BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1866
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GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB 1866 (Bocanegra)
As Amended August 21, 2014
2/3 vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |62-12|(May 29, 2014) |SENATE: |30-4 |(August 25, |
| | | | | |2014) |
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|ASSEMBLY: |63-15|(August 27, | | | |
| | |2014) | | | |
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Original Committee Reference: ED.
SUMMARY : Adds, subject to an appropriation for this purpose,
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 following data for K-12 pupils
and incorporate it into a currently-required annual report:
a) Rates of chronic absenteeism and 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; and
d) Rates of chronic truancy and the number of chronic
truants.
2)Repeals the requirement for the CDE to collect data on a
quarterly rate of pupil attendance.
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3)Requires "rates of absence" to be calculated on the basis of
the following:
a) The number of schooldays enrolled;
b) The number of schooldays on which the pupil had an
unexcused absence of more than 30 minutes but less than a
full day;
c) The number of schooldays on which the pupil had a full
day of unexcused absence;
d) The number of schooldays on which the pupil had a full
day of excused absence;
e) The number of schooldays on which the pupil was absent
for a full day due to being suspended, excluding the number
of days on which the pupil was assigned to a supervised
suspension classroom. The number of schooldays on which a
pupil was absent due to being suspended shall not be
considered an excused or unexcused absence; and
f) Data to determine whether the pupil has been designated
a habitual truant.
4)Requires local education agencies (LEAs) to submit the
attendance data to the CDE at least once a year at the end of
the school year or on dates to be determined by the CDE.
5)Expresses the intent of the Legislature that school districts
and schools will fully utilize 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 and not to
encourage additional referrals to law enforcement, complaints,
petitions, prosecutions, or other serious sanctions against
pupils, without first exhausting available resources.
6)Deletes the provision that the collection and reporting of
pupil attendance data by CALPADS be implemented only if
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federal funds are appropriated specifically for this purpose.
7)Provides that a LEA may receive reports that reflect the
numbers and rates of absenteeism and truancy and shall be able
to view the 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.
8)Provides that the implementation of these requirements shall
not subject the CDE to a loss of funding pursuant to Budget
Act language that prohibits the expansion of CALPADS.
The Senate amendments :
1)Strike the requirement that the bill be contingent on the
appropriation of federal funds and instead make it subject to
available state, federal, or private funding provided for this
purpose.
2)Provide that the implementation of the bill's requirements
shall not subject the CDE to a loss of funding pursuant to
Budget Act language that prohibits the expansion of CALPADS.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires CALPADS to collect data on K-12 rates of absence and
chronic absentees, provided federal funding is appropriated
for this purpose.
2)Defines "truant" as a pupil who is absent from school without
a valid excuse three full days in one school year or tardy or
absent for more than a 30-minute period on three occasions in
one school year, or any combination thereof.
3)Defines "habitual truant" as a pupil who has been reported as
a truant three or more times per school year.
4)Defines "chronic truant" as a pupil who is absent from school
without a valid excuse for 10% or more of the schooldays in
one school year.
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FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
1) Approximately $500,000 (Federal Funds) in the first year,
and $500,000 (General Fund) annually for the California
Department of Education (CDE) to expand the CALPADS system to
collect specified points of attendance data, to train local
educational agencies (LEAs), to maintain the new
functionality, provide ongoing technical assistance, and to
report attendance and truancy back to LEAs and in the Annual
Report on Dropouts, as required.
2)Potentially substantial one-time reimbursable mandate, likely
in excess of $1 million (Proposition 98 of 1988), on the
approximately 1,000 school districts to modify existing
student information systems to enable the extraction of the
data required for submission to CALPADS.
3)Potentially substantial ongoing reimbursable mandate
(Proposition 98) for personnel costs to update all attendance
data required by the bill, including excused and unexcused
absences, extract the data, address validation errors, and
review and amend local data.
COMMENTS : CALPADS was established to enable California to meet
federal requirements delineated in the No Child Left Behind Act
of 2001, and became operative in 2009. 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.
Arguments in support. According to the author's office,
"Truancy and chronic absenteeism have reached epidemic
proportions in California," and the lack of a statewide
reporting system hampers efforts to analyze the problem and
create effective strategies to address it. Truancy and chronic
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absenteeism are early indicators of poor educational outcomes,
including dropping out of school. A 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.
Related legislation. This bill is one of a package of five
bills sponsored by Attorney General Kamala Harris that deal with
truancy. The other bills are:
1)AB 1672 (Holden) of 2014, which 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.
2)AB 1643 (Buchanan), Chapter 879, Statutes of 2014, which
requires that every county create a SARB.
3)AB 2141 (Hall), Chapter 897, Statutes of 2014, which 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.
4)SB 1107 (Monning) of 2014, which requires the Attorney General
to issue an annual report on elementary school truancy and
chronic absenteeism.
AB 1643 and AB 2141 were signed by Governor Edmund G. Brown. SB
1107 was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE :
Attorney General Kamala Harris has worked diligently
at both the local and statewide level to reduce
truancy and absenteeism in California schools, a goal
I share. Her package of sponsored legislation aims to
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reduce rates of truancy and absenteeism.
AB 1866 would require school districts to collect and
report a significant amount of new student attendance
information through the California Longitudinal Pupil
Achievement Data System. While well intentioned, the
collection of data for the interest of faraway
authorities would not get to the root of the issue -
keeping kids in school and on track.
AB 1672 would place new data collection and reporting
burdens on districts that have voluntarily established
local School Attendance Review Boards. A broad group
of local education leaders believe AB 1672 "is simply
a new requirement that mandates large amounts of
specific data collection, disaggregation, formatting
and Internet posting." I agree. Districts already
have the ability to collect attendance and truancy
data, and must address school attendance and chronic
absenteeism under the Local Control Funding Formula.
The Local Control Funding Formula was created because
local education agencies are the ones best suited to
set goals and guidelines for their students. In the
same vein, efforts to combat truancy are best
exercised at the school level among teachers,
principals and local school officials.
I encourage educators, parents and community members,
through the Local Control and Accountability Plan
process, to address school attendance issues. Keeping
children in school and learning is a priority, but
collecting more data is not the primary solution.
Analysis Prepared by : Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0005671
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