GOVERNOR'S VETO

GV Bill Id:AB 258

Author:(Jones-Sawyer)

As Enrolled Ver:September 16, 2019

2/3 vote

SUMMARY:

Establishes the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program to increase in-school support services to pupils by appropriating funding from the Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment (YEPEIT) Account.

The Senate Amendments:

1. Require the lead agency to give consideration to planning grants that include collaboration with local mental and behavioral health and welfare departments.
2. Add requirements to the grant application process.
3. Add reporting requirements for grantees: the identification of all entities, including subcontractors, the amount of grant funds provided, the number of pupils receiving services, and a general description of the services provided.

Governor's Veto Message:

This bill would authorize the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to redirect cannabis tax funds generated under Proposition 64 to in-school support services grant for local educational agencies, administered by the California Department of Education (CDE).

I support increased access to mental health prevention, early intervention, and support programs in schools, which is why I worked with the Legislature to provide an additional $50 million for those programs.

While well intentioned, this bill, however, attempts to change the fund allocation process specified by Proposition 64. DHCS has already directed these funds toward expanding access to child care, which is one of our shared priorities and a commitment reflected in this year's budget deal. Additionally, Proposition 64 does not authorize the Legislature to modify the fund allocation process by July 1, 2028.

COMMENTS:

California lags in providing social and emotional support to pupils. According to the CDE, 29% of California school districts have no counseling programs at all. When counseling programs exist, counselors are often asked to add administrative duties such as testing, supervising, and class scheduling. The ratio of students per counselor in this state averages 945 to 1, compared to the national average of 477 to 1, ranking California last in the nation.

As of 2016-17, there were 2,630 credentialed school nurses in California. This clearly fails to meet the threshold of one nurse per school as there are more than 10,000 public K-12 schools in California. Data from the Lucille Packard Foundation suggests that the nurse to pupil ratio in California schools is 2,784 to 1.

According to CDE data for 2016-17, there were 5,932 school psychologists and 687 social workers employed in California schools. The Lucille Packard Foundation, citing 2015 data, notes that the ratio for school psychologists is 1,265 to 1 and for social workers is 12,870 to 1.

Clearly, California lacks sufficient numbers of trained personnel in our schools to meet the social and emotional needs of over six million pupils.

According to the Author:

"The need for supportive services at schools has long been recognized, and recent data shows us the support staff to student ratios remain at troubling levels. School-based services allow for the treatment of immediate student needs throughout the school day and can play a critical role in connecting students and their families with other community health services. Healthy students with continuous access to supportive services perform better in school and have better attendance rates. Our students, families, schools and communities deserve a robust student health system as provided by this bill."

Arguments in Support:

According to Children Now, "It has long been known that there is a great need for supportive services at schools and recent data indicates support staff to student ratios continue at alarming levels. School-based services allow for the treatment of immediate student needs during the school day and can play a critical part in linking students and their families with other community health services. Healthy students with continued access to quality supportive services perform better in school and have better attendance rates. AB 258 would be instrumental in ensuring that students, families, schools and communities have access to a quality student health system."

Arguments in Opposition:

The County Behavioral Health Directors Association states, "We do not believe the grant program, as currently proposed, would be a sound investment in preventing and reducing harms from substance use among youth. Operational grant funding would be used to pay for additional school health professionals. However, these professionals are unlikely to have any specialized training or experience with the prevention and education or referrals skills necessary to identify and address substance use disorder (SUD) in youth populations. By failing to establish policies that would expand the SUD workforce and leverage existing community and state resources, AB 258 would create fiscal and programmatic inefficiencies and miss key opportunities to improve coordination of care between schools and communities. As such, AB 258 fall short of furthering the intent of the Act."

FISCAL COMMENTS:

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:

1. By specifying that the source of the grants is an appropriation from the YEPEIT Account (Proposition 64), this bill could result in significant pressure on those funds and divert them away from other purposes authorized by the initiative. A precise amount is unknown as the bill does not place a limit on the amount or duration of the grants, but it could be in the tens of millions of dollars each year.
2. Local educational agencies (LEAs) would incur local costs to provide $1 for every $4 of grant funding that is received. A precise amount would depend on the amount of funds provided for the program but it could be in the millions of dollars each year. However, the bill permits the CDE to waive the match requirement upon verifying that the LEA made a substantial effort to secure a match but was unable to secure the required matching funds.
3. There would also be additional General Fund costs, potentially in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, for the CDE to administer the grant program.

VOTES:

ASM EDUCATION: 6-0-0

YES: O'Donnell, Kiley, Kalra, McCarty, Smith, Weber

ASM HEALTH: 15-0-0

YES: Wood, Mayes, Aguiar-Curry, Bigelow, Bonta, Burke, Carrillo, Flora, Limón, McCarty, Nazarian, Ramos, Rodriguez, Santiago, Waldron

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 18-0-0

YES: Gonzalez, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonta, Brough, Calderon, Carrillo, Chau, Diep, Eggman, Fong, Gabriel, Eduardo Garcia, Maienschein, Obernolte, Petrie-Norris, Quirk, Robert Rivas

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0-2

YES: Aguiar-Curry, Arambula, Bauer-Kahan, Berman, Bigelow, Bloom, Boerner Horvath, Bonta, Brough, Burke, Calderon, Carrillo, Cervantes, Chau, Chen, Chiu, Choi, Chu, Cooper, Cunningham, Dahle, Daly, Diep, Eggman, Flora, Fong, Frazier, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Gipson, Gloria, Gonzalez, Gray, Grayson, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Kamlager-Dove, Kiley, Lackey, Levine, Limón, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Obernolte, Patterson, Petrie-Norris, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Salas, Santiago, Smith, Mark Stone, Ting, Voepel, Waldron, Weber, Wicks, Wood, Rendon

ABS, ABST OR NV: Cooley, Eduardo Garcia

SENATE FLOOR: 40-0-0

YES: Allen, Archuleta, Atkins, Bates, Beall, Borgeas, Bradford, Caballero, Chang, Dahle, Dodd, Durazo, Galgiani, Glazer, Lena Gonzalez, Grove, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Hurtado, Jackson, Jones, Leyva, McGuire, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach, Morrell, Nielsen, Pan, Portantino, Roth, Rubio, Skinner, Stern, Stone, Umberg, Wieckowski, Wiener, Wilk

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0-0

YES: Aguiar-Curry, Arambula, Bauer-Kahan, Berman, Bigelow, Bloom, Boerner Horvath, Bonta, Brough, Burke, Calderon, Carrillo, Cervantes, Chau, Chen, Chiu, Choi, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Cunningham, Daly, Diep, Eggman, Flora, Fong, Frazier, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gloria, Gonzalez, Gray, Grayson, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Kamlager-Dove, Kiley, Lackey, Levine, Limón, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Patterson, Petrie-Norris, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Salas, Santiago, Smith, Mark Stone, Ting, Voepel, Waldron, Weber, Wicks, Wood, Rendon

UPDATED:

VERSION: September 16, 2019

CONSULTANT: Debbie Look / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN: 0002564

CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS

CSA1 Bill Id:AB 258

Author:(Jones-Sawyer)

As Amended Ver:September 6, 2019

Majority vote

SUMMARY:

Establishes the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program to increase in-school support services to pupils by appropriating funding from the Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment (YEPEIT) Account.

The Senate Amendments:

1. Require the lead agency to give consideration to planning grants that include collaboration with local mental and behavioral health and welfare departments.
2. Add requirements to the grant application process.
3. Add reporting requirements for grantees: the identification of all entities, including subcontractors, the amount of grant funds provided, the number of pupils receiving services, and a general description of the services provided.

COMMENTS:

California lags in providing social and emotional support to pupils. According to the CDE, 29% of California school districts have no counseling programs at all. When counseling programs exist, counselors are often asked to add administrative duties such as testing, supervising, and class scheduling. The ratio of students per counselor in this state averages 945 to 1, compared to the national average of 477 to 1, ranking California last in the nation.

As of 2016-17, there were 2,630 credentialed school nurses in California. This clearly fails to meet the threshold of one nurse per school as there are more than 10,000 public K-12 schools in California. Data from the Lucille Packard Foundation suggests that the nurse to pupil ratio in California schools is 2,784 to 1.

According to CDE data for 2016-17, there were 5,932 school psychologists and 687 social workers employed in California schools. The Lucille Packard Foundation, citing 2015 data, notes that the ratio for school psychologists is 1,265 to 1 and for social workers is 12,870 to 1.

Clearly, California lacks sufficient numbers of trained personnel in our schools to meet the social and emotional needs of over six million pupils.

According to the Author:

"The need for supportive services at schools has long been recognized, and recent data shows us the support staff to student ratios remain at troubling levels. School-based services allow for the treatment of immediate student needs throughout the school day and can play a critical role in connecting students and their families with other community health services. Healthy students with continuous access to supportive services perform better in school and have better attendance rates. Our students, families, schools and communities deserve a robust student health system as provided by this bill."

Arguments in Support:

According to Children Now, "It has long been known that there is a great need for supportive services at schools and recent data indicates support staff to student ratios continue at alarming levels. School-based services allow for the treatment of immediate student needs during the school day and can play a critical part in linking students and their families with other community health services. Healthy students with continued access to quality supportive services perform better in school and have better attendance rates. AB 258 would be instrumental in ensuring that students, families, schools and communities have access to a quality student health system."

Arguments in Opposition:

The County Behavioral Health Directors Association states, "We do not believe the grant program, as currently proposed, would be a sound investment in preventing and reducing harms from substance use among youth. Operational grant funding would be used to pay for additional school health professionals. However, these professionals are unlikely to have any specialized training or experience with the prevention and education or referrals skills necessary to identify and address substance use disorder (SUD) in youth populations. By failing to establish policies that would expand the SUD workforce and leverage existing community and state resources, AB 258 would create fiscal and programmatic inefficiencies and miss key opportunities to improve coordination of care between schools and communities. As such, AB 258 fall short of furthering the intent of the Act."

