BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 1107
AUTHOR: Monning
INTRODUCED: February 19, 2014
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: March 26, 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 : Report on truancy and chronic absenteeism.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Attorney General to report annually
on specific information regarding truancy and chronic
absenteeism in kindergarten through grade 5.
BACKGROUND
Absenteeism
Current law defines:
1) 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)
Initial classification as truant
Current law:
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. Truants must be reported
to the attendance supervisor or superintendent of the
school district.
(EC � 48260)
SB 1107
Page 2
2) Requires school districts to notify the student's
parent upon the initial classification of truancy.
(EC � 48260.5)
3) Authorizes school districts 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. (EC � 48264.5(a))
4) 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)
Subsequent truancy
Current law:
1) Requires that a student who has once been reported as
a truant and who is again absent or tardy without a
valid excuse again be reported as a truant to the
attendance supervisor or superintendent of the school
district. (EC � 48261)
2) Authorizes schools to assign the student to an after
school or weekend study program. The student is to be
classified as a habitual truant and may be referred to
an attendance review board if the student fails to
successfully complete the assigned study program. (EC
� 48264.5(b))
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 consequences of the student's
truancy. This is known as truancy mediation. (EC �
48260.6)
SB 1107
Page 3
Habitual truancy
Current law:
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) Requires school districts to first make a
conscientious effort to hold at least one conference
with a parent and the student prior to classifying the
student as a habitual truant. (EC � 48262)
3) 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))
4) Authorizes school districts to refer a student who is
a habitual truant or is irregular in attendance, or is
habitually insubordinate or disorderly, to a school
attendance review board (SARB) or to the probation
department (if the probation department has elected to
receive referrals). (EC � 48263)
5) Provides that a student for whom a fourth truancy has
been issued may be within the jurisdiction of the
juvenile court that may adjudge the student to be a
ward of the court. If the student is adjudged a ward
of the court, the student is required to do at least
one of the following:
a) Complete court-approved community services
for between 20-40 hours within a 90 day period.
b) Payment of a fine up to $50, for which the
parent may be jointly liable.
c) Attend a court-approved truancy prevention
program.
SB 1107
Page 4
d) Suspend or revoke driving privileges. (EC �
48264.5(d))
Chronic truancy
Current law 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)
School attendance review boards
Current law:
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)
2) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
coordinate and administer a state SARB, which is to
provide recommendations annually regarding the needs
and services provided to high-risk youth.
(EC � 48325)
Data collection and reporting
Current law:
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 �
SB 1107
Page 5
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 the Attorney General to report annually
on specific information regarding truancy and chronic
absenteeism in kindergarten through grade 5. Specifically,
this bill:
1) Requires the Attorney General (AG), by September 30,
2015 and annually thereafter, to submit a report to
the Governor, Legislature and State Board of Education
on elementary school truancy and chronic absenteeism
in public schools.
2) Requires the report to include, but not be limited to,
the following information regarding students in
kindergarten and grades 1-5 for the school year with
the most recent available data, including comparisons
with the prior school year:
a) Attendance-related data specific
to chronic absenteeism, which include students
who are absent on 10% or more of the school year.
b) Information regarding truancy
prevention and intervention efforts by local
SB 1107
Page 6
educational agencies, or county or local
prosecuting authorities, including but not
limited to all of the following:
i) Information regarding
the following currently-required
notifications:
(1)
Reporting to the attendance supervisor or
superintendent of the school district a
student who is truant. A student
meeting this description must be
classified as a truant.
(2)
Notification of a student's parent upon the
student's initial classification as a
truant, including that parents who fail
to compel the attendance of the student
may be guilty of an infraction and
subject to prosecution, that
alternative educational programs are
available, the parent has the right to
meet with school personnel to discuss
solutions, the pupil may be subject to
prosecution, and the pupil may be
subject to suspension.
(3)
Reporting to the attendance supervisor or
superintendent of the district a
student who has once been reported as a
truant and who is again truant.
ii) Information regarding the
activities of county and local school
attendance review boards.
iii) Information regarding the outcomes
of prosecutions and mediation or diversion
programs for students who are truant or who
have irregular attendance, or whether the
prosecuting authority declined to prosecute
SB 1107
Page 7
referrals of those students.
c) An analysis, if data is available,
of whether local educational agencies (LEAs) are
complying with existing notification and
reporting requirements.
