Amended in Assembly April 23, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1866

Introduced by Assembly Member Bocanegra

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bonta, Buchanan, Hall, and Holden)

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(Coauthor: Senator Monning)

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February 19, 2014

An act to amend Section 60901 of the Education Code, relating to pupil attendance.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1866, as amended, Bocanegra. Pupil attendance: California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System.

(1) Existing law establishes the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System, as provided. Existing law requires the State Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Finance and the Legislative Analyst’s Office, begin insert and end insert contingent upon the receipt of federal funds, to prepare the system to include data on pupil attendance, as specified. Existing law requires the system to support local educational agencies in their efforts to identify and support pupils at risk of dropping out and begin insert that it end insert be capable of issuing periodic reports to local educational agencies that include district, school, class, and individual pupil reports on the rates of absence and chronic begin delete absentees, as defined. end delete begin insert absentees. end insert

This bill would, among other things, instead require the State Department of Education to enhance the system, as provided. The bill would require the periodic reports to local educational agencies to begin delete also end delete include reports on the rates of absence, rates of chronic absenteeism and the number of chronic absentees, rates of truancy and the number of truants, rates of habitual truancy and the number of habitual truants, and rates of chronic truancy and the number of chronic truants. begin insert The bill would delete class information from the periodic reports. end insert The bill would begin delete revise the definition of “chronic absentee” and end delete establish a definition for “rates of absence”. The bill would delete the federal funding requirement on these provisions.

(2) Existing law, once the system is prepared to accept data on a quarterly rate of pupil attendance, authorizes a local educational agency to submit data to the State Department of Education on a quarterly rate of pupil attendance, and other indicators as identified by the department.

This bill would, once the system is enhanced to accept data on pupil attendance, begin insert authorize a local educational agency to submit the specified data to the system at any time throughout the year that meets its needs, but would end insert require a local educational agency to begin insert , at a minimum, end insert submit begin insert and certify the end insert specified data, and other indicators identified by the department, to the begin delete department end delete begin insert system end insert at begin delete least 4 times per end delete begin insert the end of the end insert school year begin insert or end insert on dates to be determined by the department. begin insert The bill would authorize a local educational agency to receive reports with the specified data disaggregated as provided. end insert By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

(3) This bill would also make conforming and nonsubstantive changes.

(4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.

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(5) This bill would become operative only if legislation is enacted in the 2013-14 Regular Session that establishes an annual report on elementary school truancy and chronic absenteeism, that takes effect on or before January 1, 2015.

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Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 60901 of the Education Code is amended
to read:

60901.  

(a)  The department, in consultation with the
Department of Finance and the Legislative Analyst’s Office, shall
enhance the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data
System established pursuant to Section 60900 to include data on
begin delete a quarterly rate of pupil attendance end delete begin insert pupil attendance, as described
in subdivision (b) end insert . The enhancement shall include all of the
following:

(1) The addition of fields to facilitate the transfer of data.

(2) System development activities including any business rules
and definitions that would be needed to improve the quality and
consistency of the data.

(3) Processes for the transfer of data from local educational
agencies.

(4) Consultation with organizations representing school, school
district, and county office of education administrators, classified
and certified staff, and parents in order to develop the criteria and
frequency of reports on pupil attendance data and other indicators
as may be submitted by local educational agencies.

(b) The system shall support local educational agencies in their
efforts to identify and support pupils at risk of dropping out and
shall be capable of issuing to local educational agencies periodic
reports that include, but may not be limited to, district, school,
begin delete class, end delete and individual pupil reports for pupils in kindergarten and
grades 1 to 12, inclusive, regarding:

(1) Rates of absence.

(2) Rates of chronic absenteeism and the number of chronic
absentees.

(3) Rates of truancy and the number of truants, as defined in
Section 48260.

(4) Rates of habitual truancy and the number of habitual truants,
as defined in Section 48262.

(5) Rates of chronic truancy and the number of chronic truants,
as defined in Section 48263.6.

(c) (1) For purposes of this begin delete section and end delete begin insert section, end insert subdivision (d)
of Section 52060, begin insert and subdivision (d) of Section 52066, end insert “chronic
absentee” begin delete refers to a pupil who is subject to compulsory full-time
education or compulsory continuation education and who is absent
for 10 percent or more of the school days in a school year, as
measured from the date of enrollment to the date that the data is
submitted to the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data
System. end delete begin insert means a pupil who is absent on 10 percent or more of the
schooldays in the school year when the total number of days a
pupil is absent is divided by the total number of days the pupil is
enrolled and school was actually taught in the regular day schools
of the district, exclusive of Saturdays and Sundays. end insert

(2) For purposes of this section, “rates of absence” means the
following, to be calculated as of the date that a local educational
agency submits the reports required pursuant to subdivision (e),
with respect to each individualized pupil record:

(A) The number of begin delete school days end delete begin insert schooldays end insert enrolled.

