Bill Text: CA AB1014 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Education finance: Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund:

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2016-09-21 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 397, Statutes of 2016. [AB1014 Detail]

Download: California-2015-AB1014-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 1014	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 4, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 26, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Thurmond
    (   Coauthor:   Assembly Member  
Bonta   ) 

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2015

   An act to add  and repeal  Section 48270  to
  of  the Education Code, relating to pupils, and
making an appropriation therefor.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1014, as amended, Thurmond. Pupils: truancy: Our Children's
Success-The Early Intervention Attendance  Pilot  Grant
Program.
   Existing law requires a pupil subject to compulsory full-time
education or to compulsory continuation education who is absent from
school without a valid excuse 3 full days in one school year or tardy
or absent for more than a 30-minute period during the schoolday
without a valid excuse on 3 occasions in one school year, or any
combination thereof, to be classified as a truant. Existing law
requires, upon a pupil's initial classification as a truant, a school
district to notify the pupil's parent or guardian of specified
information using the most cost-effective method possible.
   This bill would make various findings and declarations regarding
truancy. The bill would establish  Our   the Our
 Children's Success-The Early Intervention Attendance 
Pilot  Grant Program under the administration of the State
Department of Education. The program would provide grants to
applicant public schools seeking to resolve the attendance problems
of pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 3, inclusive. The bill
would provide that public schools maintaining kindergarten or any of
grades 1 to 3, inclusive, could apply for grants under the program.
The bill would  require   authorize  the
applications for grants submitted by  public  schools to the
department to reflect a plan including specified components.
   The bill would require the department to give priority  in
awarding grants under this bill  to applicant  public 
schools that have  prioritized pupil engagement in their
local control and accountability plans. The   the
highest truancy rates in urban areas, rural areas, and suburban
areas, respectively. The bill would require the grants to be awarded
for 3 years and to be used to address attendance problems of pupils
in kindergarten and grades 1 to 3, inclusive, pursuant to the plans
submitted by the applicant public school. The bill would require
public schools receiving a grant to submit a report, containing
specified data, to the department at the conclusion of the grant. The
bill would require the department to submit a report, on or before
January 1, 2021, to the respective appropriations committees and
education committees of the Assembly and the Senate, and would
require this report t   o include a recommendation on
whether the grant program established under the bill should continue.
These provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2022. 
    The  bill would appropriate an unspecified sum from an
unspecified source to the department for purposes of implementing the
bill.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all  of the
 of the following:
   (a) Only 17 percent of chronically absent kindergartners and first
graders in California read proficiently by grade 3 and pupils who do
not read proficiently by grade 3 are four times more likely to drop
out of school. Children who drop out of school cost the state more
than $46 billion each year, including more than $1 billion in
juvenile crime costs alone.
   (b) Ninety percent of elementary school pupils with severe
attendance problems, missing 36 or more days in the school year, are
estimated to be from low-income families.
   (c) In the 2013-14 school year, 250,000 elementary school pupils
and 1 in 10 pupils from low-income families were chronically absent,
missing 10 percent or more of the school year.
   (d) In the 2013-14 school year, African American elementary school
pupils were the highest subgroup, including homeless pupils, to be
truant and these pupils are chronically truant at four times the rate
of all other pupils.
   (e) In the 2012-13 school year, one in five, or 744,085,
elementary school pupils were truant, an increase of 1.2 percent from
the 2011-12 school year.
   (f) In the 2010-11 school year, California schools lost $1.4
billion in average daily attendance funding due to pupil absences and
California school districts have lost over $3.5 billion between the
2010-11 and 2013-14 school years.
  SEC. 2.  Section 48270 is added to the Education Code, to read:
   48270.  (a) Our Children's Success-The Early Intervention
Attendance  Pilot  Grant Program is hereby established under
the administration of the department. This grant program is
established for the purpose of helping public schools resolve the
attendance problems of pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 3,
inclusive. This grant program shall be implemented upon the
appropriation of sufficient funding under Section 3 of the act that
added this section.
   (b) A public school maintaining kindergarten or any of grades 1 to
3, inclusive, seeking to participate in the grant program
established by this section may apply to the department for a grant
pursuant to this section. An application submitted by a public school
to the department under this subdivision  shall 
 may  reflect a plan that includes, but is not necessarily
limited to, all of the following components:
   (1) Establishment of a training program for key school officials
and attendance staff to identify pupils with chronic attendance
problems upon their second occurrence of tardiness or absence in a
school year, and the mailing of attendance letters to the pupil's
home in a timely manner.
   (2) Establishment of a phone call outreach program, including a
minimum of two calls from a school official, not limited to a
recording, to follow up on those pupils whose attendance problems
continue during that school year after the attendance letters are
mailed.
   (3) Establishment of a parent advocate position or positions,
designated for ongoing  follow-up   followup
 with the pupil and the parent throughout the school year to
ensure the pupil's continued consistent school attendance. The number
of these parent advocate positions may vary according to the school'
s needs, resources, and the parent advocate's ability to manage the
workload.
   (4) Establishment of an outreach worker position or positions
whose primary job is assisting families with a child or children who
have ongoing chronic attendance problems. The duties of an outreach
worker include sending letters, making phone calls and home visits,
and helping to connect the family to the appropriate local, state, or
federal programs in order to resolve issues that are creating
impediments to the child's consistent attendance in school. The
number of these outreach worker positions can vary according to the
school's needs, resources, and the outreach worker's ability to
manage the workload.
   (5) Determining that the applicant school's plan is instituted, to
the best of the school's ability, before a pupil enters the school
attendance review board process.
   (6) Establishment of a plan for teacher  follow-up
  followup  with pupils with chronic attendance
problems to make up for lost instructional time.
   (7) Establishment of a plan to track pupil attendance and
aggregate data on tardiness and attendance throughout the school year
to determine whether improvement has been made. 
   (c) In evaluating applications for grants under this section, the
department shall give priority to applicant schools that have
prioritized pupil engagement in their local control and
accountability plans adopted pursuant to Section 52060. 

