes of
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2008) was enacted and required the Superintendent of
Public Instruction to convene and support a task force
to review and make recommendations regarding the
Compact. In 2009, the Legislature passed and the
Governor signed
AB 343 (Saldana, Chapter 237, Statutes of 2009)
adopting the recommendations from the Interstate
Compact Opportunity for Military Children.
Individual states are free to adopt or decline to
adopt any Compact; states ratifying Compacts are bound
to observe the terms of the agreement until the
Compact is formally renounced by the state. As of June
19, 2009, the Compact had been enacted by 22 states.
The Compact became operable, and thus obligated
adopting states to comply with the Compact once it was
adopted by 10 states. Compact provisions take
precedence over conflicting state laws.
SUPPORT
California School Boards Association
OPPOSITION
None received.