BILL ANALYSIS �
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 578|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 578
Author: Negrete McLeod (D)
Amended: 6/29/11
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 7-1, 3/23/11
AYES: Lowenthal, Runner, Alquist, Liu, Price, Simitian,
Vargas
NOES: Huff
NO VOTE RECORDED: Blakeslee, Hancock, Vacancy
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 8-0, 4/11/11
AYES: Kehoe, Walters, Alquist, Emmerson, Pavley, Price,
Runner, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Lieu
SENATE FLOOR : 39-0, 4/25/11
AYES: Alquist, Anderson, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Calderon,
Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De Le�n, DeSaulnier, Dutton,
Emmerson, Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Hancock, Harman,
Hernandez, Kehoe, La Malfa, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Lowenthal,
Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Rubio, Runner,
Simitian, Steinberg, Strickland, Vargas, Walters, Wolk,
Wright, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Huff
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 8/25/11 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Foster youth: course credit
CONTINUED
SB 578
Page
2
SOURCE : County of San Bernardino
DIGEST : This bill requires a school district or county
office of education to accept coursework satisfactorily
completed by a pupil in foster care while attending another
school and to award full or partial credit for such
coursework, as specified.
Assembly Amendments make clarifying changes and add a
provision providing that a pupil in foster are shall not be
prevented from retaking or taking a course to meet the
eligibility requirements for admission to the California
State University or the University of California.
ANALYSIS :
Existing Law
1.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 nonpublic
nonsectarian school or agency, and requires the
coursework be transferred by means of the standard state
transcript.
2.Requires a school district to exempt a pupil in foster
care from all coursework and other requirements adopted
by a school district that are in addition to the
statewide coursework requirements if the pupil, while he
or she is in grade 11 or 12, transfers into the district
from another district or between high schools within the
district, unless the district makes a finding that the
pupil is reasonably able to complete the additional
requirements in time to graduate from high school while
he or she remains eligible for foster care benefits.
This bill requires a school district or county office of
education to accept coursework satisfactorily completed by
a pupil in foster care while attending another school and
to aware full or partial credit for such coursework, as
specified. Specifically, this bill:
CONTINUED
SB 578
Page
3
1.Requires a school district or county office of education
to accept coursework satisfactorily completed by a pupil
in foster care while attending another public school, a
juvenile court school, or a nonpublic, nonsectarian
school or agency, even if the pupil did not complete the
entire coursework and to issue that pupil fill or partial
credit for the coursework completed.
2.Requires the credits accepted pursuant to this bill to be
applied to the same or equivalent course, if applicable,
as the coursework completed in the prior public school,
juvenile court school, or a nonpublic, nonsectarian
school or agency.
3.Prohibits a school district or county office of education
from requiring a pupil in foster care to retake a course
if the pupil has satisfactorily completed the entire
course in a public school, juvenile court school, or
nonpublic, nonsectarian school or agency.
4.Prohibits, if a pupil does not complete an entire course,
a school district or county office of education from
requiring a pupil to retake the portions of the course
completed, unless the school district or county office of
education, in consultation with the holder of educational
rights for the pupil, finds that the pupil is reasonable
able to complete the requirements in time to graduate
from high school.
5.Specifies that when partial credit is awarded in a
particular course, a pupil in foster care shall be
enrolled in the same or equivalent coursework, if
applicable, so that the pupil may continue and complete
the entire course.
6.Specifies that a pupil in foster care shall not be
prevented from retaking or taking a course to meet the
eligibility requirements for admission to the California
State University and the University of California.
7.Defines "pupil in foster care" as a child who has been
removed from his or her home pursuant to specified
sections of the Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC), is
the subject of a petition filed under specified sections
CONTINUED
SB 578
Page
4
of the WIC, or has been removed from his or her home and
is the subject of a petition filed under those sections
of the WIC.
Comments
Existing 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, or
nonpublic, nonsectarian school or agency. While this
provision is in the juvenile court school article of the
Education Code, it is interpreted to apply to all pupils,
as indicated in a June 2007 communication from the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to county and
district superintendents.
Children in foster care experience academic loss and
deficits due to the multiple changes in residential
placement that unfortunately result in school changes. The
Legislature has previously passed legislation to create
more stable educational placements for pupils in foster
care by allowing them to remain in their school of origin
for the duration of the court's jurisdiction, if it is in
the best interest of the pupil. Research suggests that
students who change schools frequently are affected
psychologically, socially and academically from changing
schools, and the mobile students also face greater risk of
declines in academic achievement. Every time a child is
moved to a new school, he or she loses four to six months
of educational attainment. The Legislature has encouraged
child welfare and education entities to work together to
ensure educational stability and to reduce the number of
school transfers experienced by pupils in foster care.
This bill tries to address situations in which pupils in
foster care are unable to remain in their schools of origin
and have to transfer to a new school.
Related/Prior Legislation
SB 699 (Runner), 2011-12 Session, caps the age at which
foster youth who transfer schools in the 11th or 12th grade
may be exempt from local graduation requirements that
exceed state graduation requirements. (Held under
CONTINUED
SB 578
Page
5
submission in Senate Appropriations Committee)
AB 1933 (Brownley), Chapter 563, Statutes of 2010, requires
a local educational agency to allow a child in foster care
to remain in his or her school of origin for the duration
of the court's jurisdiction, if it is in the child's best
interest. Passed the Senate with a vote of 35-0 on August
24, 2010.
AB 167 (Adams), Chapter 224, Statutes of 2009, requires a
school district to exempt a pupil in foster care from all
coursework and other requirements adopted by a school
district that are in addition to the statewide high school
graduation requirements if the pupil, while he or she is in
grade 11 or 12, transfers into the district from another
district or between high schools within the district,
unless the district makes a finding that the pupil is
reasonably able to complete the additional requirements in
time to graduate from high school while he or she remains
eligible for foster care benefits. Passed the Senate with
a vote of 32-0 on September 2, 2009.
AB 490 (Steinberg), Chapter 862, Statutes of 2003, created
new duties and rights related to the education of
dependents and wards in foster care, including giving
foster youth the right to remain in their school of origin
for the duration of the school year when their residential
placement changes ad remaining in the same school is in the
child's best interest. Passed the Senate with a vote of
28-9 on September 10, 2003.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13
2013-14 Fund
Coursework credit Minor costs, if any; unlikely
reimbursable General
restrictions
CONTINUED
SB 578
Page
6
Credit recovery Potentially significant cost
pressure General
programs
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/26/11)
County of San Bernardino (source)
Association of California School Administrators
California State Association of Counties
California Association of Supervisors of Child Welfare and
Attendance
County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors
County Welfare Directors Association of California
Disability Rights California
Los Angeles County Office of Education
San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors
School for Integrated Academics & Technologies
The Advancement Project
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
"Current law requires schools to award students full or
partial credits for coursework satisfactorily completed
while attending a public school, juvenile court school, or
non-public, non-sectarian school. While statute requires
that these credits must be accepted, there is nothing in
statute requiring schools to apply the accepted credits
toward the core curriculum and graduation requirements.
Often the transferred credits are applied toward elective
requirements rather than to the core curriculum. This
practice often means that foster youth will lag behind
their peers, essentially losing months of academic progress
with each change in school placement due to no fault of
their own."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 8/25/11
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley,
Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter,
Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani,
Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove,
Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger
CONTINUED
SB 578
Page
7
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, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada,
John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bonilla, Gorell
CPM:cm 8/26/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED