BILL ANALYSIS �
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Date of Hearing: May 9, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2241 (Dickinson) - As Amended: April 23, 2012
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the Transitioning Youth for Success (TYS)
program for the purpose of prioritizing school district and
county office of education (COE) use of federal Title I,
Neglected, Delinquent, and At-Risk Youth (At-Risk Youth) funds
allocated via the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), as specified.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Defines "eligible youth" as a juvenile who has been confined
to a facility where a juvenile court school or classes are
authorized to be offered.
2)Requires a school district or COE that receives federal
At-Risk Youth funds to use this money to provide programs and
services that focus on the special needs of eligible youth.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Reallocation of federal At-Risk Youth Funds, likely in the
hundreds of thousands, by establishing the TYS program, as
specified.
2)Annual GF administrative costs to SDE, likely between $150,000
and $200,000, to administer the TYS program. According to
SDE, it currently receives $15 million for all administration
of Title I subpart programs, including the At-Risk Youth
program. These funds are utilized throughout SDE for various
administrative activities, including program monitoring and
financial auditing. This bill establishes a competitive grant
program for the federal At-Risk Youth Funds, which will
involve developing an application, providing technical
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assistance to applicants, and scoring/reviewing the
applications, as specified. It is unclear if there are
adequate administrative resources to complete this work.
3)One-time GF costs, likely less than $150,000, to develop
consistent measures for determining how to evaluate the
success of the TYS program, as specified. This involves
consulting with the Board of Corrections and COEs.
SUMMARY
1)Requires a school district or COE, in order to receive federal
At-Risk Youth funds, to submit an application to the State
Department of Education (SDE) with specified information,
including all of the following:
a) The appointment of a transition specialist or
coordinator who must perform specified duties for eligible
youth who have been confined to a facility for more than 30
days, including developing individualized transition plans
and portfolios, coordinating the transfer of education
records, coordinating with other agencies regarding
placement, serving as an advocate for the youth, and
establishing a tracking system to monitor their educational
placements, as specified.
b) A general description of the demographics and
characteristics of the youth who will be served, as
specified.
c) An assessment and inventory of existing education,
probation, mental health, health, social services,
substance abuse prevention/treatment, and youth services
resources, as specified.
d) A description of the manner in which the district or COE
will coordinate with existing social, health, or other
services to meet the needs of transitioning eligible youth,
as specified.
e) Specific transition strategies of response to be
implemented, including pre-release planning, after school
programs, pre-release training in social skills, parenting
education, substance abuse treatment, and counseling
services, as specified.
f) A description in the manner in which the COE or school
district will ensure that eligible youth transitioning from
a juvenile facility will overcome barriers that prevent
them from reenrolling in a school.
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g) A description how a program will involve parents in
efforts to improve the educational achievement of their
children.
h) A data and information sharing system to ensure that the
actions identified in the transition plan are fully
coordinated and to provide data for measuring program
success.
i) An expenditure plan.
2)Requires a comprehensive transition plan to be developed and
implemented for each eligible youth, as specified.
3)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), by
December 1, 2013, and in consultation with the Board of State
and Community Corrections and COEs, to develop consistent
measures for determining how to evaluate the success of
programs and services funded under this program.
4)Requires the State Board of Education (SBE) to amend the
state's consolidated application for NCLB to adequately
reflect the requirements of the TYS program
COMMENTS
1)Background . According to SDE, the federal At-Risk Youth
funds, authorized under Title I of NCLB, provide educational
and transitional services to neglected, delinquent, and
at-risk children and youths who reside in 24-hour facilities
and institutions. The delinquent population is connected to
the juvenile justice system and resides in juvenile halls,
group homes, and adult correctional institutions. The
neglected population is made up of children and youths who
have been placed in group homes or shelters due to
abandonment, neglect, or death of their parents or guardians.
At-Risk Youth funds are provided to state and local
educational agencies (LEAs) to ensure that neglected and
delinquent children and youths meet the same standards that
are required of all students in the state. Additionally,
transitional programs provide support for students to make the
transition from institutionalization to further schooling or
employment.
Current law establishes juvenile court schools, which operate
in any juvenile hall, juvenile home, day center, juvenile
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ranch, juvenile camp, regional youth educational facility or
in any group home housing 25 or more children. These schools
may operate at more than one site, but are governed by a
central administration (typically COEs). According to SDE,
there were 83 juvenile court schools enrolling 9,000 pupils in
2010-11.
Statute also authorizes school districts and COEs to operate
community day schools as an alternative to a student's regular
school. The Legislature established these schools in the
mid-1990s to give districts resources to educate students who
are expelled from school or who are involved with local law
enforcement agencies. Community day schools were designed as
short-term placement for students, usually for one or two
semesters, until they return to a traditional school.
According to SDE, there were 285 community day schools
enrolling 8,900 pupils in 2010-11.
2)Purpose . According to the author, "California's juvenile
justice population is disproportionately youth of color,
low-income and academically 'at risk' of failure. Many
juvenile justice youth have experienced repeated interruptions
in their education before they entered the juvenile justice
system and had already dropped out of school or were at high
risk of doing so. Although state law requires that they do so,
many schools will not accept or calculate partial credits for
work done while enrolled in a juvenile court school, pushing
these youth even further behind in their efforts to secure
sufficient credits to graduate. Often times no effort is made
to secure their educational records from prior placements to
assess where they stand in terms of credits necessary to
graduate. These youth are often released mid-term, making
integration or reenrollment into a regular school even more
challenging."
The author further states: "This bill would ensure that
juvenile justice youth make a successful transition from
detention to further education or employment by providing them
with a comprehensive transition plan and supportive services.
As a condition of receiving federal funding, LEAs would be
required to appoint a transition coordinator who will be
charged with developing and coordinating individualized
transition plans for eligible youth and helping ensure the
seamless continuum of services for youth once they are
released."
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3)Re-purposing the use of federal At-Risk Youth funds .
According to the United States Department of Education (USDE),
At-Risk Youth funds are allocated via a formula grant (based
on the number of children in state institutions for delinquent
youths) to State Education Agencies (SEA, which for California
is the SBE) for supplementary education services to help
provide education continuity for children and youths in
state-run institutions for juveniles and in adult correctional
institutions so that these youths can make successful
transitions to school or employment once they are released.
Once the SBE receives this funding, it is allocated on a
formula basis to LEAs responsible for educating neglected or
delinquent children and youths.
According to USDE, in order to be eligible for these funds,
juvenile institutions must provide 20 hours a week of
instruction from nonfederal funds; adult correctional
institutions must provide 15 hours. Funds are awarded to LEAs
with high proportions of neglickted and delinquent youth based
on survey data.
In 2010-11, 67 LEAs received a total of $34.1 million in
federal At-Risk Youth funding. The largest allocation was to
the Los Angeles COE for $10.2 million and the smallest
allocations were $7,473 to both Twin Rivers Unified and Lodi
Unified School District. COEs receive the majority of this
funding. LEAs currently utilize this funding for a variety of
services, including providing tutoring to students in group
homes, providing transition services to students, and paying
for instructional aides and other staff in juvenile halls.
The manner in which LEAs spend these funds largely depends on
their student's needs.
4)Could this bill dissuade some LEA's from participation? Some
LEAs report currently having a transition coordinator to help
their students and therefore, compliance with this bill will
not be an issue. Many LEAs, however, are limited in the types
of services they can provide to students due to the amount of
funding they receive. This bill has several requirements to
provide transition services, including developing a
comprehensive transition plan, as specified. There is a
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possibility that LEAs, particularly small ones that currently
receive At-Risk funds, will choose to no longer receive this
allocation because they are not able to meet the requirements
of this measure or the bill's requirements do not meet the
needs of their students. In this time of severe financial
hardship to schools, LEAs are asking for the state to be as
flexible as possible in their allocation and use of existing
funding. Should the state be adding more requirements for
LEAs to receive federal funds to aid their At-Risk youth
population?
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081