FISCAL COMMENTS:

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:

1. By specifying that the source of the grants is an appropriation from the YEPEIT Account (Proposition 64), this bill could result in significant pressure on those funds and divert them away from other purposes authorized by the initiative. A precise amount is unknown as the bill does not place a limit on the amount or duration of the grants, but it could be in the tens of millions of dollars each year.
2. Local educational agencies (LEAs) would incur local costs to provide $1 for every $4 of grant funding that is received. A precise amount would depend on the amount of funds provided for the program but it could be in the millions of dollars each year. However, the bill permits the California Department of Education (CDE) to waive the match requirement upon verifying that the LEA made a substantial effort to secure a match but was unable to secure the required matching funds.
3. There would also be additional General Fund costs, potentially in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, for the CDE to administer the grant program.

VOTES:

ASM EDUCATION: 6-0-0

YES: O'Donnell, Kiley, Kalra, McCarty, Smith, Weber

ASM HEALTH: 15-0-0

YES: Wood, Mayes, Aguiar-Curry, Bigelow, Bonta, Burke, Carrillo, Flora, Limón, McCarty, Nazarian, Ramos, Rodriguez, Santiago, Waldron

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 18-0-0

YES: Gonzalez, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonta, Brough, Calderon, Carrillo, Chau, Diep, Eggman, Fong, Gabriel, Eduardo Garcia, Maienschein, Obernolte, Petrie-Norris, Quirk, Robert Rivas

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0-2

YES: Aguiar-Curry, Arambula, Bauer-Kahan, Berman, Bigelow, Bloom, Boerner Horvath, Bonta, Brough, Burke, Calderon, Carrillo, Cervantes, Chau, Chen, Chiu, Choi, Chu, Cooper, Cunningham, Dahle, Daly, Diep, Eggman, Flora, Fong, Frazier, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Gipson, Gloria, Gonzalez, Gray, Grayson, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Kamlager-Dove, Kiley, Lackey, Levine, Limón, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Obernolte, Patterson, Petrie‑Norris, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Salas, Santiago, Smith, Mark Stone, Ting, Voepel, Waldron, Weber, Wicks, Wood, Rendon

ABS, ABST OR NV: Cooley, Eduardo Garcia

SENATE FLOOR: 40-0-0

YES: Allen, Archuleta, Atkins, Bates, Beall, Borgeas, Bradford, Caballero, Chang, Dahle, Dodd, Durazo, Galgiani, Glazer, Lena Gonzalez, Grove, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Hurtado, Jackson, Jones, Leyva, McGuire, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach, Morrell, Nielsen, Pan, Portantino, Roth, Rubio, Skinner, Stern, Stone, Umberg, Wieckowski, Wiener, Wilk

UPDATED:

VERSION: September 6, 2019

CONSULTANT: Debbie Look / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN: 0002276

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: AB 258

Author: Jones-Sawyer (D)

Amended: 9/6/19 in Senate

Vote: 21

SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 6-0, 7/3/19

AYES: Leyva, Wilk, Chang, Durazo, Glazer, Pan

NO VOTE RECORDED: McGuire

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/30/19

AYES: Portantino, Bates, Bradford, Durazo, Hill, Jones, Wieckowski

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/23/19 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Pupil health: School-Based Pupil Support Services Program Act

SOURCE: California School Nurses Organization

California Teachers Association

DIGEST:

This bill establishes the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program to increase in-school support services to pupils by appropriating funding from the Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment (YEPEIT) Account.

Senate Floor Amendments of 9/6/19 require grant recipients to include the following additional information in their annual reporting to the lead agency, which is defined to be the California Department of Education: (1) the name and address of all entities, including subcontractors, providing services pursuant to the grants, (2) the amount of grant funds provided to each service provider and the number of pupils treated per provider, and (3) a general description of the services provided. The amendments also clarify that programs funded through grants will provide timely treatment of youth and their families through onsite county or school-employed staff, not potentially through onsite county of school-employed staff, and delete a reference to “professional” in reference to those staff.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Establishes a cannabis excise tax to be imposed upon purchasers of cannabis or cannabis products sold in this state at the rate of 15 percent of the average market price of any retail sale by a cannabis retailer. (Revenue & Taxation Code § 34011)
2. Establishes the California Cannabis Tax Fund in the State Treasury consisting of all taxes, interest, penalties, and other amounts collected and paid to the board pursuant to this part. This special trust fund established solely to carry out the purposes of the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (Act) and all revenues deposited into the Tax Fund, together with interest or dividends earned by the fund, are to be expended only in accordance with the provisions of the Act. (RTC § 34018)
3. Specifies that the State Controller is to disburse funds in the California Cannabis Tax Fund as follows:
   1. Reasonable costs incurred by various state agencies for carrying out specified duties associated with the Act.
   2. $10,000,000 to a public university or universities annually beginning in 2018-19 to 2028-29 to research the effect of the Act.
   3. $3,000,000 annually from 2018-19 through 2022-23 to the California Highway Patrol to adopt protocols to determine whether a driver is operating a vehicle while impaired by the use of cannabis or cannabis products.
   4. $10,000,000 annually in 2018-19, increasing to $50,000,000 in 2022-23 to the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development to administer a community reinvestments grants program.
   5. $2,000,000 annually to the University of California San Diego Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research.
   6. By July 15 of each year, beginning in 2018-19 the Controller will, after disbursing funds for the purposes identified in (a) through (e) above, disburse 60 percent of the remaining funds into the YEPEIT account to the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) for programs for youth designed to educate about, and to prevent, substance abuse disorders and to prevent harm from substance use. Requires the DHCS to enter into interagency agreements with the State Department of Public Health and the California Department of Education (CDE) to implement and administer these programs. Specifies that these programs may include, but are not limited to, the following:
      1. Prevention and early intervention services to recognize and reduce risks associated with substance use and the early signs of problematic use and substance abuse disorders.
      2. Grants to schools for student assistance programs designed to prevent and reduce substance abuse, and improve school retention and performance, by supporting students who are at risk of dropping out of school and promoting alternatives to suspension or expulsion.
      3. Grants to programs for outreach, education, and treatment for homeless youth and out-of-school youth with substance use disorders (SUDs).
      4. Access and linkage to care provided by county behavioral health programs for youth who have, or are at risk of developing, a SUD.
      5. Youth-focused SUD treatment programs, which utilize a two-generation approach with the capacity to treat youth and adults together.
      6. Programs to assist individuals, as well as families and friends, to reduce the stigma associated with substance use including seeking SUD services.
   7. Specifies that the funds identified in (f) above may also be utilized for workforce training and wage structures to increase the hiring pool of behavioral health staff with SUD prevention and treatment expertise, and for construction of community-based youth treatment facilities.
   8. Specifies that the DHCS may contract with each county behavioral health program for the provision of services and that the funds identified in (f) above will be allocated to counties based on demonstrated need, including the number of youth in the county, and the prevalence of SUDs among adults. (RTC § 34019)

This bill establishes the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program to increase in-school support services to pupils by appropriating funding from the YEPEIT Account. Specifically, this bill:

1. Declares the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would increase in-school support services to pupils in order to break down barriers to academic success.
2. Establishes the following definitions:
   1. “Evidence informed” means likely to deliver the intended outcomes, based on existing data, even if not specific to the proposed program.
   2. “LEA” or “local educational agency” means a school district, charter school, or county office of education.
   3. “Lead agency” means the CDE.
   4. “Qualifying school” includes a school in which 55 percent or more of the pupils enrolled are unduplicated pupils, as defined.
   5. “School health professional” means an individual holding a services credential with a specialization in pupil personnel services or a services credential with a specialization in health for a school nurse.
3. Appropriates funding from the YEPEIT to the DHCS, for purposes of awarding grants as established in this bill, for each fiscal year beginning with the 2019–20 fiscal year.
4. Requires funds that are not fully expended in a single fiscal year to be available for purposes of implementing this bill in any one of, or across one or more of, subsequent fiscal years.
5. Requires DHCS to transfer the funds appropriated in paragraph (3) above to the lead agency, upon determining that the grants to be awarded will be used for purposes for which the use of moneys from the YEPEIT account is authorized.
6. Requires all grants awarded under this bill to be matched by the participating LEA with $1 for each $4 awarded. Permits the CDE to waive the match requirement upon verifying that the LEA made a substantial effort to secure a match but was unable to secure the required matching funds.
7. Requires DHCS to establish an interagency agreement with the CDE to implement this bill in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the Act, (Proposition 64, as approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election), and in accordance with a determination that the use of the funds for these purposes is authorized. Permits CDE to integrate or redirect existing resources to perform its duties. These duties include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
   1. Developing, promoting, and implementing policy supporting the program.
   2. Reviewing grant applications to ensure the applications are either evidence based or evidence informed and awarding grants on that basis.
   3. Soliciting input regarding program policy and direction from individuals and entities with experience in the integration of children’s services.
   4. Ensuring that programs funded through grants are evidence based or evidence informed, and are effective in providing education and preventing substance abuse disorders and harm that may come from substance use.
   5. Ensuring that programs funded through grants provide accurate education to school employees, youth, and caregivers about substance use, mental health, and physical health.
   6. Ensuring that the programs funded through grants provide effective prevention as well as early intervention for behavioral health, and physical health issues.
   7. Ensuring that the programs funded through grants provide timely treatment of youth and their families and caregivers, potentially through onsite county or school-employed professional staff through onsite county or school-employed professional staff who can enroll pupils and their families in Medi-Cal, CalFresh, housing programs, and other programs that may be necessary.
   8. At the request of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, assisting the LEA or consortium in planning and implementing this program, including assisting with local technical assistance, and developing interagency collaboration.
8. Requires an LEA or a consortium of LEAs to first receive a planning grant that will pay the costs of planning and coordination activities, on behalf of one or more qualifying schools within the LEA, relating to programs that provide support services that will include programs designed to educate pupils and prevent SUD from affecting pupils and their families.
9. Requires the lead agency (defined as the CDE), in awarding planning grants, to give consideration to grants that include collaboration with existing local mental and behavioral health and welfare departments.
10. Requires a planning grant recipient to, at a minimum, comply with all of the following requirements:
    1. Implementing a school climate assessment that includes information from multiple stakeholders, including school staff, pupils, and families, that is used to inform the selection of strategies and behavioral health, as well as substance abuse, and interventions that reflect the culture and goals of the school.
    2. Committing to leverage school and community resources to offer comprehensive multi-tiered services on a sustainable basis, which may include community and faith-based organizations, foster care providers, juvenile and family courts, and others, who recognize the early signs of substance use, behavioral health issues, physical health, and other barriers to academic success.
    3. Developing strategies and practices that ensure parent engagement with the school and provide parents with access to resources that support their pupil’s educational success.
    4. Developing strategies and practices that prevent and reduce dropping out of school.
    5. Creating and maintaining a mechanism, described in writing, to coordinate services provided to individual pupils among school staff and school health center staff while maintaining the confidentiality and privacy of health information consistent with applicable state and federal law.
11. Authorizes, upon completion of the planning phase, the qualifying school, on behalf of which an LEA, or consortium of LEAs, has received a planning grant, to receive an operational grant once it has demonstrated readiness to begin operating a program or expanding existing support services programs. Establishes an unspecified maximum grant awarded by this bill for an unspecified amount of maximum years.
12. Requires an operational grant recipient to, at a minimum, comply with all of the following requirements:
    1. Increase the presence of school health professionals in its schools.
    2. Provide effective evidence-based or evidence-informed programs that prevent and reduce substance abuse among its pupils.
    3. Establish a coordination-of-services team that considers referrals, as appropriate, and oversees schoolwide efforts, and uses data-informed processes to identify struggling pupils who require early interventions and specifies that this team may include existing staff.
    4. Provide comprehensive professional development opportunities for school employees, including teachers and classified personnel, that enable school employees to recognize and respond to a child’s unique needs, including the ability to provide referrals to professionals in the school who can provide the needed support service.
    5. Ensure that a contract for services provided to an operational grants complies with applicable law.
13. Specifies that nothing in this bill be construed to require teachers to provide behavioral health services to pupils.
14. Requires each recipient of a grant under this bill to annually report all of the following to CDE:
    1. The number of school health professionals employed with grant funds.
    2. The ratio of newly hired health professionals to pupils, as well as the training the newly hired school health professionals received.
    3. Information indicating an increase in the level of evidence-based programming for pupil support services and the specific outcomes being addressed by each program that is funded.
    4. Changes in measurable pupil outcomes identified as goals of the program funded, including, but not necessarily limited to, reductions in dropout rates, reductions in substance abuse disorders, decreased rates of school suspensions and expulsions, or increased graduation rates, over the span of the operational grant.
    5. An evaluation of the impact of the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program. This includes a comparison of data from before the grant was awarded and after. This can include discipline referrals, attendance, suspensions, and other relevant data that can be used to assess impact.
    6. How the grantee coordinated with existing local prevention, early intervention, and treatment services, if available.
15. Requires the lead agency (defined as the CDE), by January 1, 2021, and at least annually thereafter, to provide to the Legislature, and make available publicly on the CDE’s Internet Web site, a report detailing both of the following:
    1. Budget information, including the funding allocated to each LEA and the specific outcomes addressed.
    2. Data measuring pupil outcomes, and year-over-year trend data that demonstrate the progress that has been attained in meeting target levels for each outcome.

