BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 1432 (Gatto) - School Employees: Training on Child Abuse
Reporting
Amended: August 4, 2014 Policy Vote: Education 7-0; Pub
Safety 5-2
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 1432 requires local education agencies (LEAs)
to annually train employees on their duties regarding the
mandated reporting of child abuse and neglect, as specified.
Fiscal Impact:
California Department of Education (CDE): Potentially
significant one-time costs, likely in the tens of thousands
of dollars, to coordinate with the Department of Social
Services (DSS) to update the DSS training module,
disseminate information to schools, and provide guidance on
the new requirements. Minor ongoing workload to provide
annual guidance.
DSS: Minor and absorbable workload to coordinate with the
CDE to update the online training module.
Mandate: Substantial reimbursable mandate for all schools
to annually train employees on their duties as mandated
reporters.
Background: Under the existing Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting
Act (CANRA), all school district teachers and employees are
considered to be "mandated reporters," including instructional
aides, teacher assistants, classified employees, and employees
of a school district police or security department. Mandated
reporters are required to report to any law enforcement
department knowledge or observations they may have of a child
they know or reasonably suspect to have been the subject of
child abuse or neglect. The individual report must be made by
telephone immediately or as soon as practicable with a written
or electronic follow up within 36 hours.
CANRA also specifies that employers are strongly encouraged to
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provide their employees who are mandated reporters with training
in the duties imposed, including training in child abuse and
neglect identification and training in child abuse and neglect
reporting. School districts that do not train their employees
in the duties of mandated reporters are required to report to
the CDE the reasons why this training is not provided.
Additionally, current law requires any mandated reporter, with
the exception of child visitation monitors, prior to commencing
his or her employment, to sign a statement affirming that he or
she has knowledge of the mandated reporting procedures and will
comply with those provisions. Further, current law provides that
the statement shall inform the employee that he or she is a
mandated reporter and inform the employee of his or her
reporting obligations and confidentiality rights. (Penal Code �
11164 et seq.)
Existing law also requires the State Office of Child Abuse
Prevention to develop and disseminate information to all school
districts and district school personnel regarding the detection
of child abuse. The information may be disseminated by the use
of literature, as deemed suitable by the CDE. Staff development
seminars and any other appropriate means of instructing school
personnel in the detection of child abuse and neglect and the
proper action that school personnel should take in suspected
cases of child abuse and neglect, shall be developed by the CDE.
(Education Code � 44691)
Existing law also requires the State Office of Child Abuse
Prevention to develop and disseminate information to all school
districts and district school personnel regarding the detection
of child abuse. The information may be disseminated by the use
of literature, as deemed suitable by the CDE. Staff development
seminars and any other appropriate means of instructing school
personnel in the detection of child abuse and neglect and the
proper action that school personnel should take in suspected
cases of child abuse and neglect, shall be developed by the CDE.
(Education Code � 44691)
Proposed Law: This bill requires LEAs to annually train
employees on their duties regarding the mandated reporting of
child abuse and neglect. This bill requires the CDE, in
consultation with the Office of Child Abuse Prevention to do all
of the following:
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1) Develop and disseminate information to all
school districts, county offices of education (COEs),
state special schools and diagnostic centers, and charter
schools, regarding the detection and reporting of child
abuse.
2) Provide statewide guidance on the
responsibilities of mandated reporters in accordance with
the CANRA, as specified.
3) Develop appropriate means of instructing school
personnel in the detection of child abuse and neglect and
the proper action that school personnel should take in
suspected cases of child abuse and neglect, including,
but not limited to, an online training module to be
provided by the DSS.
This bill requires all school districts, COEs, state special
schools and diagnostic centers, and charter schools to do the
following:
1) Provide annual training, as specified, to their
employees and persons working on their behalf who are
mandated reporters, as defined.
2) Develop a process for all persons required to
receive training to provide proof of completing the
training within the first six weeks of each school year
or within the first six weeks of that person's
employment.
3) Requires a school district, COE, state special
school and diagnostic center, and charter school that
does not use the online training module provided by DSS
to report the training being used in its place to the
CDE.
Staff Comments: In order to implement this bill, the DSS will
need to (in consultation with the CDE) update its online
training module to align with educator needs, to provide it to
schools. The DSS has a contract with the Chadwick Center for
Children and Families at Rady Children's Hospital, to house and
operate the online mandated reporter training module, and
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indicates that the Chadwick Center would absorb the workload to
do the update. The CDE will then develop statewide guidance on
implementation, as well as information about detecting and
reporting child abuse and neglect, and disseminate the
information. These activities will take significant CDE staff
time. Ongoing workload to provide updates to statewide guidance,
training module, and information on child abuse and neglect
would likely be minor.
The most significant costs of this bill will be its requirements
on LEAs to annually train their employees through the
DSS-provided training module or other local training option. The
annual training requirement will likely be deemed by the
Commission on State Mandates to be reimbursable, and that would
apply to all LEAs, even if they already provide annual mandated
reporter training. There are more than 300,000 certificated
school employees, and more than 500,000 classified employees. If
each one completed a 30-minute training on mandate reporting,
annual reimbursable costs for staff time would likely exceed $50
million (General Fund). LEAs would also incur reimbursable costs
to develop and implement a process for providing proof of
completion.