(B) The number of begin delete school days end delete begin insert schooldays end insert on which the pupil
had an unexcused absence of more than 30 minutes but less than
a full day.

(C) The number of begin delete school days end delete begin insert schooldays end insert on which the pupil
had a full day of unexcused absence.

(D) The number of begin delete school days end delete begin insert schooldays end insert on which the pupil
had a full day of excused absence.

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(E) The number of schooldays on which the pupil was absent
for a full day due to being suspended pursuant to Article 1
(commencing with Section 48900) of Chapter 6 of Part 27,
excluding the number of days on which the pupil was assigned to
a supervised suspension classroom pursuant to Section 48911.1.
The number of schooldays on which a pupil was absent due to
being suspended shall not be considered an excused or unexcused
absence pursuant to this subdivision. The sum of the number of
days absent pursuant to this subparagraph and subparagraphs
(C) and (D) shall equal the total unduplicated number of
schooldays on which the pupil had a full day of absence.

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(E) Whether the

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begin insert (F) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert Data to determine whether the end insert pupil has been designated
a habitual truant, as defined in Section 48262.

(3) Once available, the data listed in subdivision (b) shall be
incorporated into the annual report on dropouts required pursuant
to Section 48070.6 and the annual report on elementary school
truancy and chronic begin delete absenteeism required pursuant to Section
48070.7. end delete begin insert absenteeism, if that report has been established. end insert

(d) It is the intent of the Legislature to support the development
begin insert and use end insert of early warning systems to enable begin delete the identification and
support of end delete begin insert local school districts and schools to identify end insert individual
pupils who are at risk of academic failure or dropping out of school.
begin insert It is the intent of the Legislature that school districts and schools
will fully utilize these early warning systems to improve the
provision of intervention, prevention, communication, and
education services to pupils and their families rather than to punish
pupils or families. It is further the intent of the Legislature that
this section is not intended to encourage additional referrals to
law enforcement, complaints, petitions, prosecutions, or other
serious sanctions against pupils, without first exhausting available
resources. end insert The systems shall encompass the following
characteristics:

(1) The utilization of highly predictive indicators, including
attendance, course grades or completion, performance on
assessments of pupil achievement, suspensions, and expulsions.

(2) A thorough validation process to ensure the predictive
reliability of the systems.

(3) Periodic reports that inform principals, teachers, and parents
in a manner that enables timely identification and support of
individual pupils who are at risk of academic failure or dropping
out.

(e)  begin insert (1) end insert begin insert   end insert Once the system established pursuant to Section 60900
is enhanced to accept data on pupil attendance, a local educational
agency begin delete shall end delete begin insert may end insert submit the data specified in begin delete subdivision (b), and
other indicators as identified by the department, to the department
at least four times per school year, on dates to be determined by
the department. It is the intent of the Legislature that schools
identified on the list of persistently lowest-achieving schools will
fully utilize the early warning systems described in subdivision
(d). end delete begin insert paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) to the system at any time
throughout the year that meets its needs, but a local educational
agency shall, at a minimum, submit and certify the data specified
in paragraph (2) of subdivision (c), and other indicators as
identified by the department, to the system at the end of the school
year or on dates to be determined by the department. The report
shall include the numbers and rates specified in subdivision (b). end insert

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(2) A local educational agency may receive reports that reflect
the numbers and rates specified in subdivision (b). A local
educational agency shall be able to view the submitted data in a
format disaggregated by subgroups, including race or ethnicity,
gender, disability status, English learner status, foster youth status,
and free or reduced-price meal status.

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(f) A local educational agency that reports attendance data for
pupils to the system established pursuant to Section 60900 may
request, and the department shall provide, the early warning report
described in subdivision (d) up to four times each school year.

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SEC. 2.  

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

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SEC. 3.  

This act shall become operative only if legislation is
enacted in the 2013-14 Regular Session that establishes an annual
report on elementary school truancy and chronic absenteeism that
takes effect on or before January 1, 2015.

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