Comments

1. Need for the bill. According to the author, “Currently, the K-12 public education system has a shortage of school support personnel. These professional staff include: school nurses, counselors, social workers, and psychologists. These personnel are the value added to the school community and with the services provided they play an important role in ensuring students are in a safe and supportive environment. Studies have proven that there is a connection between health and academic failure, with poor health affecting student’s attendance, grades, and ability to learn in school. Credentialed pupil services staff address a myriad of issues that impact a child’s ability to attend school on a regular basis and to function within the school environment.

“To adequately address the problems children bring to school, there has to be adequate staffing to address the issues that impact and in many cases prevent students from being successful in schools. To that end, the ratios for personnel (681:1 for counselors, 2502:1 for nurses, 1124:1 for psychologists and 9277:1 for social workers) must be addressed.”

2) Other states use cannabis tax revenues to support school services. The State of Colorado allocates a portion of revenues generated through taxes, licensing, and fees related to the sale of medical and retail cannabis to support school mental health, including substance use prevention and education. Initiatives funded include:

a) Colorado School Health Professional Grant to fund staff; professional development and training; and resources to develop and implement high quality behavioral health programming, including evidence-based programs that address substance use prevention and universal screening.

b) Colorado School Bullying Prevention Grant to fund the implementation of evidence-based bullying prevention practices; family and community involvement in school bullying prevention strategies; and adopting policies on bullying education and prevention.

c) Student Reengagement Grant to assist LEAs in providing educational services and supports to maintain student engagement and support student reengagement at the secondary level.

The State of Washington also allocates revenues generated through the legal sale of cannabis to community-based and school-based programs that address issues such as substance use prevention; school engagement; and physical and mental wellness.

3) California lags in providing social-emotional support to pupils. According to the CDE data for 2016-17, there were 5,932 school psychologists and 687 social workers employed in California schools. Further, 29 percent of California school districts have no counseling programs at all. The ratio of students per counselor in this state averages 945 to 1, compared to the national average of 477 to 1, ranking California last in the nation. As of 2016-17, there were only 2,630 credential school nurses, but there are more than 10,000 public K-12 schools in California.

Related/Prior Legislation

AB 8 (Chu, 2019) requires public schools, including charter schools, to have one mental health professional who is accessible on campus during school hours for every 600 pupils by December 31, 2024, and requires counties to provide Mental Health Services Act funding to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools for that purpose. AB 8 was referred to, but not heard in, the Senate Health Committee.

AB 396 (Eggman, 2019) would have, subject to appropriation, created the School Social Worker Pilot Program to fund social workers at eligible schools or charter schools in specified counties. AB 396 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 2471 (Thurmond, 2017-18 Session) was substantially similar to this bill. AB 2471 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:

• By specifying that the source of the grants is an appropriation from the YEPEIT Account (Proposition 64), this bill could result in significant pressure on those funds and divert them away from other purposes authorized by the initiative. A precise amount is unknown as the bill does not place a limit on the amount or duration of the grants, but it could be in the tens of millions of dollars each year.
• LEAs would incur local costs to provide $1 for every $4 of grant funding that is received. A precise amount would depend on the amount of funds provided for the program, but it could be in the tens of millions of dollars each year. However, this bill permits the CDE to waive the match requirement upon verifying that the LEA made a substantial effort to secure a match but was unable to secure the required matching funding.
• There would also be additional General Fund costs, potentially in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, for the CDE to administer the grant program.

SUPPORT: (Verified 9/6/19)

California School Nurses Organization (co-source)

California Teachers Association (co-source)

American Civil Liberties Union of California

BREATHE California

California Association of School Counselors

California Behavioral Health Planning Council

California State PTA

Fight Crime: Invest In Kids

Los Angeles Unified School District

Mission: Readiness

National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter

ReadyNation

OPPOSITION: (Verified 9/6/19)

California Association of Alcohol and Drug Program Executives

California Right to Life Committee, Inc.

California Society of Addiction Medicine

County Behavioral Health Directors Association

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/23/19

AYES: Aguiar-Curry, Arambula, Bauer-Kahan, Berman, Bigelow, Bloom, Boerner Horvath, Bonta, Brough, Burke, Calderon, Carrillo, Cervantes, Chau, Chen, Chiu, Choi, Chu, Cooper, Cunningham, Dahle, Daly, Diep, Eggman, Flora, Fong, Frazier, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Gipson, Gloria, Gonzalez, Gray, Grayson, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Kamlager-Dove, Kiley, Lackey, Levine, Limón, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Patterson, Petrie-Norris, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Salas, Santiago, Smith, Mark Stone, Ting, Voepel, Waldron, Weber, Wicks, Wood, Rendon

NO VOTE RECORDED: Cooley, Eduardo Garcia

Prepared by: Brandon Darnell / ED. /

9/9/19 18:35:02

**** END ****

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: AB 258

Author: Jones-Sawyer (D)

Amended: 8/30/19 in Senate

Vote: 21

SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 6-0, 7/3/19

AYES: Leyva, Wilk, Chang, Durazo, Glazer, Pan

NO VOTE RECORDED: McGuire

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/30/19

AYES: Portantino, Bates, Bradford, Durazo, Hill, Jones, Wieckowski

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/23/19 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Pupil health: School-Based Pupil Support Services Program Act

SOURCE: California School Nurses Organization

California Teachers Association

DIGEST:

This bill establishes the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program to increase in-school support services to pupils by appropriating funding from the Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment (YEPEIT) Account.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Establishes a cannabis excise tax to be imposed upon purchasers of cannabis or cannabis products sold in this state at the rate of 15 percent of the average market price of any retail sale by a cannabis retailer. (Revenue & Taxation Code § 34011)
2. Establishes the California Cannabis Tax Fund in the State Treasury consisting of all taxes, interest, penalties, and other amounts collected and paid to the board pursuant to this part. This special trust fund established solely to carry out the purposes of the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act and all revenues deposited into the Tax Fund, together with interest or dividends earned by the fund, are to be expended only in accordance with the provisions of the Act. (RTC § 34018)
3. Specifies that the State Controller is to disburse funds in the California Cannabis Tax Fund as follows:
   1. Reasonable costs incurred by various state agencies for carrying out specified duties associated with the Act.
   2. $10,000,000 to a public university or universities annually beginning in 2018-19 to 2028-29 to research the effect of the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act.
   3. $3,000,000 annually from 2018-19 through 2022-23 to the California Highway Patrol to adopt protocols to determine whether a driver is operating a vehicle while impaired by the use of cannabis or cannabis products.
   4. $10,000,000 annually in 2018-19, increasing to $50,000,000 in 2022-23 to the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development to administer a community reinvestments grants program.
   5. $2,000,000 annually to the University of California San Diego Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research.
   6. By July 15 of each year, beginning in 2018-19 the Controller will, after disbursing funds for the purposes identified in (a) through (e) above, disburse 60 percent of the remaining funds into the YEPEIT account to the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) for programs for youth designed to educate about, and to prevent, substance abuse disorders and to prevent harm from substance use. Requires the DHCS to enter into interagency agreements with the State Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the California Department of Education (CDE) to implement and administer these programs. Specifies that these programs may include, but are not limited to, the following:
      1. Prevention and early intervention services to recognize and reduce risks associated with substance use and the early signs of problematic use and substance abuse disorders.
      2. iGrants to schools for student assistance programs designed to prevent and reduce substance abuse, and improve school retention and performance, by supporting students who are at risk of dropping out of school and promoting alternatives to suspension or expulsion.
      3. Grants to programs for outreach, education, and treatment for homeless youth and out-of-school youth with substance use disorders.
      4. Access and linkage to care provided by county behavioral health programs for youth who have, or are at risk of developing, a substance use disorder.
      5. Youth-focused substance use disorder treatment programs, which utilize a two-generation approach with the capacity to treat youth and adults together.
      6. Programs to assist individuals, as well as families and friends, to reduce the stigma associated with substance use including seeking substance use disorder services.
   7. Specifies that the funds identified in (f) above may also be utilized for workforce training and wage structures to increase the hiring pool of behavioral health staff with substance use disorder prevention and treatment expertise, and for construction of community-based youth treatment facilities.
   8. Specifies that the DHCS may contract with each county behavioral health program for the provision of services and that the funds identified in (f) above will be allocated to counties based on demonstrated need, including the number of youth in the county, and the prevalence of substance use disorders among adults. (RTC § 34019)