   (d) 
    (   c)  The grant program established by this
section shall not be construed as a replacement of, or a substitution
for, the school attendance review board process as described in this
article. 
   (d) (1) The department shall award grants under this section based
on the selection criteria in paragraph (2).  
   (2) The department shall give priority to applicant public schools
with the highest truancy rates in each of the following areas: 

    (A) Urban areas.  
    (B) Rural areas.  
   (C) Suburban areas.  
   (e) Grants under this section shall be awarded for three years,
and shall be used to address the attendance problems of pupils in
kindergarten and in grades 1 to 3, inclusive, pursuant to the plans
submitted by the applicant public school under subdivision (b). 

   (f) A public school that receives a grant under this section shall
submit a report to the department at the conclusion of the grant.
This report shall specify how the grant funds were used and the
strategies employed to address pupil attendance problems. The report
shall also include pupil attendance data measured both before and
after the implementation of the grant.  
   (g) On or before January 1, 2021, the department shall submit a
report to the respective committees on appropriations and committees
on education of the Assembly and the Senate. This report shall
evaluate the strategies and the attendance data of the public schools
that received funds from the grant program established under this
section. The report shall include, but not necessarily be limited to,
a recommendation on whether the grant program should continue. 

   (h) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2022, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2022, deletes or extends
that date. 
  SEC. 3.   The sum of ____ dollars ($____) is hereby appropriated to
the State Department of Education for purposes of implementing Our
Children's Success-The Early Intervention Attendance Grant Program,
as established in Section 48270 of the Education Code. It is the
intent of the Legislature that the funds appropriated under this
section be drawn from sources that may include, but are not
necessarily limited to, the General Fund, the Safe Neighborhoods and
Schools Fund established by Proposition 47 on the November 2014
statewide general election ballot, federal and local government
funds, and contributions from nonprofit organizations and other
private entities.