BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1518
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Date of Hearing: May 7, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
AB 1518 (Eggman) - As Introduced: January 16, 2014
[Note: This bill was double-referred to the Assembly Committee
on Veterans' Affairs and was heard by that committee as it
relates to issues under its jurisdiction.]
SUBJECT : Military: National Guard: youth challenge program
SUMMARY : Codifies authority for the existing California
National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program, and requires certain
geographic areas be served subject to funding, as specified.
Specifically, this bill :
1) Requires the Adjutant General of the California National
Guard (Adjutant General) to conduct a civilian youth
opportunities program pursuant to Section 509 of Title 32
of the United States Code and subject to the availability
of funding.
2) Directs that the program shall be known as "National Guard
Youth ChalleNGe Program," (Program).
3) Mandates that the Program shall consist of at least a
22-week residential program and a 12-month post-residential
mentoring period.
4) Requires the Program to serve at risk teens in areas of the
state, including, but not limited to, the San Joaquin
Valley and Northern California.
5) States that the Program shall be subject to all of the
following:
(A) The Program shall seek to improve life skills and
employment potential of participants by providing
military-based leadership development, promoting
fellowship and community service, developing life-coping
skills and job skills, improving physical fitness,
providing health and hygiene training, and assisting
participants to receive a high school diploma or its
equivalent.
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(B) The Adjutant General may accept federal funding to
implement the Program. The Adjutant General may appoint a
director and other service members and employees,
permanent or temporary, to operate the Program.
(C) The Military Department shall enter into a memorandum
of agreement with an appropriate school district or a
county office of education for the purpose of providing
educational services for students enrolled in the
Program. The school district or county office of
education with which the department contracts shall be
responsible for ensuring compliance with any applicable
requirements imposed by the Education Code.
1. Mandates that a new Program, except for the
California Cadet Corps, may only be established as if
funds are appropriated for that purpose.
EXISTING LAW
Section 509 of Title 32 of the United States Code provides that
the Secretary of Defense may use the National Guard to conduct a
civilian youth opportunities program, to be known as the
"National Guard Youth Challenge Program", which shall consist of
at least a 22-week residential program and a 12-month
post-residential mentoring period.
Military and Veterans Code section 532 provides that the
"?Adjutant General may enter into a cooperative agreement with
the governing board of a school district or a county office of
education for the purpose of establishing, pursuant to existing
statutory authority in the Education Code, a military academy to
be operated as a charter school, pursuant to Part 26.8
(commencing with Section 47600) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the
Education Code, or as one of the existing alternative education
options, available under the Education Code. The program would
provide a structured, disciplined environment that would be
conducive to learning in a college preparatory environment. In
additional to academic skills, students would develop
leadership, self-esteem, and a strong sense of community. An
academy established pursuant to this section shall comply with
the Education Code."
This section further states that a "?new California National
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Guard Youth Program, except for the California Cadet Corps, may
only be established as provided by this section if funds are
appropriated for purposes of the new program in the annual
Budget Act or any other act."
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed non-fiscal, however, the
Assembly Appropriations Committee has requested this bill be
referred to them. If this bill is passed by the Assembly
Education Committee, it will be referred to the Committee on
Appropriations to consider the fiscal implications.
COMMENTS : This bill codifies in state law the requirement that
the Adjutant General conduct a Program in California subject to
funding. There are two existing Programs already being so
conducted in California, the Grizzly Youth ChalleNGe Academy,
located near San Luis Obispo and the Sunburst Youth Challenge
Academy located in Los Alamitos, California. These programs
serve students from all over California, but National Guard
staff state that many parents and students prefer not to be
extremely distant from one another. This bill requires that
Programs serve students in all areas of the state but also
specifically in the San Joaquin Valley and Northern California.
The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program is a national
program. The program, an intensive residential and mentoring
program for high school dropouts ages 16-18, currently operates
in 27 states and Puerto Rico. The ChalleNGe program is
authorized and funded through the Department of Defense, with
management and oversight from the National Guard Bureau. The
federal ChalleNGe program provides federal matching funds at 75
percent of the program cost to the implementing state.
Program participants, called cadets, are housed together, often
on a National Guard base or at a training center, for the first
22 weeks of the Program. During these weeks, the program
immerses cadets in a quasi-military environment in which they
focus on discipline, academic excellence, teamwork, physical
fitness, leadership, and service to the community.
The program encourages cadets to obtain a GED and to seek
further education and training or employment during the one-year
post-residential phase of the program. Individuals ages 16-18
who have dropped out or been expelled from high school and are
U.S. citizens or legal residents, un- or underemployed, drug
free, physically and mentally capable of participating in the
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program, and have either no police record or a police record
limited to juvenile status offenses are eligible to apply for
admission to a program in their state of residence.
A report released by the California Department of Education in
2009 shows that over a lifetime, high school dropouts have
increased dependence on public assistance, lower earnings,
poorer health, and higher rates of unemployment, mortality,
criminal behavior, and incarceration. According to the
California Research Project, all these factors generate
substantial economic losses to the nation, state, and local
communities.
A 2009 National Labor Market study reported that California has
714,000 dropouts between the ages of 16-24 and is ranked the 6th
worst in the nation. This crisis gained presidential attention
in March of 2009 when President Barrack Obama stated "My budget
invests in developing new efforts to give dropouts who want to
return to school the help they need to graduate; and new ways to
put those young men and women who have left school back on a
pathway to graduation." (President Barack Obama, March 10,
2009.)
According to the author:
The high school dropout rate in San Joaquin County is
15.4%, exceeding the statewide average of 13.1%. There is a
strong correlation between dropout rates and violent crime,
and San Joaquin County also leads the state's other
counties in youth and young adult homicides, with a per
capita rate nearly three times California's overall rate.
In 2012 the RAND Corporation published, A Cost-Benefit Analysis
of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program. RAND determined
the Youth ChalleNGe Program is extremely cost effective, with a
return on investment of $2.66 for every dollar spent.
The two existing Programs are limited to graduating 750-800
students annually. As a result, these Programs must turn down
more than 800 otherwise qualified candidates out of the more
than 1,600 who apply each year. There is thus documented demand
for the Programs far in excess of existing capacity.
With more than 100,000 California high school students dropping
out each year, adding a third Program would continue the
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investment of serving California's high risk youth population.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None received
Opposition
None received
Analysis Prepared by : Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087