This bill establishes the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program to increase in-school support services to pupils by appropriating funding from the YEPEIT Account. Specifically, this bill:

1. Declares the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would increase in-school support services to pupils in order to break down barriers to academic success.
2. Establishes the following definitions:
   1. “Evidence informed” means likely to deliver the intended outcomes, based on existing data, even if not specific to the proposed program.
   2. “LEA” or “local educational agency” means a school district, charter school, or county office of education.
   3. “Lead agency” means the CDE.
   4. “Qualifying school” includes a school in which 55 percent or more of the pupils enrolled are unduplicated pupils, as defined.
   5. “School health professional” means an individual holding a services credential with a specialization in pupil personnel services or a services credential with a specialization in health for a school nurse.
3. Appropriates funding from the YEPEIT to the DHCS, for purposes of awarding grants as established in this bill, for each fiscal year beginning with the 2019–20 fiscal year.
4. Requires funds that are not fully expended in a single fiscal year to be available for purposes of implementing this bill in any one of, or across one or more of, subsequent fiscal years.
5. Requires DHCS to transfer the funds appropriated in paragraph (3) above to the lead agency, upon determining that the grants to be awarded will be used for purposes for which the use of moneys from the YEPEIT account is authorized.
6. Requires all grants awarded under this bill to be matched by the participating LEA with $1 for each $4 awarded. Permits the CDE to waive the match requirement upon verifying that the LEA made a substantial effort to secure a match but was unable to secure the required matching funds.
7. Requires DHCS to establish an interagency agreement with the CDE to implement this bill in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act, (Proposition 64, as approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election), and in accordance with a determination that the use of the funds for these purposes is authorized. Permits CDE to integrate or redirect existing resources to perform its duties. These duties include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
   1. Developing, promoting, and implementing policy supporting the program.
   2. Reviewing grant applications to ensure the applications are either evidence based or evidence informed and awarding grants on that basis.
   3. Soliciting input regarding program policy and direction from individuals and entities with experience in the integration of children’s services.
   4. Ensuring that programs funded through grants are evidence based or evidence informed, and are effective in providing education and preventing substance abuse disorders and harm that may come from substance use.
   5. Ensuring that programs funded through grants provide accurate education to school employees, youth, and caregivers about substance use, mental health, and physical health.
   6. Ensuring that the programs funded through grants provide effective prevention as well as early intervention for behavioral health, and physical health issues.
   7. Ensuring that the programs funded through grants provide timely treatment of youth and their families and caregivers, potentially through onsite county or school-employed professional staff through onsite county or school-employed professional staff who can enroll pupils and their families in Medi-Cal, CalFresh, housing programs, and other programs that may be necessary.
   8. At the request of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), assisting the LEA or consortium in planning and implementing this program, including assisting with local technical assistance, and developing interagency collaboration.
8. Requires an LEA or a consortium of LEAs to first receive a planning grant that will pay the costs of planning and coordination activities, on behalf of one or more qualifying schools within the LEA, relating to programs that provide support services that will include programs designed to educate pupils and prevent substance use disorders (SUD) from affecting pupils and their families.
9. Requires the lead agency (defined as the CDE), in awarding planning grants, to give consideration to grants that include collaboration with existing local mental and behavioral health and welfare departments.
10. Requires a planning grant recipient to, at a minimum, comply with all of the following requirements:
    1. Implementing a school climate assessment that includes information from multiple stakeholders, including school staff, pupils, and families, that is used to inform the selection of strategies and behavioral health, as well as substance abuse, and interventions that reflect the culture and goals of the school.
    2. Committing to leverage school and community resources to offer comprehensive multi-tiered services on a sustainable basis, which may include community and faith-based organizations, foster care providers, juvenile and family courts, and others, who recognize the early signs of substance use, behavioral health issues, physical health, and other barriers to academic success.
    3. Developing strategies and practices that ensure parent engagement with the school and provide parents with access to resources that support their pupil’s educational success.
    4. Developing strategies and practices that prevent and reduce dropping out of school.
    5. Creating and maintaining a mechanism, described in writing, to coordinate services provided to individual pupils among school staff and school health center staff while maintaining the confidentiality and privacy of health information consistent with applicable state and federal law.
11. Authorizes, upon completion of the planning phase, the qualifying school, on behalf of which an LEA, or consortium of LEAs, has received a planning grant, to receive an operational grant once it has demonstrated readiness to begin operating a program or expanding existing support services programs. Establishes an unspecified maximum grant awarded by this bill for an unspecified amount of maximum years.
12. Requires an operational grant recipient to, at a minimum, comply with all of the following requirements:
    1. Increase the presence of school health professionals in its schools.
    2. Provide effective evidence-based or evidence-informed programs that prevent and reduce substance abuse among its pupils.
    3. Establish a coordination-of-services team that considers referrals, as appropriate, and oversees schoolwide efforts, and uses data-informed processes to identify struggling pupils who require early interventions and specifies that this team may include existing staff.
    4. Provide comprehensive professional development opportunities for school employees, including teachers and classified personnel, that enable school employees to recognize and respond to a child’s unique needs, including the ability to provide referrals to professionals in the school who can provide the needed support service.
    5. Ensure that a contract for services provided to an operational grants complies with applicable law.
13. Specifies that nothing in this bill be construed to require teachers to provide behavioral health services to pupils.
14. Requires each recipient of a grant under this bill to annually report all of the following to CDE:
    1. The number of school health professionals employed with grant funds.
    2. The ratio of newly hired health professionals to pupils, as well as the training the newly hired school health professionals received.
    3. Information indicating an increase in the level of evidence-based programming for pupil support services and the specific outcomes being addressed by each program that is funded.
    4. Changes in measurable pupil outcomes identified as goals of the program funded, including, but not necessarily limited to, reductions in dropout rates, reductions in substance abuse disorders, decreased rates of school suspensions and expulsions, or increased graduation rates, over the span of the operational grant.
    5. An evaluation of the impact of the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program. This includes a comparison of data from before the grant was awarded and after. This can include discipline referrals, attendance, suspensions, and other relevant data that can be used to assess impact.
    6. How the grantee coordinated with existing local prevention, early intervention, and treatment services, if available.
15. Requires the lead agency (defined as the CDE), by January 1, 2021, and at least annually thereafter, to provide to the Legislature, and make available publicly on the CDE’s Internet Web site, a report detailing both of the following:
    1. Budget information, including the funding allocated to each LEA and the specific outcomes addressed.
    2. Data measuring pupil outcomes, and year-over-year trend data that demonstrate the progress that has been attained in meeting target levels for each outcome.

Comments

1. Need for the bill. According to the author, “Currently, the K-12 public education system has a shortage of school support personnel. These professional staff include: school nurses, counselors, social workers, and psychologists. These personnel are the value added to the school community and with the services provided they play an important role in ensuring students are in a safe and supportive environment. Studies have proven that there is a connection between health and academic failure, with poor health affecting student’s attendance, grades, and ability to learn in school. Credentialed pupil services staff address a myriad of issues that impact a child’s ability to attend school on a regular basis and to function within the school environment.

“To adequately address the problems children bring to school, there has to be adequate staffing to address the issues that impact and in many cases prevent students from being successful in schools. To that end, the ratios for personnel (681:1 for counselors, 2502:1 for nurses, 1124:1 for psychologists and 9277:1 for social workers) must be addressed.”

2) Other states use cannabis tax revenues to support school services. The State of Colorado allocates a portion of revenues generated through taxes, licensing, and fees related to the sale of medical and retail cannabis to support school mental health, including substance use prevention and education. Initiatives funded include:

a) Colorado School Health Professional Grant to fund staff; professional development and training; and resources to develop and implement high quality behavioral health programming, including evidence-based programs that address substance use prevention and universal screening.

b) Colorado School Bullying Prevention Grant to fund the implementation of evidence-based bullying prevention practices; family and community involvement in school bullying prevention strategies; and adopting policies on bullying education and prevention.

c) Student Reengagement Grant to assist LEAs in providing educational services and supports to maintain student engagement and support student reengagement at the secondary level.

The State of Washington also allocates revenues generated through the legal sale of cannabis to community-based and school-based programs that address issues such as substance use prevention; school engagement; and physical and mental wellness.

3) California lags in providing social-emotional support to pupils. According to the CDE data for 2016-17, there were 5,932 school psychologists and 687 social workers employed in California schools. Further, 29 percent of California school districts have no counseling programs at all. The ratio of students per counselor in this state averages 945 to 1, compared to the national average of 477 to 1, ranking California last in the nation. As of 2016-17, there were only 2,630 credential school nurses, but there are more than 10,000 public K-12 schools in California.

Related/Prior Legislation

AB 8 (Chu, 2019) requires public schools, including charter schools, to have one mental health professional who is accessible on campus during school hours for every 600 pupils by December 31, 2024, and requires counties to provide Mental Health Services Act funding to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools for that purpose. AB 8 was referred to, but not heard in, the Senate Health Committee.

