BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1866
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Date of Hearing: April 30, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 1866 (Bocanegra) - As Amended: April 23, 2014
Policy Committee: EducationVote:6-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill adds new data elements to the pupil attendance data
that the California Department of Education (CDE) is required to
collect and report through the California Longitudinal Pupil
Achievement Data System (CALPADS). Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires CALPADS to include the rates of chronic absentees,
truants, habitual truants; and chronic truants.
2)Requires these data to be incorporated into a currently
required annual report on dropouts and a newly-required annual
report on elementary school truancy and chronic absenteeism,
which is required by related legislation SB 1107, Monning.
3)Provides in statute the calculation for "rate of absence."
4)Requires local education agencies (LEAs) to submit and certify
the attendance data and other indicators, as identified, to
CDE on an annual basis, pursuant to existing data collection
timelines. Authorizes LEAs to update information throughout
the year after the initial data reporting period.
5)Deletes the provision of existing law that makes collection
and reporting of pupil attendance data by CALPADS contingent
upon federal funds.
6)Makes operation of the bill contingent upon legislation
enacted in this year that establishes an annual report on
elementary school truancy and chronic absenteeism that takes
effect on or before January 1, 2015. (SB 1107 is the current
vehicle that meets this requirement)
AB 1866
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FISCAL EFFECT
1)Ongoing administrative costs of approximately $430,000 to CDE
to collect, certify, and report statewide attendance for
absenteeism and truancy data in CALPADS. These costs also
assume training and technical assistance CDE would provide to
LEAs in the collection and certification of data. These
estimates reflect combined costs to implement both AB 1672 and
AB 1866 since the requirements in these bills are interrelated
and require LEAs to report many overlapping data points.
2)Unknown, potentially significant state-mandated costs for LEAs
to meet the data reporting requirements of the bill.
Districts will need to modify existing student information
systems for submission to CALPADS and provide staff support to
maintain and update attendance data. Many districts currently
contract with data management companies to assist with data
collection and submission. There are 1,016 districts and
county offices of education in California serving 6.2 million
students. At least 500 districts currently contract with a
data management company at a fee of $2 to $8 per student for
ongoing support and assistance. For these districts, it
appears their current investment would cover the additional
costs associated with this bill. It is not clear how many
other districts have existing contracts in place or to what
extent their contracts would absorb the new data collection
requirements. Further, even if an LEA has chosen to invest
funding for data support, the bill imposes new duties on LEA,
allowing districts to submit mandated cost claims to the
Commission on State Mandates.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose. This bill is one of a package of five bills sponsored
by Attorney General (AG) Kamala Harris that deal with truancy.
Truancy and chronic absenteeism are early indicators of poor
educational outcomes, including dropping out of school.
According to the author, statewide data collection and
reporting system would foster more consistent collection and
use of attendance data at the local level as well as allow for
a statewide perspective to help identify areas of need and
best practices.
2)Background. CALPADS was established to enable California to
meet federal requirements delineated in the No child Left
AB 1866
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Behind Act of 2001. CALPADS tracks individual pupil
enrollment history and achievement data, including demographic
information, program participation, grade level, enrollment,
course enrollment and completion, discipline, and statewide
assessment data. It is used for state and local program
evaluation, to create state- and federally-required reports,
and to give local education agencies immediate access to
information on new pupils. CALPADS currently has three
reporting periods. This bill would require reporting within
existing timelines.
At the local level, school districts utilize a Student
Information System (SIS) to collect and maintain information
on students within a school district. This includes medical
information, discipline, contacts, physical fitness,
counseling, grade reporting/transcripts, testing/assessment,
program participation, attendance, and class schedules. School
Districts use their SIS to extract the data out of their
system, put it into a format that CALPADS can accept, and then
send it to CALPADS. Districts often contract with data
management companies to assist with data collection and
management.
3)Conflicts with provisional budget language . SB 1357
(Steinberg, Chapter 704, Statutes of 2010) requires CALPADS to
include information on rates of absence and chronic absentees,
provided federal funds are appropriated for this purpose.
According to the CDE, federal funds have never been
appropriated. In addition, budget language prohibits the CDE
from adding additional data elements to CALPADS.
Accordingly, the CDE has not added enrollment data that is
currently authorized in statute to CALPADS.
4)Related legislation: The AG's package of bills is comprised of
the following:
a) AB 1672 (Holden), requires School Attendance Review
Boards (SARBs) to report annually on referral rates to
county offices of education and expands these reports to
include information on student enrollment, absence and
truancy rates, district attorney referrals and SARB
intervention outcomes. This bill is pending in this
committee.
b) AB 1643 (Buchanan), requires that every county create a
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SARB. This bill is pending in this committee.
c) AB 2141 (Hall), requires that when a parent or student
is referred to a district attorney's office or any other
agency engaged in prosecution or charges are considered to
enforce state school attendance laws, the prosecuting
agency must provide a report on the outcome of the
referral. This bill is pending in this committee.
d) SB 1107 (Monning), which requires the Attorney General
to issue an annual report on elementary school truancy and
chronic absenteeism. This bill is pending in the Senate.
Analysis Prepared by : Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081