AB 854: Educational services: pupils in foster care.

(1)Existing law requires 6 specified foster children services program sites to receive a certain allowance that is required to be used exclusively for foster children services. Existing law authorizes any county office of education, or consortium of county offices of education, in addition to the 6 specified program sites, to apply to the Superintendent of Public Instruction for grant funding, to the extent the funds are available, to operate an education-based foster youth services program to provide educational and support services for foster children who reside in a licensed foster home or county-operated juvenile detention facility, as specified.

This bill would instead establish, commencing with the 201516 fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, the Foster Youth Services Coordinating Program, to be administered by the Superintendent, as specified, to coordinate and ensure that local educational agencies within its jurisdiction are providing services to foster youth pupils pursuant to a foster youth services coordinating plan with the purpose of ensuring positive educational outcomes. As part of the program, the bill would authorize a county office of education, or consortium of county offices of education, to apply to the Superintendent for grant funding, to the extent funds are available, to operate an education-based foster youth services coordinating program to provide educational support for pupils in foster care. The bill would require county offices of education and consortia of county offices of education, as a condition of receiving funds under the program, to work with local educational agencies within the county or consortium of counties, to coordinate services to ensure that, for the 201516 and 201617 fiscal years, the level of direct services provided to support foster youth pupils is not less than what was provided in the 201415 fiscal year through the previous program. The bill would require the Superintendent, on or before October 31, 2015, to develop an allocation formula to determine the allocation amounts for which each county office of education or consortium of county offices of education is eligible and, within 30 days, to submit the allocation formula to appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature for review and to the Department of Finance for approval, as specified.

(2)Existing law also requires each foster youth services program to identify at least one person as the foster youth educational services coordinator, if sufficient funds are available, and assigns the foster youth educational services coordinator certain responsibilities, and requires him or her to facilitate the provision of educational services, as provided, to certain foster youth.

This bill would instead require each foster youth services coordinating program to identify the foster youth educational services coordinator to facilitate the provision of educational support to any pupil in foster care residing or attending school in the county or consortium of counties, as specified. The bill would require each foster youth services coordinating program, as a condition of receiving funding, to develop and implement a foster youth services coordinating plan, as specified, for purposes of establishing guiding principles and protocols to provide supports for foster care pupils aligned with certain population priorities. The bill would require each foster youth services program to establish a local interagency Executive Advisory Council, as provided.

(3)Existing law requires the Superintendent, by February 15 of each even-numbered year, to report to the Legislature and the Governor on the foster children services provided by school districts, as specified, and requires each school district providing foster children services to report to the Superintendent, by January 1 of each even-numbered year, any information the Superintendent may require for purposes of preparing the report.

This bill would instead require each county office of education and consortium of county offices of education providing a foster youth services coordinating program to report to the Superintendent, by May 15 of each even-numbered year, any information the Superintendent may require and that is accessible to the foster youth services coordinating program for purposes of preparing the report that would instead be submitted to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature and the Governor by July 1 of each even-numbered year. The bill would require the report to include different information, including aggregate educational outcome data, as specified.

(4)Existing law provides that any school district which provides educational services for foster children pursuant to the provisions above shall receive funding in any fiscal year for those services only by such sums as may be specifically appropriated by the annual Budget Act of the Legislature for that fiscal year for support of those school-centered foster children services which provide program effectiveness and potential cost savings to the state.

This bill would repeal those provisions and would instead provide that the Foster Youth Services Coordinating Program shall only be operative if funding is provided for its purposes in the annual Budget Act or another enacted statute.

(5)This bill would authorize a school district that determines that it is unable to provide needed tutoring, mentoring, and counseling to enter into a temporary agreement with the foster youth services coordinating program to provide those services, as specified.

(6)This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.