AB 396 (Eggman, 2019) would have, subject to appropriation, created the School Social Worker Pilot Program to fund social workers at eligible schools or charter schools in specified counties. AB 396 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 2471 (Thurmond, 2017-18 Session) was substantially similar to this bill. AB 2471 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:

• By specifying that the source of the grants is an appropriation from the YEPEIT Account (Proposition 64), this bill could result in significant pressure on those funds and divert them away from other purposes authorized by the initiative. A precise amount is unknown as the bill does not place a limit on the amount or duration of the grants, but it could be in the tens of millions of dollars each year.
• LEAs would incur local costs to provide $1 for every $4 of grant funding that is received. A precise amount would depend on the amount of funds provided for the program, but it could be in the tens of millions of dollars each year. However, the bill permits the CDE to waive the match requirement upon verifying that the LEA made a substantial effort to secure a match but was unable to secure the required matching funding.
• There would also be additional General Fund costs, potentially in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, for the CDE to administer the grant program.

SUPPORT: (Verified 8/29/19)

California School Nurses Organization (co-source)

California Teachers Association (co-source)

American Civil Liberties Union of California

BREATHE California

California Association of School Counselors

California Behavioral Health Planning Council

California State PTA

Fight Crime: Invest In Kids

Los Angeles Unified School District

Mission: Readiness

National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter

ReadyNation

OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/29/19)

California Association of Alcohol and Drug Program Executives

California Right to Life Committee, Inc.

California Society of Addiction Medicine

County Behavioral Health Directors Association

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/23/19

AYES: Aguiar-Curry, Arambula, Bauer-Kahan, Berman, Bigelow, Bloom, Boerner Horvath, Bonta, Brough, Burke, Calderon, Carrillo, Cervantes, Chau, Chen, Chiu, Choi, Chu, Cooper, Cunningham, Dahle, Daly, Diep, Eggman, Flora, Fong, Frazier, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Gipson, Gloria, Gonzalez, Gray, Grayson, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Kamlager-Dove, Kiley, Lackey, Levine, Limón, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Patterson, Petrie-Norris, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Salas, Santiago, Smith, Mark Stone, Ting, Voepel, Waldron, Weber, Wicks, Wood, Rendon

NO VOTE RECORDED: Cooley, Eduardo Garcia

Prepared by: Brandon Darnell / ED. /

9/3/19 11:19:57

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Senator Anthony Portantino, Chair

2019 - 2020 Regular Session

AB 258 (Jones-Sawyer) - Pupil health: School-Based Pupil Support Services Program Act

Bill Summary:

This bill establishes the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program to increase in-school support services to pupils by appropriating funding from the Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment (YEPEIT) Account.

*********** ANALYSIS ADDENDUM – SUSPENSE FILE ***********

The following information is revised to reflect amendments

adopted by the committee on August 30, 2019

Fiscal Impact:

• By specifying that the source of the grants is an appropriation from the YEPEIT Account (Proposition 64), this bill could result in significant pressure on those funds and divert them away from other purposes authorized by the initiative. A precise amount is unknown as the bill does not place a limit on the amount or duration of the grants, but it could be in the tens of millions of dollars each year.
• Local educational agencies (LEAs) would incur local costs to provide $1 for every $4 of grant funding that is received. A precise amount would depend on the amount of funds provided for the program but it could be in the millions of dollars each year. However, the bill permits the California Department of Education (CDE) to waive the match requirement upon verifying that the LEA made a substantial effort to secure a match but was unable to secure the required matching funds.
• There would also be additional General Fund costs, potentially in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, for the CDE to administer the grant program.

Author Amendments:

Require the lead agency to give consideration to planning grants that include collaboration with local mental and behavioral health and welfare departments and add additional requirements to the grant application process, as specified.

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Anthony Portantino, Chair

2019 - 2020 Regular Session

AB 258 (Jones-Sawyer) - Pupil health: School-Based Pupil Support Services Program Act

Bill Summary:

This bill establishes the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program to increase in-school support services to pupils by appropriating funding from the Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment (YEPEIT) Account.

Fiscal Impact:

• By specifying that the source of the grants is an appropriation from the YEPEIT Account (Proposition 64), this bill could result in significant pressure on those funds and divert them away from other purposes authorized by the initiative. A precise amount is unknown as the bill does not place a limit on the amount or duration of the grants, but it could be in the tens of millions of dollars each year.
• Local educational agencies (LEAs) would incur local costs to provide $1 for every $4 of grant funding that is received. A precise amount would depend on the amount of funds provided for the program but it could be in the millions of dollars each year. However, the bill permits the California Department of Education (CDE) to waive the match requirement upon verifying that the LEA made a substantial effort to secure a match but was unable to secure the required matching funds.
• There would also be additional General Fund costs, potentially in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, for the CDE to administer the grant program.

Background:

The Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) was passed by the voters in November 2016. As a result of the passage of AUMA, adults, aged 21 years or older, are allowed to possess and use marijuana for recreational purposes. AUMA created two new taxes; a cultivation tax on marijuana plants and flowers and a 15 percent excise tax on the sale of all marijuana and marijuana products. Revenues collected from the new state excise tax and the cultivation tax on growing marijuana will be deposited in a new state account—the California Marijuana Tax Fund (Fund). Certain fines on businesses or individuals who violate regulations created by AUMA would also be deposited into the Fund. Monies in the Fund will first be used to pay back certain state agencies for any marijuana regulatory costs not covered by license fees. A portion of the monies will then be allocated as follows:

a) Sixty percent to the YEPEIT Account for youth programs including substance use disorder education, prevention, and treatment.

b) Twenty percent to clean up and prevent environmental damage resulting from the illegal growing of marijuana.

c) Twenty percent for programs designed to reduce driving under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs and a grant program designed to reduce any potential negative impacts on public health or safety resulting from the measure.

Proposed Law:

This bill appropriates funding from the YEPEIT to the DHCS, for purposes of awarding grants as established in this bill, for each fiscal year beginning with the 2019–20 fiscal year. The bill requires any funds that are not fully expended in a single fiscal year to be available for purposes of implementing this bill in any one of, or across one or more of, subsequent fiscal years.

This bill requires DHCS to transfer the funds appropriated to the CDE upon determining that the grants to be awarded will be used for purposes for which the use of moneys from the YEPEIT account is authorized.

This bill requires all grants awarded under this bill to be matched by the participating LEA with one dollar ($1) for each four dollars ($4) awarded. The bill permits the CDE to waive the match requirement upon verifying that the LEA made a substantial effort to secure a match but was unable to secure the required matching funds.

This bill requires DHCS to establish an interagency agreement with the CDE to implement this bill in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act, (Proposition 64, as approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election), and in accordance with a determination that the use of the funds for these purposes is authorized. The bill permits CDE to integrate or redirect existing resources to perform its duties, as specified.

This bill requires an LEA or a consortium of LEAs to first receive a planning grant that will pay the costs of planning and coordination activities, on behalf of one or more qualifying schools within the LEA, relating to programs that provide support services that will include programs designed to educate pupils and prevent substance use disorders (SUD) from affecting pupils and their families at or near the school.

This bill requires a recipient of a planning grant under this bill to, at a minimum, comply with all of the following requirements:

a) Implementing a school climate assessment that includes information from multiple stakeholders, including school staff, pupils, and families, that is used to inform the selection of strategies and behavioral health, as well as substance abuse, and interventions that reflect the culture and goals of the school.

b) Committing to leverage school and community resources to offer comprehensive multi-tiered services on a sustainable basis, which can include community and faith-based organizations, foster care providers, juvenile and family courts, and others, who recognize the early signs of substance use, behavioral health issues, physical health, and other barriers to academic success.

c) Developing strategies and practices that ensure parent engagement with the school and provide parents with access to resources that support their children’s educational success.

d) Developing strategies and practices that prevent and reduce dropping out of school.

e) Creating and maintaining a mechanism, described in writing, to coordinate services provided to individual pupils among school staff and school health center staff while maintaining the confidentiality and privacy of health information consistent with applicable state and federal law.

This bill authorizes, upon completion of the planning phase, the qualifying school, on behalf of which an LEA, or consortium of LEAs, has received a planning grant, to receive an operational grant once it has demonstrated readiness to begin operation of a program or to expand existing support services programs. The bill also establishes an unspecified maximum grant awarded by this bill for an unspecified amount of maximum years.

This bill requires a recipient of an operational grant to, at a minimum, comply with all of the following requirements:

a) Increase the presence of school health professionals in its schools.

b) Provide effective evidence-based or evidence-informed programs that prevent and reduce substance abuse among its pupils.

c) Establish a coordination-of-services team that considers referrals for services, oversees schoolwide efforts, and uses data-informed processes to identify struggling pupils who require early interventions and specifies that this team may include existing staff.

d) Provide comprehensive professional development opportunities for school employees, including teachers that enable school employees to recognize and respond to a child’s unique needs, including the ability to provide referrals to professionals in the school who can provide the needed support service.

This bill specifies that nothing in this bill be construed to require teachers to provide mental health services to pupils, and requires each recipient of a grant under this bill to annually report each of the following to CDE:

a) The number of school health professionals employed with grant funds.

b) The ratio of newly hired health professionals to pupils.

c) Information indicating an increase in the level of evidence-based programming for pupil support services and the specific outcomes being addressed by each program that is funded.

d) Changes in measurable outcomes identified as goals of the program funded, including, but not necessarily limited to, reductions in dropout rates, reductions in substance abuse disorders, decreased rates of school suspensions and expulsions, or increased graduation rates, over the span of the operational grant.

e) An evaluation of the impact of the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program. This includes a comparison of data from before the grant was awarded and after. This can include discipline referrals, attendance, suspensions, and other relevant data that can be used to assess impact.

This bill requires the lead agency (CDE), by January 1, 2021, and at least annually thereafter, to provide to the Legislature, and make available publicly on the CDE’s internet website, a report detailing both of the following:

a) Budget information, including the funding allocated to each agency and the specific outcomes addressed.

b) Data measuring outcomes, and year-over-year trend data that demonstrate the progress that has been attained in meeting target levels for each outcome.

Related Legislation:

AB 8 (Chu) requires public schools to have one mental health professional who is accessible on campus during school hours for every 600 students by December 31, 2024, and requires counties to provide Mental Health Services Act funding to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools for that purpose. AB 8 will be heard by this Committee on August 19, 2019.

