BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 2141
AUTHOR: Hall
AMENDED: May 23, 2014
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 18, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lynn Lorber
NOTE: This bill has been referred to the Committees on
Education and Public Safety. A "do pass" motion should
include referral to the Committee on Public Safety.
SUBJECT : Truancy mediation or prosecution: outcomes.
SUMMARY
This bill requires a state or local agency conducting a
truancy-related mediation or prosecuting a student or parent
for a truancy-related matter to provide the outcome of the
case to the referring agency.
BACKGROUND
Current law:
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) Authorizes a school district in a county that does not
have a school attendance review board (SARB) to notify
the county district attorney or probation officer, and
authorizes those entities to notify the parents of every
truant that they may be subject to prosecution for
failure to compel the attendance of the student. (EC �
48260.6)
3) Authorizes notification to the county district attorney
or probation officer (in a county without a SARB) and
authorizes those agencies to request the parents and the
student attend a meeting to discuss the possible legal
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consequences of the student's truancy. This is known as
truancy mediation. (EC�48260.6)
Habitual truancy
1) 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)
2) Authorizes the school district to refer the student to,
and requires the student to attend, a SARB or a truancy
mediation program. The student may be within the
jurisdiction of the juvenile court if the student does
not successfully complete the truancy mediation program.
(EC � 48264.5(c))
School attendance review boards
1) Authorizes, but does not require, a county and/or local
school attendance review board (SARB) to be established.
SARB membership must include parents, school districts,
county probation, county welfare, county superintendent
of schools, law enforcement, community-based youth
services, and personnel representing school guidance,
child welfare and attendance, school or county health
care, and mental health. (EC � 48321)
Prosecution of parents
1) Requires schools to refer a parent who does not ensure
their student attends school as required by compulsory
education laws to a SARB. Current law requires the
SARB, if the parent fails to respond to directives or
services, to direct the school district to file a
criminal complaint. (EC � 48291)
2) Provides that any parent who fails to comply with
compulsory education laws is guilty of an infraction.
(EC � 48293 and Penal Code � 270.1)
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.
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(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)
ANALYSIS
This bill requires a state or local agency conducting a
truancy-related mediation or prosecuting a student or parent
for a truancy-related matter to provide the outcome of the
case to the referring agency. Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires a state or local agency conducting a
truancy-related mediation or prosecuting a student or
parent to provide the outcome of each referral to the
school district, school attendance review board, county
superintendent of schools, probation department, or any
other agency that referred a truancy-related mediation,
criminal complaint, or petition.
2) Defines "outcome" to include, but is not limited to, the
act or action taken by a state or local authority with
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respect to a truancy-related mediation, prosecution,
criminal complaint, or petition.
3) Requires a state or local agency conducting a
truancy-related mediation or prosecuting a student or
parent to provide the outcome of each referral in
anonymized format to the Attorney General upon request.
4) Provides that state and local agencies are to use the
most cost-effective method possible including by
electronic mail or telephone.
5) States legislative intent to determine the best
evidence-based practices to reduce truancy, and that
this bill is not intended to encourage additional
referrals, complaints, petitions, or prosecutions, or to
encourage more serious sanctions for students.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Closing the loop . This bill requires a state or local
agency conducting a truancy-related mediation or
prosecuting a student or parent for a truancy-related
matter to provide the outcome of the case to the
referring agency. Typically, school districts refer a
student who is truant to the local or county school
attendance review board (SARB). Some areas do not have
a SARB but do have other truancy programs administered
by the probation department of district attorney's
office. Generally, many agencies participate in SARBs
or other truancy programs, including school districts,
but some methods of intervention (such as probation or
criminal complaints) may not involve school personnel.
It is very possible that school districts are not
informed of the results of truancy hearings or
mediation, or prosecution. This bill ensures the school
district or other referring agency receives information
about the dispensation of the case.
2) Then what ? It is not clear what referring agencies will
do with the information about outcomes of truancy
proceedings. A prior version of this bill would have
required the agencies that receive the information to
provide the county superintendent of schools with a
report at the end of each school year. This bill states
intent that the purpose is to collect information on
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best practices to reduce truancy and not to encourage
additional sanctions on pupils.
3) Broader structural issues . This bill does not address
other gaps in truancy laws, some of which were
highlighted in the Attorney General's 2013 report:
a) Upon the initial truancy, school districts are
authorized but not required to request the student
and parent attend a meeting to discuss the root
causes of the attendance issue and develop a joint
plan to improve attendance.
b) Local educational agencies (LEAs) are required
to notify parents upon the first truancy but not
upon the second truancy.
c) LEAs are authorized but not required to refer
a student to a SARB or a truancy mediation program.
4) Fiscal impact . According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill would impose unknown state-mandated
local costs to local agencies, such as county probation
departments to report the outcome of each referral.
5) Related legislation . AB 1643 (Buchanan) requires each
county to have a school attendance review board. AB
1643 is scheduled to be heard in this Committee on June
18.
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 1866 (Bocanegra) expands data in the California
Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System to include
chronic absentee numbers (in addition to existing
requirement to report rates), and truancy numbers and
rates.
AB 1866 is scheduled to be heard by this Committee on
June 18.
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SB 1107 (Monning) requires the California Department of
Education and Attorney General to report annually on
specific information regarding truancy and chronic
absenteeism in kindergarten through grade five. SB 1107
was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
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
Attorney General of California
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
Los Angeles Unified School District
Special Needs Network
OPPOSITION
None on file.