BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 1909
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 25, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair
                    AB 1909 (Ammiano) - As Amended:  May 16, 2012 

          Policy Committee:                              JudiciaryVote:10 
          - 0 
                        Education                             10 - 0 

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          Yes    Reimbursable:              Yes

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires notification of a foster child's attorney and 
          social worker, in addition to parental or guardian notification, 
          in specified situations where a foster child faces possible 
          suspension or expulsion from school.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Costs associated with this legislation would be minor and 
          absorbable within existing resources.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . The author states that foster youth do not receive 
            the same level of adult support that their non-foster youth 
            peers receive in disciplinary situations. Existing law 
            requires a student's parent to be notified when a child faces 
            significant disciplinary action. For foster youth, it is often 
            difficult for the school to identify the appropriate adult to 
            contact if discipline problems arise. This can result in the 
            child being removed from school without the appropriate county 
            child welfare agency representative or the child's attorney 
            being notified. Notifying these individuals and inviting them 
            to participate in a foster child's disciplinary hearings 
            provides more opportunities for these individuals to become 
            involved in the process and potentially advocate on behalf of 
            the foster child.  

           2)Background  .  This bill stems from recent research indicating 
            that foster youth are disproportionately exposed to punitive 
            disciplinary measures in comparison to their non-foster youth 








                                                                  AB 1909
                                                                  Page  2

            peers. In 2009, a Stanford University study of San Mateo 
            County found that foster youth were 10 times more likely than 
            their non-foster youth peers to be expelled and 2.5 times more 
            likely to be suspended. Additionally, according to the author 
            of this bill, a study on foster youth focused on a cross 
            section of multiple states found that 67% of foster youth in 
            the sample had been suspended at least once from school, while 
            a far lower number, 28% of non-foster youth surveyed, had been 
            suspended at least once from school. 



           

          Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916) 
          319-2081