AB 1085 (McCarty) encourages After School Education and Safety programs, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers programs, and the 21st Century High School After School Safety and Enrichment for Teens programs to establish programs that are designed to educate about and prevent substance use disorders or to prevent harm from substance abuse. The bill also authorizes DHCS to consider selecting those programs for funding from the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act. AB 1085 is scheduled to be heard by this Committee on August 12, 2019.

AB 1098 (O’Donnell) requires the DHCS, in collaboration with specified state agencies, to convene a technical advisory committee to assist in establishing procedures for the implementation and administration of programs funded by cannabis tax funds aimed at providing substance abuse education and prevention programs targeted toward youth. AB 1098 is pending in this Committee.

Staff Comments:

The 2019 Budget Act includes a total of $143.3 million ongoing funds ($80.5 million Proposition 64, $50 million General Fund, and $12.8 million federal Child Care and Development Fund) to increase access for more than 9,400 children in the Alternative Payment Program and more than 3,000 children in the General Child Care Program. The $50 million General Fund is one-time and considered an acceleration of future cannabis revenues.

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Senator Connie Leyva, Chair

2019 - 2020 Regular

Bill No: Hearing Date: July 3, 2019

Subject:

SUMMARY

This bill establishes the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program to increase in-school support services to pupils by appropriating funding from the Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment (YEPEIT) Account.

BACKGROUND

1) Establishes effective January 1, 2018, a cannabis excise tax to be imposed upon purchasers of cannabis or cannabis products sold in this state at the rate of 15 percent of the average market price of any retail sale by a cannabis retailer. (Revenue & Taxation Code § 34011)

2) Establishes the California Cannabis Tax Fund in the State Treasury consisting of all taxes, interest, penalties, and other amounts collected and paid to the board pursuant to this part. This special trust fund established solely to carry out the purposes of the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act and all revenues deposited into the Tax Fund, together with interest or dividends earned by the fund, are to be expended only in accordance with the provisions of the Act. (RTC § 34018)

3) Specifies that the Controller is to disburse funds in the California Cannabis Tax Fund as follows:

a) Reasonable costs incurred by various state agencies for carrying out specified duties associated with the Act.

b) Ten million dollars ($10,000,000) to a public university or universities annually beginning in 2018-19 to 2028-29 to research the effect of the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act.

c) Three million dollars ($3,000,000) annually from 2018-19 through 2022-23 to the California Highway Patrol to adopt protocols to determine whether a driver is operating a vehicle while impaired by the use of cannabis or cannabis products.

d) Ten million dollars ($10,000,000) annually in 2018-19, increasing to fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) in 2022-23 to the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development to administer a community reinvestments grants program.

e) Two million dollars ($2,000,000) annually to the University of California San Diego Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research.

f) By July 15 of each year, beginning in 2018-19 the Controller will, after disbursing funds for the purposes identified in (a) through (e) above, disburse 60 percent of the remaining funds into the YEPEIT account to DHCS for programs for youth designed to educate about, and to prevent, substance abuse disorders and to prevent harm from substance use. Requires the DHCS to enter into interagency agreements with the State Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the California Department of Education (CDE) to implement and administer these programs. Specifies that these programs may include, but are not limited to, the following:

i) Prevention and early intervention services to recognize and reduce risks associated with substance use and the early signs of problematic use and substance abuse disorders.

ii) Grants to schools for student assistance programs designed to prevent and reduce substance abuse, and improve school retention and performance, by supporting students who are at risk of dropping out of school and promoting alternatives to suspension or expulsion.

iii) Grants to programs for outreach, education, and treatment for homeless youth and out-of-school youth with substance use disorders.

iv) Access and linkage to care provided by county behavioral health programs for youth who have, or are at risk of developing, a substance use disorder.

v) Youth-focused substance use disorder treatment programs, which utilize a two-generation approach with the capacity to treat youth and adults together.

vi) Programs to assist individuals, as well as families and friends, to reduce the stigma associated with substance use including seeking substance use disorder services.

g) Specifies that the funds identified in (f) above may also be utilized for workforce training and wage structures to increase the hiring pool of behavioral health staff with substance use disorder prevention and treatment expertise, and for construction of community-based youth treatment facilities.

h) Specifies that the DHCS may contract with each county behavioral health program for the provision of services and that the funds identified in (f) above will be allocated to counties based on demonstrated need, including the number of youth in the county, and the prevalence of substance use disorders among adults. (RTC § 34019)

4) Requires a school to include in its School Accountability Report Card, the availability of qualified personnel to provide counseling and other pupil support services, including the ratio of academic counselors per pupil.

(Education Code § 33126)

5) Expresses the intent of the Legislature that the governing board of each school district and each county superintendent of schools maintain fundamental school health services at a level that is adequate to accomplish all of the following: preserve pupils’ ability to learn, fulfill existing state requirements and policies regarding pupils’ health, and contain health care costs through preventive programs and education. (EC § 49427)

6) Requires the governing board of a school district to give diligent care to the health and physical development of pupils, and authorizes the district to employ properly certified persons for the work. (EC § 49400)

7) Specifies that the minimum requirements for the services credential with a specialization in pupil personnel services are a baccalaureate degree or higher degree from an approved institution, a fifth year of study, and any specialized and professional preparation that the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) requires. The services credential with a specialization in pupil personnel services authorizes the holder to perform, at all grade levels, the pupil personnel service approved by the CTC as designated on the credential, which may include, but need not be limited to, school counseling, school psychology, child welfare and attendance services, and school social work. (EC § 44266)

8) Specifies that the minimum requirements for a services credential with a specialization in health for a school nurse are all of the following: a baccalaureate or higher degree from an accredited institution, a valid California license as a registered nurse, and one year of coursework beyond the baccalaureate degree in a program approved by the CTC. The services credential with a specialization in health for a school nurse authorizes the holder to perform, at grades 12 and below, the health services approved by the CTC designated on the credential. (EC § 44267.5)

ANALYSIS

This bill establishes the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program to increase in-school support services to pupils by appropriating funding from the Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment Account. Specifically, this bill:

1) Declares the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would increase in-school support services to pupils in order to break down barriers to academic success.

2) Establishes the following definitions:

a) “LEA” or “local educational agency” means a school district, charter school, or a county office of education.

b) “Lead agency” means the California Department of Education (CDE).

c) “Qualifying school” includes a school in which 55 percent or more of the pupils enrolled are unduplicated pupils, as defined.

d) “School health professional” means an individual holding a services credential with a specialization in pupil personnel services or a services credential with a specialization in health for a school nurse.

3) Appropriates funding from the YEPEIT to the DHCS, for purposes of awarding grants as established in this bill, for each fiscal year beginning with the 2019–20 fiscal year.

4) Requires any funds that are not fully expended in a single fiscal year to be available for purposes of implementing this bill in any one of, or across one or more of, subsequent fiscal years.

5) Requires DHCS to transfer the funds appropriated in paragraph (3) above to the lead agency, upon determining that the grants to be awarded will be used for purposes for which the use of moneys from the YEPEIT account is authorized.

6) Requires all grants awarded under this bill to be matched by the participating LEA with one dollar ($1) for each four dollars ($4) awarded. Permits the CDE to waive the match requirement upon verifying that the LEA made a substantial effort to secure a match but was unable to secure the required matching funds.

7) Requires DHCS to establish an interagency agreement with the CDE to implement this bill in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act, (Proposition 64, as approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election), and in accordance with a determination that the use of the funds for these purposes is authorized. Permits CDE to integrate or redirect existing resources to perform its duties. These duties include, but are not limited to, all of the following:

a) Developing, promoting, and implementing policy supporting the program.

b) Reviewing grant applications and awarding grants.

c) Soliciting input regarding program policy and direction from individuals and entities with experience in the integration of children’s services.

d) Ensuring that programs funded through grants are evidence based or evidence informed, and are effective in providing education and preventing substance abuse disorders and harm that may come from substance use.

e) Ensuring that programs funded through grants provide accurate education to school employees, youth, and caregivers about substance use, mental health stigma, and physical health.

f) Ensuring that the programs funded through grants provide effective prevention as well as early intervention of substance use, behavioral health issues, and physical health issues.

g) Ensuring that the programs funded through grants provide timely treatment of youth and their families and caregivers, as needed.

h) At the request of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), assisting the LEA or consortium in planning and implementing this program, including assisting with local technical assistance, and developing interagency collaboration.

8) Requires an LEA or a consortium of LEAs to first receive a planning grant that will pay the costs of planning and coordination activities, on behalf of one or more qualifying schools within the LEA, relating to programs that provide support services that will include programs designed to educate pupils and prevent substance use disorders (SUD) from affecting pupils and their families at or near the school.

9) Requires a recipient of a planning grant under this bill to, at a minimum, comply with all of the following requirements:

a) Implementing a school climate assessment that includes information from multiple stakeholders, including school staff, pupils, and families, that is used to inform the selection of strategies and behavioral health, as well as substance abuse, and interventions that reflect the culture and goals of the school.

b) Committing to leverage school and community resources to offer comprehensive multi-tiered services on a sustainable basis, which can include community and faith-based organizations, foster care providers, juvenile and family courts, and others, who recognize the early signs of substance use, behavioral health issues, physical health, and other barriers to academic success.

c) Developing strategies and practices that ensure parent engagement with the school and provide parents with access to resources that support their children’s educational success.

d) Developing strategies and practices that prevent and reduce dropping out of school.

e) Creating and maintaining a mechanism, described in writing, to coordinate services provided to individual pupils among school staff and school health center staff while maintaining the confidentiality and privacy of health information consistent with applicable state and federal law.

10) Authorizes, upon completion of the planning phase, the qualifying school, on behalf of which an LEA, or consortium of LEAs, has received a planning grant, to receive an operational grant once it has demonstrated readiness to begin operation of a program or to expand existing support services programs. Establishes an unspecified maximum grant awarded by this bill for an unspecified amount of maximum years.

11) Requires a recipient of an operational grant to, at a minimum, comply with all of the following requirements:

a) Increase the presence of school health professionals in its schools.

b) Provide effective evidence-based or evidence-informed programs that prevent and reduce substance abuse among its pupils.

c) Establish a coordination-of-services team that considers referrals for services, oversees schoolwide efforts, and uses data-informed processes to identify struggling pupils who require early interventions and specifies that this team may include existing staff.

d) Provide comprehensive professional development opportunities for school employees, including teachers that enable school employees to recognize and respond to a child’s unique needs, including the ability to provide referrals to professionals in the school who can provide the needed support service.

