BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2167
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Date of Hearing: March 26, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
AB 2167 (Muratsuchi) - As Amended: March 19, 2014
SUBJECT : Pupils: California Healthy Kids Survey
SUMMARY : Establishes the California Healthy Kids Survey
(CHKS). Specifically, this bill :
1)Establishes the CHKS as a voluntary comprehensive pupil
self-report data collection system that addresses school
climate, campus safety, and pupil health risks and behaviors.
2)Authorizes a school district to administer the CHKS to pupils
in grades 5, 7, 9 and 11.
3)Authorizes a school district to conduct both of the following
supplemental surveys:
a) The California School Parent Survey (CSPS), which
assesses the perceptions of parents related to school
climate, parent outreach, and pupil achievement.
b) The California School Climate Survey (CSCS), which is a
staff survey to guide school improvement efforts to foster
positive learning and teaching environments.
4)Requires a school district to, prior to administering the
CHKS, comply with parent and guardian notification and consent
provisions required in existing law.
5)Specifies that the data collected through the CHKS, the CSPS,
and the CSCS shall be confidential.
6)Requires funds to be appropriated to the California Department
of Education (CDE) in the annual Budget Act or other statute
to administer and make available the CHKS, provide technical
assistance to school districts, and collect and analyze data
regarding local and statewide pupil health risks and
behaviors, school connectedness, pupil supports, and school
violence.
7)Requires the CDE to administer and make available to school
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districts the CSCS and the CSPS, to the extent funds are
appropriated to the CDE for these purposes.
8)Makes findings and declarations regarding the impact that
school climate has on the learning environment, pupil
motivation to learn, and pupil engagement and attendance.
Further finds and declares that the data generated by the
CHKS, CSPS, and the CSCS will help school districts in
evaluating their progress in meeting the priorities of the
local control and accountability plan as it relates to school
climate, pupil engagement, parent involvement, and in
supporting vulnerable subgroups.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Specifies that no test, questionnaire, survey, or examination
containing any questions about the pupil's personal beliefs or
practices in sex, family life, morality, and religion, or any
questions about the pupil's parents' or guardians' beliefs and
practices in sex, family life, morality, and religion, shall
be administered to any pupil in kindergarten or grades 1 to
12, inclusive, unless the parent or guardian of the pupil is
notified in writing that this test, questionnaire, survey, or
examination is to be administered and the parent or guardian
of the pupil gives written permission for the pupil to take
this test, questionnaire, survey, or examination. (Education
Code (EC) Section 51513)
2)Specifies that anonymous, voluntary, and confidential research
and evaluation tools to measure pupils' health behaviors and
risks, including tests, questionnaires, and surveys containing
age-appropriate questions about the pupil's attitudes
concerning or practices relating to sex may be administered to
any pupil in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, if the parent or
guardian is notified in writing that this test, questionnaire,
or survey is to be administered and the pupil's parent or
guardian is given the opportunity to review the test,
questionnaire, or survey and to request in writing that his or
her child not participate. (EC Section 51938(b))
3)Specifies that the Annual Report on Dropouts in California
report may include, among others, relevant data on school
climate and pupil engagement from the CHKS. (EC Section
48070.6)
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4)Authorizes, to the extent consistent with federal and state
privacy laws, local educational agencies that receive after
school program funds to provide specified data to an operator
of an after school program, including CHKS results in
aggregate form. (EC Section 8484.1)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : This bill codifies the CHKS, which was developed in
1998 and administered on a voluntary basis until 2003, when the
federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act required states that
receive Title IV funds (Safe and Drug-Free Schools and
Communities Program) to establish a uniform management
information and reporting system that includes, among others,
the "incidence and prevalence, age of onset, perception of
health risk, and perception of social disapproval of drug use
and violence by youth in schools and communities". Title IV
also required compilation of statistics that included "incident
reports by school officials, anonymous student surveys, and
anonymous teacher surveys." California received $28 million
annually from Title IV funds, the majority of which were
allocated to districts to implement programs to address school
safety and alcohol and drug use. The CHKS was used to measure
progress and collect data and to comply with the NCLB
requirements. Local educational agencies that received Title IV
funds were required to administer the CHKS. According to the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) Tom Torlakson, the
CHKS is an exemplary program, recognized by President Barack
Obama's administration as a model survey for the nation.
