BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2111
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Date of Hearing: April 9, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
AB 2111 (Ammiano) - As Amended: April 2, 2014
SUBJECT : Child development services: pregnant and parenting
teens: Cal-SAFE
SUMMARY : Repeals existing statutes that govern the California
School Age Families Education Program (Cal-SAFE) and
reestablishes Cal-SAFE as an optional program that may be
offered by a local education agency (LEA), which includes school
districts, charter schools, or county superintendents of
schools. Specifically, this bill :
1)Finds and declares that school-based programs for expectant
and parenting teens and their children have been successful in
increasing school enrollment and high school graduation rates
and reducing the incidence of low birth weight babies and
repeat pregnancies.
2)States the intent of the Legislature to encourage the
operation of comprehensive, continuous, and community linked
school-based programs that focus on youth development, the
reduction of chronic absenteeism, and dropout prevention for
expectant and parenting pupils and on early learning and
educational support services for their children.
3)States the intent of the Legislature that these programs
achieve the following goals:
a) Pupils who received program services for more than one
year will earn a high school diploma or equivalent or
demonstrate progress toward completion of educational
goals;
b) Pupils who graduate will transition to postsecondary
education or into the world of work;
c) Pupils served and their children will not live their
lives in poverty;
d) Pupils will demonstrate effective parenting skills;
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e) Pupils will not have a repeat birth or father a repeat
pregnancy before graduation from high school;
f) Expectant pupils will not have a low birth weight baby;
g) Children of enrolled teen parents in early learning and
educational support programs will receive services based on
the assessed developmental and health needs of each child;
and
h) Children of enrolled teen parents will have enhanced
school readiness and demonstrate progress toward meeting
their assessed developmental goals.
4)States the intent of the Legislature that Cal-SAFE programs
should be coordinated with any local Adolescent Family Life
programs, Nurse Family Partnership Home visiting programs, and
Cal-Learn programs in a manner that avoids duplication of
services.
5)Provides that participation in a Cal-SAFE program by any LEA
is voluntary and may be paid for with local control funding
formula funds.
6)Requires an LEA that chooses to provide early learning and
educational support program services located on or near the
schoolsite for the children of teen parents to adhere to the
following health, safety, and quality requirements:
a) Each child, prior to enrollment in an early learning and
educational support program shall have a health evaluation
signed by a physician or designee, unless the parent signs
a waiver;
b) Each child shall have a developmental profile to
appropriately identify his or her emotional, social,
physical, and cognitive growth;
c) The child care site environment shall be safe, healthy
and comfortable for children and staff, easily maintained
and appropriate for meeting the developmental needs of the
individual child;
d) Teachers shall have at least three semester units or the
equivalent number of quarter units of coursework related to
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the care of infants and toddlers; and
e) The child care site shall be available as a laboratory
for parenting or related courses that are offered by the
funded agency, with priority given to pupils whose children
are enrolled in the Cal-SAFE early learning and educational
support program.
7)Requires Cal-SAFE programs to participate in the established
data collection and evaluation systems to track outcomes and
effectiveness of programming.
8)Authorizes LEAs to provide the following services to teen
parents in accordance with the intent of the local control
funding formula to improve the outcomes of high need pupil
populations:
a) Parenting education and life skills instruction;
b) Perinatal education and care, including childbirth
preparation;
c) Home-to-school transportation;
d) Case management services;
e) Comprehensive health education, including reproductive
health;
f) Nutrition education, counseling, and meal supplements;
g) School safety and violence prevention strategies
targeted to expectant and parenting teens and their
children;
h) Academic support and youth development services;
i) Career counseling, preemployment skills, and job
training;
j) Substance abuse prevention education, counseling, and
treatment services;
aa) Mental Health assessment, interventions, and referrals;
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bb) Crisis intervention counseling services, including
suicide prevention;
cc) Peer support groups and counseling;
dd) Family support and development services;
ee) Child and domestic abuse prevention education,
counseling, and services;
ff) Enrichment and recreational activities;
gg) Services that facilitate transition to postsecondary
education, training, or employment;
hh) Support services for grandparents, siblings, and fathers
of children not enrolled in Cal-SAFE; and
ii) Outreach activities to identify eligible pupils and to
educate the community about the realities of teen pregnancy
and parenting.
9)Provides that teen parents may be enrolled in the Cal-SAFE
program on an open entry and open exit basis.
10)States that, although the classroom is the recommended
instructional strategy, enrolled teen parents retain their
right to voluntarily participate in any comprehensive school
or educational alternative programs in which they could
otherwise enroll and shall not experience discrimination
prohibited by the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
Regulations.
11)Provides that an enrolled teen parent with an active special
education individualized education plan (IEP) and who meets
the eligibility criteria shall continue to receive services
identified in the IEP while concurrently enrolled in a
Cal-SAFE program.
12)Prohibits the denial of initial or continuous enrollment of a
pupil in a Cal-SAFE program for any of the following reasons:
a) The pupil has had multiple pregnancies;
b) The pupil has more than one child; or
c) The pupil's eligibility status changes from expectant to
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parenting.
13)Prohibits the assessment of any fees for services provided
through the Cal-SAFE program.
