BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1643
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1643 (Buchanan)
As Amended May 23, 2014
Majority vote
EDUCATION 6-0 APPROPRIATIONS 13-0
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|Ayes:|Buchanan, Olsen, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Gonzalez, Nazarian, | |Bradford, |
| |Weber, Williams | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Holden, |
| | | |Linder, Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Weber |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the establishment of county school attendance
review boards (SARBs); specifies that the primary purpose of
county SARBs shall be to develop guidelines, polices, or
programs and adopt plans; and adds a representative of the
county district attorney's office and a representative of the
county public defender's office to county and local SARBs.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires, rather than allows, the establishment of county
SARBs and specifies that the primary purpose of county SARBs
shall be to develop guidelines, policies, or programs to
administer the county and local SARBs and adopt plans to
promote interagency and community cooperation in order to
address attendance and behavioral problems, improve the
coordination and level of community and school-based programs
provided to pupils and their families, and prevent entry into
the juvenile justice system.
2)Specifies that a county SARB may accept referrals or requests
for hearing services from one or more school districts within
its jurisdiction. Specifies that a county SARB may be
operated through a consortium or partnership of a county with
one or more school districts or between two or more counties.
3)Adds a representative of the county district attorney's office
and a representative of the county public defender's office to
the county SARBs, or, if more than one county is represented,
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a representative from each county's district attorney's office
may be included. Specifies that the required composition of
the county SARBs shall be for the purpose of developing
guidelines and policies.
4)Specifies that for the purposes of conducting hearings, the
chairperson of the county SARB is authorized to determine the
members needed at a hearing, based on the needs of the pupil,
in order to address attendance or behavioral problems.
5)Requires a county superintendent of schools to convene a
meeting of the county SARB at the beginning of each school
year for purposes of developing guidelines and policies and
adopting plans.
6)Requires the county SARB to meet at least three additional
times each school year to assess the effectiveness of services
and supports that its SARBs provide to youth and their
families, and to assess whether the local SARBs subject to its
oversight are improving the attendance and educational
outcomes for pupils.
7)Specifies that for the purposes of conducting hearings, a
county SARB shall meet as needed.
8)Adds a representative of the county district attorney's office
and a representative of the county public defender's office to
the local SARBs, or if more than one county is represented, a
representative from each county's district attorney's office
may be included.
9)Strikes the provision specifying that in any county in which
there is no county SARB, a school district governing board may
elect to establish a local SARB, which shall operate in the
same manner and have the same authority as a county SARB.
10)Specifies that local SARBs shall be bound by the rules and
regulations established by county SARBs.
11)Requires county SARBs to provide oversight and ensure that
local SARBs comply with the policies and procedures
established by county SARBs.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
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Committee:
1)Annual General Fund (GF) and Proposition 98 (1988) state
mandated costs in the range of $1 million to $3 million for
all 58 county offices of education to establish a SARB and
conduct a minimum of four meetings per year.
2)Ongoing administrative costs to California Department of
Education (CDE) of $76,000 GF to provide technical assistance
and training to support counties in establishing county SARBs.
This support includes assisting a county with the development
of effective bylaws, rules and regulations.
COMMENTS : California's compulsory education law requires all
students between the ages of six and 18 to attend school
full-time and their parents and legal guardians to be
responsible for ensuring that children attend school. A student
who is absent from school without a valid excuse for more than
30 minutes on three days in a school year is considered a
truant. Parents or legal guardians are notified when their
children has been classified as a truant and are reminded of
their obligation to compel the attendance of pupils at school.
Upon a pupil's third truancy in a school year and following a
district's conscientious effort to hold a conference with the
parent or legal guardian of the pupil and the pupil, a pupil is
classified as a habitual truant and may be referred to a SARB or
to the local probation officer. Upon a fourth truancy, students
and/or their parents or legal guardians may be fined. In
2011-12, the CDE reported a truancy rate of 28.5%, with 1.829
million students out of a total enrollment of 6.2 million
considered truants.
According to the CDE, students who are chronically absent in
lower grades are much less likely to be proficient readers and
have higher levels of suspensions. Chronic absence in the sixth
grade is the most predictive indicator that a student will not
graduate from high school.
