BILL NUMBER: SB 1348 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 31, 2000
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 30, 2000
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 29, 2000
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 25, 2000
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 7, 2000
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 3, 2000
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 26, 2000
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 3, 2000
INTRODUCED BY Senator Vasconcellos
JANUARY 11, 2000
An act relating to parenting.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1348, Vasconcellos. Parenting education.
Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
superintend the schools of the state. Under existing law,
responsibilities of the superintendent also include the
administration of general child care and development programs.
This bill would require the superintendent, in consultation with
the Secretary for Education, to submit a proposal to convene a
summit, on or before September 1, 2001, regarding the advisability of
developing a master plan for parenting education in nonschool
settings. The bill would require the superintendent to convene and
conduct the summit pursuant to the approved plan, and would require
the various state departments to participate in the summit and
collect, complete, and submit to the summit available research
regarding, among other things, the causal relationship between the
presence or absence of parenting skills and dysfunctional behavior.
The bill would require the superintendent, in consultation with the
secretary, to prepare a report with respect to parenting education
and universal parenting education, and to submit the report to the
State Board of Education and the Legislature on or before January 1,
2002.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Our failure to prepare young Californians to make informed,
wise choices regarding whether to become, and how to be good,
healthy, and effective parents results in too many unwise choices and
too little healthy parenting for the next generation of
Californians.
(b) Research indicates that over 50 percent of Californians
imprisoned for violent crime were abused as children.
(c) Providing early and smart parenting education to every
California pupil would help us overcome set failures.
(d) There are a variety of parenting education programs in a
variety of venues throughout California, differing in their
availability and in their accessibility with regard to geography,
time, and location.
(e) The State of California must recognize, encourage, and build
upon, rather than duplicate, the effective and available parenting
education programs.
(f) The State of California must identify venues in which
effective parenting education is not available, and strive to ensure
access to parenting education in those venues.
(g) Every Californian must recognize the need, responsibility, and
opportunity to prepare himself or herself better to become a healthy
parent.
(h) Every California institution must recognize its
responsibility, duty, and capacity to engage itself in supporting the
development of Californians into healthier parents.
(i) The private sector, through major policy development
foundations such as the California Wellness Foundation, has begun to
recognize the fundamental benefits of parenting education in
preventing crime and violence.
(j) The state should study particular strategies that are proving
successful in effectively reaching and providing parenting education
to the most vulnerable of our population.
SEC. 2. It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act
that the State of California convene a top level statewide summit to
determine whether parenting education should be provided to every
young Californian and, if so, to design for submission to the
Legislature for its consideration, a comprehensive strategic action
plan for ensuring that every young Californian gain the benefit of
parenting education, in hopes of fostering the development of
healthier parents, and thereby healthier families, children and
adults.
SEC. 3. (a) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall design,
in consultation with the Secretary for Education, and shall submit
for consideration, possible revision, and approval, to the State
Board of Education, a proposal to convene a summit, on or about
September 1, 2001, for the purpose of assessing whether it would be
smart and wise for the state of California to develop a master plan
for parenting education in nonschool settings. Upon approval of the
proposal, the superintendent shall convene and conduct the parenting
education summit pursuant to the approved plan.
(b) The summit shall include interested parties of all ideologies
and persuasions, including significant representation from diverse
communities, experts in parenting issues, family and child
development experts, representatives of current providers, academic
experts, business leaders, faith leaders, health professionals,
experts in public school parenting education programs, parents, and
children.
(c) The director, or his or her designee, of each of the following
departments shall participate in the summit as provided in
subdivision (d):
(1) The Superintendent of Public Instruction.
(2) The Chairperson of the State Board of Education.
(3) The Secretary for Education.
(4) The State Department of Health Services.
(5) The State Department of Social Services.
(6) The State Department of Mental Health.
(7) The State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.
(8) The Department of the Youth Authority.
(9) The Board of Corrections.
(10) The Department of Corrections.
(11) The Attorney General.
(d) To the extent that his or her department has jurisdiction,
each director of a department listed in subdivision (c) shall
collect, complete, and submit to the summit the best research
available regarding what it takes to develop a whole child with
healthy self-esteem and a healthy sense of personal and social
responsibility and regarding the causal relationship between good and
healthy parenting, or the lack thereof, to dysfunctional behavior,
as well as the costs for providing this universal parenting
education. The research submitted to the summit shall also address
the public costs that result from dysfunctional behavior.
(e) The objectives of the summit shall include, but not be limited
to, the following:
(1) Development of an inventory of all parenting education
programs currently available in California.
(2) Determination of whether universal parenting education for
every young Californian would improve the public health and safety of
all Californians.
(3) If it is found to be valuable, the following shall be included
as part of a proposed master plan to be submitted to the Legislature
for its consideration.
(A) Development of a method by which parents of newborns may
receive parenting education in an appropriate range of public and
private nonschool settings.
(B) Identification of the classifications of licensed
professionals who would be the most appropriate educators of
parenting skills in nonschool settings, assessment of the need for
the establishment of instructor training and continuing education
requirements for these professionals, and development of mechanisms
by which these professionals can be engaged in the practice of
parenting education.
(C) Development of a method and curriculum in juvenile court
school, homes, ranches, camps, and forestry camps, as well as a
method for making parenting education available to all public high
school students.
(D) Creation of a means for coordinating parenting education
services, in consultation with the State Department of Education.
(E) Identification of the ways and means for developing the
funding for the various options for parenting education.
(F) Identification and development of additional methods by which
each of the state departments participating in this summit can ensure
that Californians receive effective and useful parenting education.
(f) The superintendent, in consultation with the Secretary for
Education, shall prepare a report with respect to parenting education
and universal parenting education, including, if he or she concludes
that it would be valuable to do so, organizing the recommendations
of the summit into a proposed California master plan for parenting
education. The report shall be submitted to the State Board of
Education for its consideration, possible revision, and adoption.
The report shall then be submitted to the Legislature on or before
January 1, 2002.
(g) The State Department of Education shall make every reasonable
effort to secure private funding to underwrite the cost of this
summit.
(h) The State Department of Education shall not be responsible for
travel costs and per diem associated with this summit for any
participant, except when required by state law or administrative
policy.
(i) After making copies of the proposed master plan available to
the Legislature and appropriate persons in the executive branch, the
State Department of Education may make additional copies available to
interested persons at a reasonable charge to cover costs of printing
and mailing.