The CHKS is one component of the California School Climate,
Health, and Learning Survey System. The other two surveys that
make up the system are the CSCS for school staff and the CSPS
for parents.
The CHKS is administered biennially to pupils in grades 5, 7, 9,
and 11, although some school districts conduct the survey
annually. The voluntary survey is anonymous and confidential,
with three versions available for elementary, middle, and high
school kids. The survey assesses health risks, with specific
focus on alcohol, tobacco, and drug use; school violence;
physical health; resilience and youth development; and school
climate. Schools can add questions as appropriate for the age
group; for example, the high school survey can be supplemented
with questions relating to sex education, suicide, gang
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involvement and issues related to the achievement gap.
In accordance with existing law, prior to the administration of
the survey, districts are required to inform parents and legal
guardians of the survey and allow them to either opt their
children in or out of taking the survey. The CDE maintains a
contract with WestEd, a nonprofit research organization, to
collect, compile and report the data.
The SPI has the following message on the CHKS Web site, "We all
know that children can only learn to their full potential when
they feel safe and secure at school and in their classroom. The
California School Climate Survey, and its companion the
California Healthy Kids Survey, provide a venue for students to
express how they really feel about their school experience and
their classroom environment. These surveys provide teachers and
administrators the critical data needed to create positive
learning environments in our schools. I strongly encourage all
school districts to participate in these important surveys."
The survey results may help schools identify issues faced by
students and develop strategies to address the issues and
improve youth development and school climate. A couple of
provisions in the Education Code reference the CHKS, even though
the survey is not in law, as a way of garnering information
regarding student perceptions. Title IV funds that triggered
the survey requirement and that were used to administer the CHKS
expired in 2010 and may be restored with the reauthorization of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Subsequently, the
federal government established a new grant program, the Safe and
Supported Schools Grant, a four year grant expiring in September
2014, to support statewide measurement of school climate.
California was one of 11 states to receive the grant and awarded
funds to 58 districts to collect data measuring school safety
and bullying, substance abuse, positive relationships, other
learning support, and student engagement. Districts that
receive grants are required to administer the CHKS. Another 15
districts that receive Tobacco-Use Prevention Education Program
(TUPE) funds (funded by a cigarette tax through Proposition 99,
passed by voters in 1988) are also required to administer the
CHKS. According to the CDE, a total of 600 school districts
continue to administer the survey.
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This bill requires funds to be appropriated to the CDE in the
annual Budget Act or other statute to administer the CHKS,
provide technical assistance to school districts, and collect
and analyze data.
This bill is sponsored by the SPI, who states, "The CHKS is the
largest statewide student survey on school climate, campus
safety, bullying, absenteeism, and student health risks and
behaviors. California identified eight state priorities with
the adoption of the Local Control Funding Formula. The data
collected from the CHKS can be an important tool for LEAs [local
educational agencies] to assess how they are meeting multiple
state priorities on their Local Control Accountability Plan. In
particular, the data may be used to help plan, implement and
evaluate progress to particular priorities such as school
climate, pupil engagement, and in supporting vulnerable
subgroups."
Prior legislation . AB 1368 (Pan), held in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee suspense file in 2011, was a similar
bill that established the CHKS.
SCR 18 (Liu), Resolution Chapter 77, Statutes of 2011, expressed
the intent of the Legislature to pursue every means necessary to
ensure that the California School Climate, Health, and Learning
Survey System remains viable, and urges the state to pursue
federal funding, grants, or other sources to ensure that school
districts receive the necessary funding to support the survey
system.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson
California School Employees Association
Children Now
San Diego Unified School District
StudentsFirst
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Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087