California established a SARB process over 30 years ago to
provide intensive guidance and coordinated community services to
meet the needs of students with school attendance or school
behavior problems in an effort to prevent a student from
dropping out of school. A county superintendent of schools may
convene a county SARB. A county SARB or a local school district
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governing board located in areas where there is not a county
SARB may authorize the establishment of one or more local SARBs.
Some areas of the state have both county and local SARBs while,
in other areas, a county or regional local SARB provides
services to multiple school districts. The Superintendent of
Public Instruction is required to coordinate and administer a
state SARB to encourage the cooperation, coordination and
development of strategies to support county SARBs in carrying
out their responsibilities to establish local SARBs, which may
include training of SARB personnel.
SARBs meet with referred pupils and their parents or legal
guardians to assess their personal and family situations that
may cause pupils to be tardy or absent from school on a regular
basis and identify community or public resources that may help
pupils improve their attendance in school, or refer pupils to
law enforcement agencies, if necessary. Successful SARBs are
those that have a prevention and intervention focus with the
goal of getting students back in school.
Existing law requires county SARBs and authorizes local SARBs to
include, but need not be limited to, specified members from
school, local law enforcement, and community and county service
agencies, as follows:
1)A parent.
2)A representative of school districts.
3)A representative of county probation department.
4)A representative of county welfare department.
5)A representative of county superintendent of schools.
6)A representative of law enforcement agencies.
7)A representative of community-based youth service centers.
8)A representative of school guidance personnel.
9)A representative of child welfare and attendance personnel.
10)A representative of school or county health care personnel.
AB 1643
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11)A representative of school, county, or community mental
health personnel.
When SARBs were initially established, county SARBs received
funding from the state. Due to budget constraints, funding was
eliminated over 20 years ago. Some county SARBs have been
eliminated as a result of the loss of funding. There is no
statewide data available, but it is estimated that between 30%
to 50% of the 58 counties do not have SARBs. It is unclear how
many local SARBs are established in counties where there are no
county SARBs.
This bill requires, rather than allows, the establishment of
county SARBs. The bill also adds a representative from the
county district attorney's office and a representative of the
county public defender's office to the composition of county and
local SARBs. One of the important aspects of this bill is that
it puts an emphasis on the role of county SARBs as the body that
establishes guidelines, policies or programs to administer the
county and local SARBs and adopt plans to promote interagency
and community cooperation. This bill gives county SARBs
oversight responsibility to ensure that local SARBs are
effective and operating in accordance with the guidelines and
policies they established.
A county SARB may continue to accept referrals or requests for
hearing services from one or more school districts within its
jurisdiction if the county SARB determines that it is best to
serve the pupils in that county through a single board.
However, according to the author, local SARBs are more familiar
with the school community and are the best body to conduct
hearings. The composition of county SARBs is mandatory, to
ensure that agencies providing a wide range of services are
involved, and processes are established with their input. The
composition of local SARBs remains permissive to give local
SARBs the flexibility to determine the type of services that are
needed to address a pupil's specific needs. This bill also gives
the chairperson of a county SARB the flexibility to determine
who is needed at a specific hearing.
The author states, "By requiring every county to establish a
SARB, this bill will ensure that a plan is adopted in every
county to keep students in school. Research shows that a focus
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on the underlying causes of truancy is crucial to eliminating
barriers that prevent a child from attending school on a regular
basis. Early intervention - addressing the problem in
elementary school, and before it becomes chronic - will help
correct attendance issues and ensure students graduate from high
school. SARBs can help connect students and their families with
important community resources to help address challenges they
face."
This bill is part of a package of truancy-related bills
sponsored by Attorney General (AG) Kamala Harris. Last fall,
the AG's office released a report titled, "In School and On
Track" on truancy of elementary school kids. Calling it a
crisis, the AG argues that truancy at the elementary level has
negative impacts on the students, who are more likely to drop
out of high school; on public safety, when students become more
likely to become involved with gangs, substance abuse, and
incarceration; on school districts, who lose attendance dollars;
and on the economy, due to lost economic productivity and
revenues.
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0003780