EXISTING LAW establishes Cal-SAFE as a categorical program.
However, funding for most categorical programs, including
Cal-SAFE, was eliminated with the enactment of the Local Control
Funding Formula.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Cal-SAFE was initially established by SB 1064
(Johnston, Chapter 1078, Statutes of 1998) and became operative
July 2000, to provide educational and other support services to
pregnant and parenting teens and their children. According to a
10-year report released by the California Department of
Education (CDE) in 2010, Cal-SAFE has achieved a number of
positive outcomes, including:
1)Over 73% of the students left the program having successfully
completed their high school education. This compares with a
30% rate among non-program participants reported in a 2003
study.
2)Only 8.47% of the babies born while their parents were
enrolled in the program represented repeat pregnancies,
compared to a nationwide rate of 20%.
3)Only 6.7% of the children born while their parents were
enrolled in the program had low birth weight (less than 2,500
grams at birth), compared to a national low birth rate of
13.4% for mothers under 15 and 10% for mothers aged 15 to 19.
4)Over 60% of the children of program parents attended a child
care center funded by the Cal-SAFE program and received
services based on assessed development needs.
5)Over 94% of the children of program parents were up to date on
their immunizations, compared to a national rate of 82% and a
California rate of 81% for children aged 19 to 35 months.
Cal-SAFE
Cal-SAFE funding. Historically, Cal-SAFE has been funded as a
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separate categorical program. As such, Cal-SAFE imposed
specific requirements on participating districts that districts
agreed to fulfill as a condition of receiving the Cal-SAFE
categorical funding. However, in 2008-09 funding for 38
categorical programs was rolled into a block grant to give
districts more flexibility to deal with budget cuts. Cal-SAFE
was among 33 programs that were put into "Tier 3" of the block
grant. This is the tier that gave districts maximum flexibility
over the use of the funds. In other words, funds received for
categorical programs in Tier 3 could be used for any educational
purpose. The amount of block grant funding attributed to
Cal-SAFE was $46.4 million.
The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) conducted a survey of
districts in 2012 to assess the extent to which districts used
the flexibility provided to them through the block grant. About
66% of the districts that responded reported shifting at least
some money away from Cal-SAFE to support other programs. The
LAO survey also asked districts if they wanted to eliminate
categorical programs in order to ensure ongoing flexibility, and
if so, which programs they would eliminate. Nearly 80% of
districts reported wanting to eliminate Cal-SAFE. However, it
is not known which individual(s) within each district responded
to the survey or the extent to they reflect the views (or not)
of the district's governing board and/or a consensus of district
staff.
More recently, the Legislature enacted the Local Control Funding
Formula (LCFF), which took effect with the 2013-14 fiscal year.
Funding for Cal-SAFE, along with funding for most categorical
programs and revenue limit funding, was eliminated and rolled
into the LCFF. Because of that, the requirements of the
Cal-SAFE program are no longer operative.
T his bill repeals the Cal-SAFE categorical program and replaces
it with an optional Cal-SAFE program. Under the permissive
Education Code, LEAs do not need specific statutory
authorization to operate a Cal-SAFE or similar program.
Therefore, this bill is not needed for that purpose. However,
this bill imposes some requirements on LEAs that choose to
operate a Cal-SAFE program. LEAs could choose to comply with
those requirements or they could avoid them by offering an
alternative program to serve the same pupil population and not
calling it Cal-SAFE
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In addition, this bill imposes specific health, safety, and
quality requirements on LEAs that choose to offer any early
learning and educational support program services located on or
near the schoolsite for the children of teen parents, whether it
is called Cal-SAFE or not. These requirements include:
1)Each child, prior to enrollment in an early learning and
educational support program shall have a health evaluation
signed by a physician or designee, unless the parent signs a
waiver;
2)Each child shall have a developmental profile to appropriately
identify his or her emotional, social, physical, and cognitive
growth;
3)The child care site environment shall be safe, healthy and
comfortable for children and staff, easily maintained and
appropriate for meeting the developmental needs of the
individual child;
4)Teachers shall have at least three semester units or the
equivalent number of quarter units of coursework related to
the care of infants and toddlers; and
5)The child care site shall be available as a laboratory for
parenting or related courses that are offered by the funded
agency, with priority given to pupils whose children are
enrolled in the Cal-SAFE early learning and educational
support program.
According to the author's office, these are identical to the
requirements for child care and development programs funded
through the CDE.
Arguments in support. Supporters argue that, as a result of the
elimination of the Cal-SAFE categorical program, there is no
oversight over early learning and educational support programs
that LEAs may be providing on or near their campuses.
Therefore, "the absence of any requirements for LEAs to meet
basic health, safety, and quality standards puts our most
vulnerable children in harms way."
Arguments in opposition. Opponents argue that this bill would
not encourage teen mothers "to work for independence from
government programs." Opponents are also concerned that the
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health education and counseling services authorized by this bill
could include "contraception and abortifacients" and "abortion
referrals."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson (Sponsor)
American Association of University Women - California
American Civil Liberties Union
California Latinas for Reproductive Justice
Planned Parenthood
Opposition
California Right to Life Committee, Inc.
Analysis Prepared by : Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087