BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 578 (Negrete McLeod)
Hearing Date: 04/11/2011 Amended: 03/31/2011
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Education 7-1
_________________________________________________________________
____
BILL SUMMARY: SB 578 would expand course credit requirements for
specified foster youth. Specifically, this bill:
1) Specifically applies to foster youth the existing
requirement that full or partial credit be provided for
coursework satisfactorily completed while attending another
public school, a juvenile court school, or a nonpublic
non-sectarian school or agency even if the pupil did not
complete the entire course;
2) Requires the credit to be applied to the same subject
matter as the coursework completed in the prior school;
3) Prohibits a school district from requiring a pupil in
foster care to retake a course or portions of a course for
which the district has provided full or partial credit,
unless the school district or county office of education
finds that the student is reasonably able to complete the
requirements in time to graduate from high school while the
student remains eligible for foster care; and
4) Encourages school districts and county offices of education
to develop, implement, or utilize credit recovery programs
that will permit a pupil in foster care to recoup the
necessary credit in the particular subject matter in order
to meet graduation requirements.
_________________________________________________________________
____
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Coursework credit restrictions Minor costs, if any; unlikely
reimbursable General
Credit recovery programs ---Potentially significant
cost pressure--- General
_________________________________________________________________
____
STAFF COMMENTS: This bill may meet the criteria for referral to
the Suspense File.
Current law requires each public school district and county
office of education to accept for credit full or partial
coursework satisfactorily completed by a pupil while attending a
public school, juvenile court school, or non-public
non-sectarian school or agency. (Education Code � 48645.5)
SB 578 (Negrete McLeod)
Page 3
This bill would specify that the law applies to foster youth,
and expand it to require that credits be applied to the same
subject matter as the coursework completed in the prior school
when the transferring student is a foster youth. This
requirement is unlikely to be
a reimbursable mandate, because it does not appear to require a
new service or high level of service than exists under current
law. Schools are currently required to transfer a student's
credits, and requiring that course credit be applied in the same
subject matter in which it was complete at the prior school
should, if it causes any workload change at all, streamline the
process for the receiving school.
This bill would also prohibit a school district from requiring a
pupil in foster care to retake a course or portions of a course
for which the district has provided full or partial credit,
unless the school district or county office of education finds
that the student is reasonably able to complete the requirements
in time to graduate from high school while the student remains
eligible for foster care. This provision is also unlikely to be
considered a reimbursable mandate, because it does not require a
new service or a higher level of service to be performed by the
school or school district. Currently, when a student transfers,
the receiving school must review a student's transcript and
determine both how to transfer the student's credits and what
classes he or she should be enrolled in. The workload associated
with this provision is caused by the process of
transferring/enrolling a student, not from the restriction on
requiring a foster youth to retake a class, as specified.
This bill states that school districts and county offices of
education are " encouraged to develop, implement, or utilize"
credit recovery programs such as online courses, electronic
learning laboratories, computerized modules, independent study,
and direct instruction, to assist foster youth in recouping the
necessary credits to meet graduation requirements. By expressing
legislative intent that school districts and counties undertake
these activities, the bill creates cost pressure to do so. Staff
recommends that the bill be amended to remove this subdivision.
SB 578 (Negrete McLeod)
Page 4