3) Requires the California Department of Education, LEAs,
and county and local prosecuting authorities to
provide to the Attorney General specific data upon
request.
4) Requires the Attorney General to use data produced by
the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data
System and other available data in developing the
report.
5) Provides that the report is subject to available
funding.
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:
a) Require statewide reporting of student
attendance records.
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) Why the Attorney General ? This bill requires the
Attorney General to compile available data and submit
an annual report relative to truancy and chronic
absenteeism in kindergarten through grade 5. The
Attorney General has a role in matters of truancy and
absenteeism insofar as the law requires youth ages
6-18 to attend school, ensuring enforcement of all
SB 1107
Page 8
laws, providing assistance to local district attorneys
who often participate in truancy mediation or
prosecution, as well as the well-documented
correlation between high absentee rates in elementary
school, truancy and future contact with law
enforcement.
The California Department of Education (CDE) is charged
with the responsibility to oversee the administration
of laws that govern K-12 education and the collection
of education data. The CDE provides guidance and
technical assistance to school districts specific to
absenteeism and truancy. Staff recommends amendments
to:
a) Require the report to be prepared jointly by
CDE and the Attorney General.
b) Strike the requirements that CDE, LEAs, and
prosecuting authorities provide to the Attorney
General specific data upon request, and instead
require LEAs to submit to CDE data required by
this bill that is not currently reported for
other purposes.
c) Require the Superintendent of Public
Instruction to convene the state school
attendance review board (SARB) to discuss the
findings of the report and provide
recommendations for LEAs, prosecuting agencies,
and state agencies. (The state SARB is currently
required to provide recommendations annually
regarding the needs and services provided to
high-risk youth.)
3) Data collection . Current law requires LEAs to submit
data specific to both truancy and chronic absenteeism
rates to the CDE 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. LEAs are required to report rates of chronic
absenteeism as part of their local control
SB 1107
Page 9
accountability plans. School districts are required
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.
This bill requires specific data relative to both truancy
and chronic absenteeism to be reported to CDE and in
greater detail than rates of occurrences. Staff
suggests that LEAs and CDE be consulted to determine
if this bill can be more specific as follows:
a) Is the information regarding truancy
prevention and intervention efforts simply an
indication of whether such efforts were made, or
a description of those efforts?
b) Is the information regarding the prosecution
of parents the total number of prosecutions or
the circumstances under which the parent was
prosecuted?
c) Is the information regarding notification to
parents of the right to meet with school
personnel to discuss solutions to include the
total number of parents who were notified and how
many chose to meet with school personnel?
d) Is the information regarding the activities
of school attendance review boards (SARBs) to
describe specific interventions and outcomes?
e) Should information be reported regarding the
number of students referred to a SARB and the
circumstances for the referral?
4) 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
SB 1107
Page 10
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) Neither counties nor districts are required
to establish a SARB. The Attorney General's 2013
report indicates that at least 43 of the 58
counties in California have maintained a county
or district SARB. This issue is the topic of AB
1643 (Buchanan; see Related Legislation comment
below).
d) LEAs are authorized but not required to
refer a student to a SARB or a truancy mediation
program.
5) Technical amendments . The definition of "local
educational agencies" in this bill does not include
schools. Staff recommends an amendment to add schools
to this definition. (Page 3, line 8, strike "schools
or" and on line 13, after "means" insert "a school,")
6) Related legislation . AB 1672 (Holden) expands
existing requirements requiring school district to
report 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 by the Assembly
Education Committee on March 26.
AB 1643 (Buchanan) requires, rather than authorizes,
counties to establish a SARB, and includes
representation from the county district attorney's
office on the SARB. AB 1643 is scheduled to be heard
by the Assembly Education Committee on March 26.
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 the
SB 1107
Page 11
Assembly Education Committee on March 26.
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 by the Assembly Education
Committee on March 26.
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 scheduled to be heard by the
Senate Public Safety Committee on April 8.
SUPPORT
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
Association of Black Correctional Workers
Attorney General, State of California
City and County of San Francisco
City of Los Angeles
Continuing the Dream
Glendale Unified School District
Hemet Unified School District
Lawndale Elementary School District
Lincoln Child Center
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
Los Angeles Unified School District
Office of the District Attorney, Contra Costa County
Office of the District Attorney, County of Santa Barbara
Service Employees International Union
Special Needs Network
Truancy Assessment and Resource Center
An individual
OPPOSITION
None on file.
SB 1107
Page 12