BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1368
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Date of Hearing: May 11, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1368 (Pan) - As Amended: May 3, 2011
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:7-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill codifies the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS),
which is intended to collect data on pupil perceptions of school
climate, school safety, and pupil health. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Requires a school district, to the extent funding is
available, to administer the CHKS on a biennial basis to
pupils in grades five, seven, nine, and 11.
2)Requires a school district, prior to administering the CHKS,
to comply with existing statute related to parent/guardian
notification and consent.
3)Requires information collected through the CHKS to be
confidential and anonymous.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)GF/98 cost pressure, likely between $3 million and $5 million,
to school districts to implement the CHKS survey in the
specified grades. SDE indicates other state and federal grant
funds may be used for this purpose. The committee notes,
however, these funds are likely being used for other purposes
and as such, using them to implement the CHKS would be a
redirection of funding. In 2009-10, there were approximately
2 million students enrolled in grades five, seven, nine, and
11.
2)School districts were required to administer the CHKS once
every two years. Between 2007 and 2009, SDE reports 848
AB 1368
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school districts with 6,953 schools under their jurisdiction
administered the survey. It is estimated 1 million students
in grades 5, 7, and 9 participated in the survey.
COMMENTS
1)Background . The CHKS is a comprehensive self-report data
collection system that addresses school climate, health risks
and behaviors, and youth resiliency. It is administered to
students at grades five, seven, nine and 11. It enables
schools and communities to collect and analyze data regarding
local youth health risks and behaviors, school connectedness,
protective factors, and school violence.
The CHKS is part of a comprehensive data-driven process on
improving school climate and student learning environment for
overall school improvements. Specifically, it is a companion
tool to the California School Climate Survey for staff, and
the California School Parent Survey for parents. All three of
these survey instruments form the California School Climate,
Health, and Learning Survey System .
2)Purpose . Title IV: Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities
Program (Title IV), established pursuant to the federal No
Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), provided funding to
school districts to develop, implement, and evaluate
comprehensive drug/alcohol, tobacco, and violence prevention
programs and activities for grades K-12. The goal of the
funding was to foster a safe and drug-free learning
environment that supports academic achievement.
California received approximately $28 million annually between
2001 and 2010. Of this funding, approximately $26 million was
allocated directly to LEAs to implement the federal grant.
As a condition of receiving federal Title IV funds, states
were required to develop a Uniform Management Information and
Reporting system to collect data on the following: truancy
rates; programs and services provided by LEAs with this
funding; and the incidence and prevalence of drug use and
violence by youth in schools and communities, as specified.
SDE developed the CHKS for this purpose.
According to SDE, the federal Title IV grant ended in June
2010 and therefore, there is no longer a mandatory reporting
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requirement that necessitates implementation of the CHKS.
This bill establishes the CHKS in statute and requires school
districts to administer the survey when funding is available,
as specified.
3)Existing law requires parental consent be granted before
students are given questionnaires or surveys asking about
personal beliefs or practices that include health behavior and
risks. According to SDE, there are two kinds of parent
consent: passive and active. Active consent requires a
parent/guardian be notified in writing and gives written
permission for the student to participate in the survey.
Active consent is required of the fifth grade CHKS survey and
is optional for seventh grade and up. Passive consent
requires a parent/guardian be notified in writing about the
survey and is given the opportunity to review the survey.
Parents need to notify the school if they do not want their
child to participate in the survey. Passive consent is
optional for grades seven through 12.
Regardless of which consent option is selected, the school
district governing board must formally adopt, in consultation
with parents, a consent policy for the administration of the
CHKS. On its Internet website, SDE provides sample letters
(including for non-English speaking parents) school districts
can use to determine parental consent, as specified.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081