BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1643
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1643 (Buchanan)
As Amended August 19, 2014
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |60-9 |(May 29, 2014) |SENATE: |35-0 |(August 25, |
| | | | | |2014) |
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Original Committee Reference: ED.
SUMMARY : Adds a representative of the county district
attorney's office and a representative of the county public
defender's office to county and local school attendance review
boards (SARBs) and makes changes to the provisions governing
SARBs. Specifically, this bill :
1)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.
2)Requires a representative of the county district attorney's
office and a representative of the county public defender's
office to be added to the county SARBs, or, if more than one
county is represented, a representative from each county's
district attorney's office may be included.
3)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.
4)Specifies that for the purposes of conducting hearings, a
county SARB may meet as needed.
5)Authorizes a representative of the county district attorney's
office and a representative of the county public defender's
office to be added 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.
The Senate amendments strike the requirement that a county SARB
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be established in each county and strike all the provisions
related to the requirement.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, potentially significant local costs to counties that
have SARBs and elect to continue them, to ensure compliance with
these provisions. Likely minor additional costs to the
California Department of Education (CDE) to provide technical
assistance to county offices of education to ensure a county
SARB complies with the requirements of this bill.
COMMENTS : When this bill passed the Assembly, the bill required
a SARB to be established in each county. Amendments adopted by
the Senate Appropriations Committee removed the requirement and
reverted the bill back to current law authorizing county SARBs
to be established in each county. The current version of the
bill adds a representative of the county district attorney's
office and a representative of the public defender's office to
the county SARB and authorizes the two representatives to be
included in a local SARB. This bill also makes a few
clarifications regarding the operations of county SARBs,
including that a county SARB may accept referrals for hearings
from school districts and may be operated through a consortium
with school districts or other counties.
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
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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
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.
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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.
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 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: 0004921