12) Specifies that nothing in this bill be construed to require teachers to provide mental health services to pupils.

13) Requires each recipient of a grant under this bill to annually report each of the following to CDE:

a) The number of school health professionals employed with grant funds.

b) The ratio of newly hired health professionals to pupils.

c) Information indicating an increase in the level of evidence-based programming for pupil support services and the specific outcomes being addressed by each program that is funded.

d) Changes in measurable outcomes identified as goals of the program funded, including, but not necessarily limited to, reductions in dropout rates, reductions in substance abuse disorders, decreased rates of school suspensions and expulsions, or increased graduation rates, over the span of the operational grant.

e) An evaluation of the impact of the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program. This includes a comparison of data from before the grant was awarded and after. This can include discipline referrals, attendance, suspensions, and other relevant data that can be used to assess impact.

14) Requires the lead agency (defined to be CDE), by January 1, 2021, and at least annually thereafter, to provide to the Legislature, and make available publicly on the CDE’s internet website, a report detailing both of the following:

a) Budget information, including the funding allocated to each agency and the specific outcomes addressed.

b) Data measuring outcomes, and year-over-year trend data that demonstrate the progress that has been attained in meeting target levels for each outcome.

STAFF COMMENTS

1. Need for the bill. According to the author, “Currently, the K-12 public education system has a shortage of school support personnel. These professional staff include: school nurses, counselors, social workers, and psychologists. These personnel are the value added to the school community and with the services provided they play an important role in ensuring students are in a safe and supportive environment. Studies have proven that there is a connection between health and academic failure, with poor health affecting student’s attendance, grades, and ability to learn in school. Credentialed pupil services staff address a myriad of issues that impact a child’s ability to attend school on a regular basis and to function within the school environment.

To adequately address the problems children bring to school, there has to be adequate staffing to address the issues that impact and in many cases prevent students from being successful in schools. To that end, the ratios for personnel (681:1 for counselors, 2502:1 for nurses, 1124:1 for psychologists and 9277:1 for social workers) must be addressed.”

2) Proposition 64 (Adult Use of Marijuana Act). The Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) was passed by the voters in November 2016. As a result of the passage of AUMA, adults, aged 21 years or older, are allowed to possess and use marijuana for recreational purposes. AUMA created two new taxes; a cultivation tax on marijuana plants and flowers and a 15 percent excise tax on the sale of all marijuana and marijuana products. AUMA also exempted from the California state sales tax, sales of medical marijuana or marijuana products. Revenues collected from the new state excise tax and the cultivation tax on growing marijuana will be deposited in a new state account, the California Marijuana Tax Fund (Fund). Certain fines on businesses or individuals who violate regulations created by AUMA would also be deposited into the Fund. Monies in the Fund will first be used to pay back certain state agencies for any marijuana regulatory costs not covered by license fees. A portion of the monies will then be allocated as follows:

a) Sixty percent to youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment Account for youth programs including substance use disorder education, prevention, and treatment.

b) Twenty percent to clean up and prevent environmental damage resulting from the illegal growing of marijuana.

c) Twenty percent for programs designed to reduce driving under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs and a grant program designed to reduce any potential negative impacts on public health or safety resulting from the measure.

3) Other states use cannabis tax revenues to support school services. The State of Colorado allocates a portion of revenues generated through taxes, licensing, and fees related to the sale of medical and retail cannabis to support school mental health, including substance use prevention and education. Initiatives funded include:

a) Colorado School Health Professional Grant to fund staff; professional development and training; and resources to develop and implement high quality behavioral health programming, including evidence-based programs that address substance use prevention and universal screening.

b) Colorado School Bullying Prevention Grant to fund the implementation of evidence-based bullying prevention practices; family and community involvement in school bullying prevention strategies; and adopting policies on bullying education and prevention.

c) Student Reengagement Grant to assist LEAs in providing educational services and supports to maintain student engagement and support student reengagement at the secondary level.

The State of Washington also allocates revenues generated through the legal sale of cannabis to community-based and school-based programs that address issues such as substance use prevention; school engagement; and physical and mental wellness.

4) California lags in providing social-emotional support to pupils. According to the CDE data for 2016-17, there were 5,932 school psychologists and 687 social workers employed in California schools. Further, 29 percent of California school districts have no counseling programs at all. The ratio of students per counselor in this state averages 945 to 1, compared to the national average of 477 to 1, ranking California last in the nation. As of 2016-17, there were only 2,630 credential school nurses, but there are more than 10,000 public K-12 schools in California.

5) School health professionals and substance use disorders. Staff is aware that concerns have been raised as to whether school health professionals are adequately trained regarding substance use disorders. It is true that there specified substance use disorder certification and training programs; for example, the Addiction Counselor Certification Board of California awards the Certified Addictions Treatment Counselor credential to those who have completed programs that are accredited by the California Association for Alcohol/ Drug Educators (CAADE) or deemed equivalent. Candidates must accrue 2,240 hours in a state-licensed facility and programs must be housed in regionally accredited institutions. Nothing in the bill requires a school health professional to also obtain any specialization in substance use disorders.

However, it should be noted that the School Nurse Program Standards, which all credential programs must comply with as adopted by the CTC, do include standards that address substance abuse. For example, Program Standard 4: Preparation to Promote Student Health and Wellness, provides, in part, that in order for students to be optimally ready to learn, the program must ensure that the candidate understands and can effectively apply the critical concepts of health and wellness within the school setting. These include, among other things, “addressing issues of community and family violence and substance abuse.”

Additionally, one of the three School Nursing Competencies: Providing health and wellness services (Primary Level Intervention), specifies that “candidates promote mental health of students and staff, are alert to potential situations of child abuse and/or neglect and report such situations appropriately; and also recognize signs and symptoms of potential substance use and abuse and make appropriate referrals.”

While these standards and competencies may not require the same rigor of specific substance use disorder certifications, they do underscore that school health professional do receive some degree of training on substance use issues. It should also be noted that the bill does require grantees to provide comprehensive professional development opportunities.

6) Related and previous legislation. AB 8 (Chu, 2019) requires public schools, including charter schools, to have one mental health professional who is accessible on campus during school hours for every 600 pupils by December 31, 2024, and requires counties to provide Mental Health Services Act funding to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools for that purpose.

AB 1085 (McCarty, 2019) (1) encourages After School Education and Safety (ASES) programs, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) programs, and the 21st Century High School After School Safety and Enrichment for Teens (ASSETs) programs to establish programs that are designed to educate about and prevent substance use disorders or to prevent harm from substance abuse; (2) requires the DHCS to enter into interagency agreements with the CDE to administer those programs and allocate their funding; and (3) specifically authorizes DHCS to consider selecting those programs for funding from the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act.

AB 1098 (O’Donnell, 2019) Requires the DHCS, in collaboration with specified state agencies, to convene a technical advisory committee to assist in establishing procedures for the implementation and administration of programs funded by cannabis tax funds aimed at providing substance abuse education and prevention programs targeted toward youth. Requires specified statewide assessments and reporting to the Legislature. Contains an urgency clause that will make this bill effective upon enactment. AB 1098 is scheduled to be heard by this committee on July 3, 2019.

AB 396 (Eggman, 2019) would have, subject to appropriation, created the School Social Worker Pilot Program to fund social workers at eligible schools or charter schools in specified counties. AB 396 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 2022 (Chu, Chapter 484, Statutes of 2018) requires each school of a school district or county office of education, and charter schools, to notify students and parents or guardians of pupils, at least twice per school year, about how to initiate access to available student mental health services on campus or in the community.

AB 2315 (Quirk-Silva, Chapter 759, Statutes of 2018) requires the CDE, in consultation with the DHCS and appropriate stakeholders with experience in telehealth, to develop guidelines on or before July 1, 2020, for the use of telehealth technology to provide mental health and behavioral health services to pupils on public school campuses, including charter schools.

AB 2471 (Thurmond, of the 2017-18 Session) was substantially similar to this bill. AB 2471 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

SUPPORT

California School Nurses Organization (Co-sponsor)

California Teachers Association (Co-Sponsor)

American Civil Liberties Union of California

California Association of School Counselors

California Behavioral Health Planning Council

California State PTA

Fight Crime: Invest In Kids

Los Angeles Unified School District

Mission: Readiness

National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter

ReadyNation

OPPOSITION

California Society of Addiction Medicine

California Right to Life Committee, Inc.

County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California

-- END --

ASSEMBLY THIRD READING

ATR Bill Id:AB 258

Author:(Jones-Sawyer)

As Amended Ver:April 1, 2019

Majority vote

SUMMARY:

Establishes the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program to increase in-school support services to pupils by appropriating funding from the Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment Account.

Major Provisions

1. Appropriates funding from the Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment Account (YEPEIT) to the State Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), for purposes of awarding grants as established in this bill, beginning with 2019–20.
2. Requires all grants awarded under this bill to be matched by the participating local educational agency (LEA) with one dollar ($1) for each four dollars ($4) awarded. Permits the CDE to waive the match.
3. Requires DHCS to establish an interagency agreement with the CDE to implement this bill in accordance with the provisions of Proposition 64 approved by the voters on November 8, 2016. Permits CDE to redirect existing resources to perform its duties, including policy development, stakeholder input, grant administration, and provision of technical assistance.
4. Requires an LEA or a consortium of LEAs to first receive a planning grant that will pay the costs of planning and coordination activities relating to programs that provide support services that will include programs designed to educate pupils and prevent substance use disorders (SUD) from affecting pupils and their families at or near the school.
5. Requires a recipient of a planning grant under this bill to implement a school climate assessment; leverage school and community resources to offer comprehensive multi-tiered services on a sustainable basis; develop strategies and practices that ensure parent engagement with the school; develop strategies and practices that prevent and reduce dropping out of school; maintain confidentiality of health information.
6. Authorizes, upon completion of the planning phase, the qualifying school to receive an operational grant once it has demonstrated readiness to begin operation of a program or to expand existing support services programs.
7. Requires a recipient of an operational grant to: increase the presence of school health professionals; provide effective evidence-based programs that prevent and reduce substance abuse among pupils; establish a coordination-of-services team; and provide comprehensive professional development opportunities for school employees that enable school employees to recognize and respond to a child's unique needs, including the ability to provide referrals to professionals in the school who can provide the needed support service.
8. Requires each recipient of a grant under this bill to annually report each of the following to CDE: the number of school health professionals employed with grant funds; the ratio of newly hired health professionals to pupils; information indicating an increase in the level of evidence-based programming for pupil support services; changes in school measurable outcomes identified as goals; and an evaluation of the impact of the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program.
9. Requires the DHCS by January 1, 2021, and at least annually thereafter, to provide to the Legislature a report detailing budget allocation, outcomes addressed, and outcome measurement data.

