BILL NUMBER: SB 306 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hayden
FEBRUARY 4, 1999
An act to amend Sections 11501, 11502, and 11506 of, and to add an
article heading to Chapter 16 (commencing with Section 11500) of,
and to add and repeal Article 2 (commencing with Section 11550) of
Chapter 16 of, Part 7 of, the Education Code, relating to parental
involvement.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 306, as introduced, Hayden. Parent Involvement Grant Program.
Existing law requires the governing board of each school district
to adopt a policy on parent involvement. Existing law provides that
the parents and guardians of pupils enrolled in public schools have
the right and should have the opportunity, as mutually supportive and
respectful partners in the education of their children within the
public schools, to be informed by the school about specified matters
relating to the education of their children, and to participate in
the education of their children. Existing law requires the governing
board of each school district to develop jointly with parents and
guardians, and to adopt, a policy that outlines how parents or
guardians of pupils, school staff, and pupils may share the
responsibility for continuing the intellectual, physical, emotional,
and social development and well-being of pupils at each schoolsite.
This bill would establish the Parent Involvement Grant Program
whereby state funds would be directed to nonprofit community-based
organizations through a grant program administered by the State
Department of Education to allow those organizations to offer
training courses for parents of schoolage children to enhance a
parent's or guardian's involvement in the education of his or her
child in the public schools. The State Department of Education would
be required to select the grantees through a competitive process.
This bill would require a parent involvement training course to
include at least 10 hours of live and direct parent instruction on a
minimum of 6 of 10 subjects. The bill would require a grantee to
match every $4 of grant funds received under this program with $l of
funding raised by the nonprofit community-based organization from
federal, local, or private sources.
This bill would require the State Department of Education to
recommend, and the State Board of Education to approve, an evaluation
design for the program and grantees to use the evaluation design to
assess the overall program and cost-effectiveness of their program.
The State Department of Education would be required to develop a
report and recommendations to continue, modify, or discontinue the
program for submission to the Legislature on or before January l,
2005.
This bill would repeal the program on January 1, 2005.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known as the Parent Involvement in
School Accountability Act.
SEC. 2. (a) The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(1) Active and informed parents are a critical element in
achieving greater public school accountability in California.
(2) Studies have strongly indicated that parent participation in a
child's education enhances pupil achievement.
(3) There is a lack of training for parents, especially in
low-income and immigrant communities, in how to understand and
participate at the local level in the public education system.
(b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature in the act
adding this section to establish a program to create opportunities,
incentives, and grants to increase training of parents for
involvement in their children's educational process.
SEC. 3. An article heading is added to Chapter 16 (commencing with
Section 11500) of Part 7 of the Education Code immediately preceding
Section 11500, to read:
Article 1. School-Based Parental Involvement Grant Programs
SEC. 4. Section 11501 of the Education Code is amended to read:
11501. It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this
chapter article to ensure that parent
involvement programs are properly designed and implemented and to
provide a focus and structure for these programs based on prior
experience and research while maintaining sufficient local
flexibility to design a program that best meets the needs of the
local community.
SEC. 5. Section 11502 of the Education Code is amended to read:
11502. It is the purpose and goal of this chapter
article to do all of the following:
(a) To engage parents positively in their children's education by
helping parents to develop skills to use at home that support their
children's academic efforts at school and their children's
development as responsible future members of our society.
(b) To inform parents that they can directly affect the success of
their children's learning, by providing parents with techniques and
strategies that they may utilize to improve their children's academic
success and to assist their children in learning at home.
(c) To build consistent and effective communication between the
home and the school so that parents may know when and how to assist
their children in support of classroom learning activities.
(d) To train teachers and administrators to communicate
effectively with parents.
(e) To integrate parent involvement programs, including compliance
with this chapter article , into the
school's master plan for academic accountability.
SEC. 6. Section 11506 of the Education Code is amended to read:
11506. Schools that receive federal funds under Chapter 1 of the
federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by
the Augustus F. Hawkins-Robert T. Stafford Elementary and Secondary
School Improvement Amendments of 1988 (P. L. 100-297), and receive
funds for school improvement plans pursuant to Chapter 6 (commencing
with Section 52000) of Part 28 or economic impact aid pursuant to
Article 2 (commencing with Section 54020) of Chapter 1 of Part 29,
may receive funds for school improvement plans pursuant to Chapter 6
(commencing with Section 52000) of Part 28 or economic impact aid
pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 54020) of Chapter 1 of
Part 29 only if they comply with this chapter
article .
SEC. 7. Article 2 (commencing with Section 11550) is added to
Chapter 16 of Part 7 of the Education Code, to read:
Article 2. Community-Based Parent Involvement Grant Program
11550. The Parent Involvement Grant Program is hereby established
whereby state funds appropriated for that purpose shall be directed
to nonprofit community-based organizations through a grant program
administered by the State Department of Education. The state funds
shall be allocated to nonprofit community-based organizations to
offer training courses for parents and guardians of schoolage
children for the purpose of enhancing parent and guardian involvement
in the education of their children in the public schools.
11555. The State Department of Education shall select, through a
competitive process the nonprofit community-based organizations that
shall be awarded training grants under this article. Priority in the
selection process shall be granted to nonprofit community-based
organizations that demonstrate the following:
(a) Ability to recruit and retain parent populations with
traditionally low participation rates, including but not limited to,
immigrant and low-income parents.
(b) Ability to conduct parent training in various languages to
meet the specific cultural and linguistic needs of the school
communities to be served.
(c) Experience in collaborating with school districts, individual
schools, local agencies, and community educational resources in
implementing parent involvement programs.
(d) Ability to retain a high percentage of parent participants in
their training course.
11560. (a) A parent involvement training course offered pursuant
to this article shall include at least 10 hours of live and direct
parent instruction on a minimum of six of the following 10 subject
areas:
(1) Home-school collaboration.
(2) Participation in school governance.
(3) Child development.
(4) Child motivational skills.
(5) Developing study habits.
(6) Parent-teacher conferencing.
(7) Gang, violence, and drug prevention in the school.
(8) College preparation.
(9) Children's health and nutrition.
(10) Positive discipline.
(b) Nonprofit community-based organizations receiving grants shall
provide ways to involve schoolage children in the training courses
and shall encourage parents to involve their schoolage children in
the courses.
11565. (a) A nonprofit community-based organization shall match
every four dollars ($4) of grant funds received under this article
with one dollar ($l) of funding raised by the nonprofit
community-based organization from federal, local, or private sources.
A nonprofit community-based organization may assess parents and
guardians who participate in the training course a fee not to exceed
two dollars ($2) for the purposes of this matching fund requirement.
11570. The State Department of Education shall recommend, and the
State Board of Education shall approve, an evaluation design for the
program established by this article. Nonprofit community-based
organizations that receive grants under this article shall use the
evaluation design to assess the overall program and
cost-effectiveness of their program, including, but not limited to,
the effect of this program on the total number of parents and
guardians actively involved at the school as evidenced by, among
other things, contact between parents and school, participation in
school activities and school governance. Nonprofit community-based
organizations shall submit their assessments to the State Department
of Education by a date to be specified by the department. The State
Department of Education shall develop a report including, but not
necessarily limited to, the information received from the
participating nonprofit community-based organizations and
recommendations to continue, modify, or discontinue the program
established by this article. The report shall be approved by the
State Board of Education and submitted to the Legislature on or
before January l, 2005.
11575. This article shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2005, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2005, deletes or extends
that date.