BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 1866
AUTHOR: Bocanegra
AMENDED: May 27, 2014
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 18, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data
System: truancy.
SUMMARY
This bill expands the information reported through the
California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System to
include specific data relative to truancy.
BACKGROUND
Current law:
Absenteeism
1)Defines chronic absentee as a student who is absent on 10% or
more of the
schooldays in the year, whether or not the absences were
excused. (Education Code � 60901(c))
2)Excused absences. (EC � 48205)
Truancy
1)Defines a truant as a student who is absent for three full
days, or tardy or
absent for more than a 30-minute period on three
occasions, without a valid excuse in one school year. (EC �
48260)
2)Defines a habitual truant as a student who has been reported
as a truant
three or more times per school year (absent or tardy
without an excuse for at least five days). (EC � 48262)
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3)Defines a chronic truant as a student who is absent without a
valid excuse for
10% or more of the schooldays in the year, provided that
the appropriate school district officer or employee has
complied with existing reporting and intervention
requirements. (EC � 48263.6)
Data collection and reporting
1) Requires the Annual Report on Dropouts in California to
include, when data is available, truancy rates and
chronic absentee rates.
(EC � 48070.6)
2) Requires local control accountability plans (LCAPs) to
include information addressing specific state
priorities, including student engagement as measured by
school attendance rates, chronic absenteeism rates,
dropout rates and graduation rates. (EC � 52060 and �
52066)
3) Requires school districts to gather and transmit to the
county superintendent of schools the number and types of
referrals to school attendance review boards and of
requests for petitions to the juvenile court. (EC �
48273)
4) Requires, contingent upon federal funding, the
California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System
(CalPADS) to support local educational agencies (LEAs)
in their efforts to identify and support students at
risk of dropping out and be capable of issuing to LEAs
periodic reports that include district, school, class
and individual student reports on rates of absence and
chronic absentees. Reporting student attendance and
chronic absentee data for CalPADS is voluntary. (EC �
60901)
Local Control and Accountability Plans
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Requires the governing board of every school district and
county office of education to adopt a local control and
accountability plan, by July 1, 2014, that must include
specified information, and establishes the following as state
priorities:
1) The degree to which teachers are appropriately assigned
and fully credentialed, every student has sufficient
access to standards- aligned instructional materials,
and school facilities are maintained in good repair.
2) Implementation of the academic content and performance
standards, including how English learners will be
served, as specified.
3) Parental involvement, as specified.
4) Student achievement, as specified.
5) Student engagement, as measured by:
a) School attendance rates.
b) Chronic absenteeism rates.
c) Middle school dropout rates.
d) High school dropout rates.
e) High school graduation rates.
6) School climate, as specified.
7) The extent to which students have access to, and are
enrolled in, a broad course of study, as specified.
8) Student outcomes, as specified. (EC � 52060 and � 52066)
ANALYSIS
This bill expands the information reported through the
California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System to
include specific data relative to truancy. Specifically,
this bill:
1) Expands information from chronic absentees and rates of
absence to also include:
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a) Rates of chronic absenteeism (also
clarifies that existing information on chronic
absentees is the number of chronic absentees).
b) Rates of truancy and the number of truants.
c) Rates of habitual truancy and the number of
habitual truants.
d) Rates of chronic truancy and the number of
chronic truants.
2) Defines "rates of absence" as, to be calculated as of
the date that a school district or county office of
education submits reports, with respect to each
individualized student record:
a) The number of schooldays enrolled.
b) The number of schooldays on which
the student had an unexcused absence of more than
30 minutes but was absent for less than a full day.
c) The number of schooldays on which
the student had a full day of unexcused absence.
d) The number of schooldays on which
the student had a full day of excused absence.
e) The number of schooldays on which
the student was absent for a full day due to being
suspended (excluding days the student was assigned
to a supervised suspension classroom). This bill
prohibits the number of schooldays on which a
student was absent due to suspension from being
considered an excused or unexcused absence.
f) Data to determine whether the
student has been designated a habitual truant.
3) Expands the data to be contained in the Annual Report on
Dropouts in California to include all of the data
described in #1 above (currently only rates of chronic
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absenteeism are included), and into the annual report on
elementary school truancy and chronic absenteeism if
that report has been established.
4) Authorizes school districts and county offices of
education to submit the data regarding rates of absence
at any time throughout the year that meets its needs
(rather than quarterly), but requires districts and
county offices to, at a minimum, submit and certify
rates of absence at the end of the school year or on
dates to be determined by the California Department of
Education (CDE).
5) Authorizes school districts and county offices of
education to receive reports that reflect the numbers
and rates described in this bill, and requires districts
and county offices to be able to view the submitted data
in a format disaggregated by subgroups, as specified.
This bill deletes the requirement that CDE provide, upon
request, an early warning report up to four times each
school year.
