BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 760
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Date of Hearing: May 4, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 760 (Gordon) - As Amended: April 4, 2011
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:8-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill renames the Healthy Start Support Services for
Children Act the Healthy Start Community Schools Act (HS
program) and makes the following changes to the program:
1)Increases the number of grants awarded to local education
agencies (LEAs) or consortia from two to three.
2)Requires operational grant funds to be limited to coordination
activities either at the site or at the community or district
level.
3)Authorizes supplemental funds to be awarded for direct service
to an LEA or consortium to address a specific and serious
service gap. This bill further requires this request to
include a plan for evaluating the impact of the service and
for paying for the service once the grant has ended.
4)Repeals the provision that specifies no more than 50% of
operational grants be available for expenditure on direct
services, as specified.
5)Modifies the grant application by requiring applicants to
include a specific explanation of how any Medi-Cal
administrative activities may be reinvested into the program.
6)Requires the evaluation of the HS program to include
information regarding improvements in average daily attendance
as well as individual attendance for pupils who have directly
benefited from program services.
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FISCAL EFFECT
1)GF/98 cost pressure, likely in the hundreds of thousands to
low millions, to increase the number of grants awarded and
establish a supplemental grant for the HS program, as
specified. Statute requires the State Department of Education
(SDE) to implement this program only to the extent funds are
appropriated for this purpose in the annual budget act or made
available from federal sources.
2)The Healthy Start Support Services for Children Act is
currently not funded and has not been funded since the 2006-07
fiscal year. The 2006 Budget Act provided a total of $10
million for this program. According to SDE, 23 grants were
awarded from this allocation and their grant cycles end in
2014.
COMMENTS
1)Background . Existing law establishes the Healthy Start
Support Services for Children Act (HSSSC Act) to improve
student learning and provide support to students' families.
The services provided to children and their families include:
health, dental, and vision care, mental health counseling,
family support and parenting education, academic support,
health education, safety education and violence prevention,
youth development; and employment preparation.
The HSSSC Act provides planning, operational, or a combination
of the two (i.e., combined grants), to LEAs or a consortium of
LEAs to partner with community organizations, local government
agencies, and businesses to provide services to children and
their families. Statute requires grant applicants to have
schools with 50% of the students eligible for free and reduced
meals in the lower grades and 35% eligible in middle through
high schools. In addition, English language learners are a
targeted population.
Planning grants of $50,000 are awarded for up to a two-year
period and operational grants provide $400,000 for up to a
five-year period. Combined grants of up to $450,000 are
awarded over a seven-year period. According to SDE, since the
program's inception in 1991-92, it has provided 823 planning
grants, 651 operational grants, and 19 combined grants,
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benefiting more than two million children and their families.
2)Purpose . According to the author, "Healthy Start has proven
to be a solid investment for California. Grantees have
improved outcomes for children and their families and over 80%
of Healthy Start sites sustained their services beyond state
grant funding. Healthy Start reflects what is now known as a
community approach. Despite its achievements, Healthy Start
was never brought to scale as a school-reform strategy. This
bill would address some deficiencies of the Healthy Start
program, and provide a better framework for encouraging
community school efforts."
3)Evaluation results of the HSSSC Act . According to a study
conducted by SRI International entitled: California's Healthy
Start School-Linked Services Initiative: Summary of Evaluation
Findings (April 1996): program participants demonstrated a
reduction in unmet need for basic goods and services
(including food, clothing, transportation); a reduction in
unmet need for medical and dental care; improvement in
emotional health and family functioning; improvement in grade
point average; and a reduction in student mobility.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081