BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 578
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 17, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 578 (Negrete McLeod) - As Amended: June 29, 2011
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:10-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
N006F Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires a school district and county office of
education (COE) to accept coursework satisfactorily completed by
a pupil in foster care while attending another public school, a
juvenile court school, or a nonpublic school even if the pupil
did not complete the entire course. Further requires the pupil
receive full or partial credit for the coursework completed.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Prohibits a district or COE from requiring the pupil in foster
care to retake a course if the pupil has satisfactorily
completed the entire course in a public school, a juvenile
court school, or nonpublic school.
2)Prohibits the school district or COE, if the pupil did not
complete the entire course, from requiring the pupil to retake
the portion of the course the pupil completed, unless the
district or COE finds the pupil reasonably able to complete
the requirements in time to graduate from high school, as
specified.
3)States a pupil in foster care is not prevented from retaking
or taking a course to meet eligibility requirements of the
University of California or California State University.
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor, absorbable GF/98 state mandated costs to implement this
measure. Current law requires each public school and COE to
accept credit for full or partial coursework satisfactorily
completed by pupils, including foster care pupils. This bill
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simply clarifies these provisions, as specified.
COMMENTS
1)Background . Current law requires each public school district
and COE to accept for credit full or partial coursework
satisfactorily completed by a pupil while attending a public
school, juvenile court school, or a nonpublic school/agency.
Statute further requires the coursework to be transferred via
a transcript. This provision is located in the statutes
governing juvenile court schools; the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, however, issued a statewide advisory in June 2007
indicating this statute applies to all pupils, regardless if
they are attending juvenile court schools.
2)Rationale . As of January 2011, there were 61,000 foster
children in California. Of these children, 42,121 (69%) are
school age. Several research studies have documented the
impacts school mobility has on the educational success of
foster children. According to the National Conference of State
Legislators (NCSL) policy brief entitled: Educating Children
in State Foster Care (March 2008), "An estimated two-thirds to
three-quarters of children and youth who enter the foster care
system must change schools. One study found that almost 65% of
children entering foster care had to transfer to a new school
in the middle of the school year."
According to the author, "While statute requires credits to be
accepted, there is nothing in statute requiring that schools
to apply the accepted credits towards the core curriculum and
graduation requirements. Often the transferred credits are
applied towards elective requirements rather than to the core
curriculum, i.e. partial Algebra 1 credits are applied as
credits toward the elective requirement, instead of being
applied towards the core math requirement. This practice
often results in foster youth lagging behind their peers
losing months of academic progress with each change in school
placement through no fault of their own. In order to ensure
that these youth continue to advance academically, it is vital
that school districts provide opportunities for them to earn
the credits they are missing."
3)AB 490 (Steinberg), Chapter 862, Statutes of 2003 , instituted
a number of reforms designed to promote school stability and
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ensure that pupils residing in foster care have a meaningful
opportunity to meet the academic achievement standards to
which all students are held. For example, this measure
required each county COE to appoint a staff person to act as
education liaison for foster youth. Among this staff person's
responsibilities is to facilitate the prompt transfer of
educational records between educational institutions when
placement changes are necessary.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081