6) Modifies the requirement that the CDE "prepare" the
California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System
(CalPADS) to instead require the CDE to "enhance"
CalPADS.
7) Deletes the requirement that CalPADS reports be capable
of issuing report by "class" (in addition to by school
and individual student reports).
8) States legislative intent that schools fully use early
warning systems to improve services for students and
their families rather than to punish them, and that this
bill not encourage additional referrals to law
enforcement or other serious sanctions without first
exhausting available resources.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Recent report on truancy . The California Attorney
General issued a report in the Fall of 2013 titled, In
School + On Track, which included several
recommendations, some of which:
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a) Require statewide reporting of student
attendance records (specifically through the
California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data
System).
b) Require more comprehensive reporting of school
attendance review board activities.
c) Include attendance rates in a school's
Academic Performance Index.
https://oag.ca.gov/truancy
2) Data collection . Current law requires school districts
to submit data specific to both truancy and chronic
absenteeism rates to the California Department of
Education only when it is available, to be included in
the Annual Report on Dropouts in California. These
rates have never been included in this report and that
information is not required to reflect data for students
in kindergarten through grade 5. Districts are required
to report rates of chronic absenteeism as part of their
local control and accountability plans, and to report to
the county superintendent of schools the number and
types of referrals to SARBs and of requests for
petitions to the juvenile court; this information does
not reflect the total number of students who are truant.
3) Frequency of data submission . This bill modifies the
authority for districts to submit data to CalPADS, from
on a quarterly rate of attendance to allow submission of
data at any time throughout the year. This change is to
accommodate the current practice whereby CDE only
verifies attendance once a year.
4) Budget prohibits additional data elements. Budget
language prohibits the California Department of
Education from adding additional data elements to
CalPADS. Specifically, provision 18 of budget item
6110-001-0890 provides, in part, "As a further condition
of receiving these funds, the SDE shall not add
additional data elements to CALPADS, require local
educational agencies to use the data collected through
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the CALPADS for any purpose, or otherwise expand or
enhance the system beyond the data elements and
functionalities that are identified in the most current
approved Feasibility Study and Special Project Reports
and the CALPADS Data Guide v4.1." This language is
included in the current Budget Act, as well as SB 851
(Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) of the current
session. If this bill were to become law, the CDE would
risk federal funding if it were to implement its
provisions. Staff recommends an amendment to provide
that, upon implementation of this bill, the CDE is not
subject to the penalty contained in provision 18 of
budget item 6110-001-0890 (SB 851, Committee on Budget
and Fiscal Review).
5) Fiscal impact . According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill could impose:
a) Ongoing administrative costs to the CDE for
collection, certification and reporting of
absenteeism and truancy data in CALPADS. CDE
estimates ongoing costs in the range of $200,000 to
$400,000. These costs also assume training and
technical assistance CDE would provide to local
education agencies in the collection and
certification of data.
b) Potential, likely minor, state-mandated costs
for local education agencies to meet the data
reporting requirements of the bill. Enactment of
this bill is contingent upon funding.
6) Related legislation . AB 2341 (Quirk-Silva) requires the
Superintendent of Public Instruction to add a reporting
process within CalPADS, by July 1, 2015, requiring
school districts to report the enrollment of students of
military families. AB 2341 is scheduled to be heard in
this Committee on June 18.
SB 1107 (Monning) requires the California Department of
Education and the Attorney General to report annually on
specific information regarding truancy and chronic
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absenteeism in kindergarten through grade 5.
SB 1107 was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 1672 (Holden) expands the data that local SARBs are
currently required to submit to the county
superintendent of schools, to include specific data
regarding chronic absenteeism, and referrals to SARBs or
other interventions. AB 1672 is scheduled to be heard
in this Committee on June 25.
AB 1643 (Buchanan) requires, rather than authorizes, counties
to establish a SARB, and includes representation from
the county district attorney's office and county public
defender's office on the SARB.
AB 1643 is scheduled to be heard by this Committee on June
18.
AB 2141 (Hall) requires a state or local authority conducting
truancy-related mediation or prosecuting a student or
parent to provide to school districts, school attendance
review boards, the county superintendent of schools and
probation department with the outcome of each referral.
AB 2141 is scheduled to be heard in this Committee on June
18.
SB 1296 (Leno) prohibits a court from imprisoning, holding in
physical confinement or placing in custody a minor for
contempt if the contempt consists of the minor's failure
to comply with a court order regarding truancy. SB 1296
is pending on the Assembly Floor.
SUPPORT
Alameda County Board of Supervisors
Association of California School Administrators
Attorney General of California
Bay Area Council
California Federation of Teachers
California School-Based Health Alliance
California State PTA
California Teachers Association
Children Now
Chronic Absence and Attendance Partnership
Education Trust-West
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
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Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
Los Angeles Unified School District
Oakland Unified School District
Parent Revolution
Special Needs Network
Superintendent of Public Instruction
OPPOSITION
None on file.