BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 699 (Runner)
Hearing Date: 05/23/2011 Amended: 05/16/2011
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Education 10-0
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 699 would make the exemption, in existing law,
from local graduation requirements applicable only to a pupil
who transfers between schools during or after the pupil's third
year of high school and who is currently in foster care or, at
the time of transfer, was in foster care, as specified. This
bill would require the school district to notify a pupil who may
qualify for the exemption and the person holding the right to
make educational decisions for the pupil and inform them of
whether or not the pupil qualifies for the exemption, within 30
days of the pupil's transfer. This bill prohibits the school
district from exempting the pupil from local graduation
requirements if the pupil or the adult holding the right to make
educational decisions for the pupil decide it is not in the best
interests of the pupil to be exempted.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Notification of eligibility Potentially significant
reimbursable mandate General*
*Counts toward meeting the Proposition 98 minimum funding
guarantee.
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
In addition to passing both portions of the California High
School Exit Exam, current law requires the completion of the
following courses to receive a high school diploma:
Three years of English.
SB 699 (Runner)
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Two years of mathematics.
Two years of science, including biological and physical
science.
Three years of social studies, including: United States
history and geography, one semester of government and one
of economics.
One year of visual or performing arts or a foreign
language.
Two years of physical education, unless exempted.
Current law also allows school district governing boards to add
additional requirements beyond those specified in law, such as
health or other courses that meet requirements for admission to
the University of California or the California State University
(a-g requirements).
AB 167 (Adams, 2009) exempts high school students in foster care
who transfer schools or school districts from any local
graduation requirements (beyond state requirements). It also
requires districts to notify pupils who receive exemptions if
these exemptions will affect their ability to gain admission to
postsecondary educational institutions and to provide
information about community college transfer opportunities. The
notification requirement constituted a reimbursable state
mandate on schools.
This bill restricts the exemption from local graduation
requirements, by specifying that it is applicable only to a
pupil who transfers between schools during or after the pupil's
third year of high school and who is currently in foster care
or, at the time of transfer, was in foster care. Additionally,
this bill requires that within 30 days of the date that a pupil
who may qualify for the exemption from local graduation
requirements transfers into a school, the school district must
notify the pupil and the adult holding the right to make
educational decisions for the pupil of the availability of the
exemption, and that the pupil qualifies or does not qualify for
an exemption. This new notification requirement expands a
reimbursable mandate on school districts. To the extent that
these these required notifications can be incorporated into a
single communication, the costs will likely be minor to add text
to the notification. The extent of the costs will depend upon
how this new mandate is implemented at the local level.
SB 699 (Runner)
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School districts will also incur costs to modify procedures for
determining which pupils are exempt. Existing law provides a
blanket exemption to all high school all pupils in foster care
who transfer to a new school. Verifying that a high school
student is in foster care is straightforward. This bill,
however, only exempts pupils "during or after their third year
of high school", and specifies how third year should be
determined based on credits of length of enrollment. This bill
also specifies that the pupil is exempt if he or she either was
in foster care at the time of transfer, or is in foster care at
some point after the transfer. New notifications could be
triggered for foster youth entering foster care after having
transferred to a school in their third year of high school. This
requires a school to identify those pupils and send additional
notification to them and the adult holding the right to make
educational decisions for the pupil within 30 days of entering
foster care.