BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2616|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2616
Author: Carter (D)
Amended: 8/6/12 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 8-0, 6/27/12
AYES: Lowenthal, Alquist, Blakeslee, Huff, Liu, Price,
Simitian, Vargas
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner, Hancock, Vacancy
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 8/6/12
AYES: Kehoe, Walters, Alquist, Dutton, Lieu, Price,
Steinberg
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/30/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : School districts: truancy
SOURCE : Public Counsel
DIGEST : This bill creates a new option for the first
time a truancy report is issued, shifts the existing
consequences for the first truancy to the second truancy,
and eliminates the mandate that a pupil found truant for
the fourth time in one school year be referred to the
juvenile court.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
1. Requires each person between the ages of 6 and 18
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years, not otherwise exempted, to be subject to
compulsory full-time education and attend the public
full-time day school or continuation school or classes
in which their parent or guardian resides, and that
each parent, guardian or other person having control or
charge of the pupil ensure that pupils enrollment and
attendance.
2. Defines a "truant" as any pupil subject to compulsory
full-time education or to compulsory continuation
education who is absent from school without a valid
excuse three full days in one school year or tardy or
absent for more than any 30-minute period during the
schoolday without a valid excuse on three occasions in
one school year, or any combination thereof.
3. Requires the school district to notify the pupil's
parent by mail upon a pupil's initial classification as
a truant about basic information, including that the
parent is obligated to compel the pupil to attend
school, may be guilty of an infraction and subject to
prosecution, and that the pupil may be subject to
penalties.
4. Specifies that the first time a truancy report is
required, the pupil may be personally given a written
warning by any peace officer. A record of the written
warning may be kept at the school for a period of not
less than two years, or until the pupil graduates, or
transfers, from that school. If the pupil transfers,
the record may be forwarded to any school receiving the
pupil's school records. A record of the written
warning may be maintained by the law enforcement agency
in accordance with that law enforcement agency's
policies and procedures.
5. Requires that any pupil who has once been reported as
a truant and who is again absent or tardy from school
without a valid excuse for one day to again be reported
as a truant to the attendance supervisor or district
superintendent.
6. Specifies that the second time a truancy report is
required within the same school year, the pupil may be
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assigned by the school to an afterschool or weekend
study program located within the same county as the
pupil's school. If the pupil fails to successfully
complete the assigned study program, the pupil shall be
subject to the provisions governing the third time a
truancy report is required.
7. Defines a "habitual truant" as any pupil who has been
reported as a truant three or more times per school
year, where an appropriate district officer or employee
had made a conscientious effort to hold at least one
conference with a parent and the pupil, after the
filing of either a truancy report to the attendance
supervisor or district superintendent.
8. Defines a "chronic truant" as any pupil subject to
compulsory education who is absent from school without
a valid excuse for 10% or more of the schooldays in one
school year, from the date of enrollment to the current
date.
9. Authorizes a habitually truant pupil to be referred
to a school attendance review board (SARB) or to the
probation department for services. If the SARB or
probation officer determines that available community
services can resolve the problem, the pupil or pupil's
parents shall be directed to make use of those
services. If it is determined that services cannot
solve the problem, or if the pupil and/or parent have
failed to respond to directives, the SARB may notify
the district attorney or probation officer.
10. Establishes a truancy mediation program whereby the
district attorney or probation officer may request the
parents and the pupil attend a meeting to discuss the
possible legal consequences of the child's truancy.
The pupil shall be classified a habitual truant and may
be referred to, and required to attend, an attendance
review board or a truancy mediation program upon the
third truancy report.
11. Provides that, upon the fourth truancy report, a
pupil shall be within the jurisdiction of the juvenile
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court, which may adjudge the pupil to be a ward of the
court.
This bill creates a new option for the first time a truancy
report is issued, shifts the existing consequences for the
first truancy to the second truancy, and eliminates the
mandate that a pupil found truant for the fourth time in
one school year be referred to the juvenile court.
Specifically, this bill:
1.Authorizes, the first time a truancy report is issued,
the parent or legal guardian to be requested to attend a
meeting with a school counselor or other school designee
to discuss the root causes of the attendance issue and
develop a joint plan to improve the pupil's attendance.
2.Delays from the first truancy report to the second
truancy report issued within the same school year, the
existing authority for a peace officer to give the pupil
a written warning (which may be kept in the pupil's
record for at least two years)
3.Removes the requirement and instead authorizes the
referral to juvenile court of a pupil who is truant for
the fourth time with the same school year.
4.Reduces, from $100 to $50, the fine that a pupil may be
charged by the juvenile court if adjudicated a ward of
the court as a result of a fourth truancy report within
the same school year.
5.Specifies that a valid excuse for an absence includes, in
addition, reasons described in current law, other reasons
that are within the discretion of school administrators,
and based on the facts of the pupil's circumstances, are
deemed to constitute a valid excuse.
6.States legislative intent that school officials use
discretion fairly and equitably and guard against any
favoritism or disproportionate enforcement when
determining whether a pupil should be designated as a
truant.
Comments
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This bill creates a new option for the first time a truancy
report is issued. Neither current law nor this bill
requires specific penalties for pupils who are truant,
other than declaring that a pupil who is truant a fourth
time is within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court (but
does not require the court to take action).
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
School discretion: Likely minor local savings, to
the extent that schools can more often contain
attendance issues without involving juvenile courts
and other government entities.
Juvenile Court hearings: Likely minor savings,
tens of thousands statewide to the extent that
juvenile court hearings related to truancies are
reduced.
Fines/Penalties: Likely very minor revenue loss to
courts and local entities, to the extent that fines
and penalty assessments are reduced.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/8/12)
Public Counsel (source)
American Civil Liberties Union
Black Organizing Project
Black Parallel School Board
California Association for Parent-Child Advocacy
California State Conference of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
Center on Juvenile & Criminal Justice
Children's Defense Fund - California
Community Asset Development Re-defining Education
Community Coalition
Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund
Disability Rights Legal Center
Gay-Straight Alliance Network
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InnerCity Struggle
Legal Advocates for Children & Youth
National Center for Youth Law
Northern California Association of Counsel for Children
PolicyLink
Restorative Schools Vision Project
Youth & Education Law Project, Mills Legal Clinic
Youth Justice Coalition
Youth Law Center
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "Research
shows that the approaches that work best for addressing
attendance and truancy involve parents, community, schools,
and counselors first and foremost and law enforcement only
for extreme cases and as the very last resort. In
addition, research shows that involving children in the
Juvenile Court system, as a means for addressing school
attendance issues, actually makes it as much as four times
more likely that they will drop out of school, which of
course, runs counter to the purpose of any approach to
reengage a student in school and improve their attendance."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/30/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth
Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman,
Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hern�ndez, Hill,
Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lara,
Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller,
Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby,
Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Portantino, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Wagner,
Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Fletcher, Gorell, Valadao
PQ:n 8/8/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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