COMMENTS:

This bill directs a portion of the funds to be generated from an excise tax on cannabis and cannabis products authorized for use in youth education, prevention, early intervention and treatment, according to the provisions of Proposition 64, to flow through the DHCS to the CDE to administer a grant program to support in-school support services for pupils at qualifying schools.

According to the Author:

"The need for supportive services at schools has long been recognized and recent data shows us the support staff to student ratios remain at troubling levels. School-based services allow for the treatment of immediate student needs throughout the school day and can play a critical role in connecting students and their families with other community health services. Healthy students with continuous access to supportive services perform better in school and have better attendance rates. Our students, families, schools and communities deserve a robust student health system as provided by this bill."

Arguments in Support:

According to Fight Crime, Invest in Kids: "AB 258 would establish the School-Based Student Support Services Program, which would provide for planning grants that enable schools to assess student need and create coordination teams so that they may design sustainable programs that bring together community and state resources. Schools will receive an operational grant once they have demonstrated a readiness to establish or expand a supportive services program that increases the presence of supportive services staff and reduces student drug use. Education, prevention and early intervention through these pupil support services can prevent substance abuse in the first place by addressing underlying conditions that often lead to addiction and substance abuse, and by building positive factors that keep youth from turning to drugs."

Arguments in Opposition:

According to the California Right to Life Committee, "AB258 appears to be more involved with awarding tax dollars to local community organizations and creating new ways to discover salaries for employees, who have not been as highly educated or trained as professionals, than offering in-depth support services for students."

FISCAL COMMENTS:

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee: 1) Unknown ongoing Proposition 64 Youth Account cost pressures for planning and operational grants; 2) Unknown ongoing Proposition 98 General Fund (GF) cost pressures to LEAs to provide $1 for every $4 of grant funding received. To the extent these funds come from other sources, such as in kind donations, costs pressures to Proposition 98 GF could be lower; 3) Ongoing GF costs to the CDE to administer the grant program. Costs would depend on the program, but CDE typically requests several positions to implement new programs

VOTES:

ASM EDUCATION: 6-0-0

YES: O'Donnell, Kiley, Kalra, McCarty, Smith, Weber

ASM HEALTH: 15-0-0

YES: Wood, Mayes, Aguiar-Curry, Bigelow, Bonta, Burke, Carrillo, Flora, Limón, McCarty, Nazarian, Ramos, Rodriguez, Santiago, Waldron

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 18-0-0

YES: Gonzalez, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonta, Brough, Calderon, Carrillo, Chau, Diep, Eggman, Fong, Gabriel, Eduardo Garcia, Maienschein, Obernolte, Petrie-Norris, Quirk, Robert Rivas

UPDATED:

VERSION: April 1, 2019

CONSULTANT: Debbie Look / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN: 0000693

Date of Hearing: May 1, 2019

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Lorena Gonzalez, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 258

Author:(Jones-Sawyer) – As Amended Ver:April 1, 2019

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

The bill creates the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program Act, a grant program to be awarded by the California Department of Education (CDE) to local educational agencies (LEAs), or consortia of LEAs. LEAs could receive two types of grants, planning grants and operational grants. The planning grants are to be used to plan and coordinate support services for students. The operational grants are to be used for increasing the presence of school health professionals at schoolsites and providing programs that prevent and reduce substance abuse among students. The bill specifies grant recipients are to provide $1 of matching funds for each $4 of grant funds received. The bill also requires each grant recipient to annually report certain data to the CDE and requires the CDE to provide a report to the Legislature on grant information, including outcomes.

The bill specifies the source of the state funding for the grants is an appropriation from the Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment Account (Youth Account) established pursuant to the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (Proposition 64). Specifically, the appropriation would be made to the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), for transfer to the CDE. The bill does not place a limit on the amount or duration of the grants.

FISCAL EFFECT:

1. Unknown ongoing Proposition 64 Youth Account cost pressures for planning and operational grants.
2. Unknown ongoing Proposition 98 GF cost pressures to LEAs to provide $1 for every $4 of grant funding received. To the extent these funds come from other sources, such as in kind donations, costs pressures to Proposition 98 GF could be lower.
3. Ongoing GF costs to the CDE to administer the grant program. Costs would depend on the program, but CDE typically requests several positions to implement new programs.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. According to the author:

The need for supportive services at schools has long been recognized and recent data shows us the support staff to student ratios remain at troubling levels. School-based services allow for the treatment of immediate student needs throughout the school day and can play a critical role in connecting students and their families with other community health services. Healthy students with continuous access to supportive services perform better in school and have better attendance rates. Our students, families, schools and communities deserve a robust student health system as provided by this bill.

1. Background. Proposition 64—also known as the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act—was passed by voters in November 2016. It taxes the cultivation and consumption of cannabis. Tax revenue, as well as certain fine revenue, is to be deposited in a special fund. Sixty percent of the funds are to be allocated to the Youth Account for distribution by DHCS that must enter into interagency agreements with the CDE and the California Department of Public Health, for youth programs, which include information about substance use disorder, prevention and treatment.

The amount of revenue to be generated by Proposition 64 is highly uncertain. Estimates are continually updated as more information about tax collections becomes available. However, the Legislative Analyst’s Office recently indicated the Youth Account could generate between $30 million and $60 million for use in the 2019-20 budget year.

Analysis Prepared by: Natasha Collins / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: April 23, 2019

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH

Jim Wood, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 258

Author:(Jones-Sawyer) – As Amended Ver:April 1, 2019

SUBJECT: Pupil health: School-Based Pupil Support Services Program Act.

SUMMARY: Establishes the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program (Program) and appropriates funds from the Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment Account (YEPEITA) to increase in-school support services to pupils. Specifically, this bill:

1. Declares the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would increase in-school support services to pupils in order to break down barriers to academic success.
2. Appropriates funding from the YEPEITA to the State Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), for purposes of awarding grants as established in this bill, for each fiscal year (FY) beginning with FY 2019-20.
3. Requires any funds that are not fully expended in a single fiscal year to be available for purposes of implementing this bill in any one of, or across one or more of, subsequent FYs.
4. Requires DHCS to transfer the funds appropriated in 2) above to CDE, upon determining that the grants to be awarded will be used for purposes for which the use of moneys from the YEPEITA is authorized.
5. Requires all grants awarded under this bill to be matched by the participating LEA with $1 for each $4 awarded. Permits CDE to waive the match requirement upon verifying that the LEA made a substantial effort to secure a match but was unable to secure the required matching funds.
6. Requires DHCS to establish an interagency agreement with CDE to implement this bill in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act, (AUMA), as approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, and in accordance with a determination that the use of the funds for these purposes is authorized. Permits CDE to integrate or redirect existing resources to perform its duties. These duties include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
   1. Developing, promoting, and implementing policy supporting the program;
   2. Reviewing grant applications and awarding grants;
   3. Soliciting input regarding program policy and direction from individuals and entities with experience in the integration of children’s services;
   4. Ensuring that programs funded through grants:
      1. Are evidence-based or evidence-informed, and are effective in providing education and preventing substance abuse disorders (SUD) and harm that may come from substance use;
      2. Provide accurate education to school employees, youth, and caregivers about substance use, mental health stigma, and physical health; and,
      3. Provide effective prevention as well as early intervention of substance use, behavioral health issues, and physical health issues;
      4. Ensuring that the programs funded through grants provide timely treatment of youth and their families and caregivers, as needed; and,
      5. At the request of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, assisting the LEA or consortium in planning and implementing this program, including assisting with local technical assistance, and developing interagency collaboration.
7. Requires a LEA or a consortium of LEAs to first receive a planning grant that will pay the costs of planning and coordination activities, on behalf of one or more qualifying schools within the LEA, relating to programs that provide support services that will include programs designed to educate pupils and prevent SUD from affecting pupils and their families at or near the school.
8. Makes a LEA or consortium eligible, upon completion of the planning phase, to apply for and to receive an operational grant on behalf of a qualifying school. Establishes an unspecified maximum grant to be awarded for an unspecified maximum number of years.
9. Requires a recipient of a planning grant under this bill to, at a minimum, comply with all of the following requirements:
   1. Implementing a school climate assessment that includes information from multiple stakeholders, including school staff, pupils, and families, that is used to inform the selection of strategies and behavioral health, as well as substance abuse, and interventions that reflect the culture and goals of the school;
   2. Committing to leverage school and community resources to offer comprehensive multi-tiered services on a sustainable basis, which can include community and faith-based organizations, foster care providers, juvenile and family courts, and others, who recognize the early signs of substance use, behavioral health issues, physical health, and other barriers to academic success;
   3. Developing strategies and practices that ensure parent engagement with the school and provide parents with access to resources that support their children’s educational success;
   4. Developing strategies and practices that prevent and reduce dropping out of school; and,
   5. Creating and maintaining a mechanism, described in writing, to coordinate services provided to individual pupils among school staff and school health center staff while maintaining the confidentiality and privacy of health information consistent with applicable state and federal law.
10. Permits, upon completion of the planning phase, the qualifying school, on behalf of which a LEA or consortium of LEAs, that receives a planning grant, to receive an operational grant once it has demonstrated readiness to begin operation of a program or to expand existing support services programs. Establishes an unspecified maximum grant to be awarded for a specified maximum number of years.
11. Requires a recipient of an operational grant to, at a minimum, comply with all of the following requirements:
    1. Increase the presence of school health professionals in its schools;
    2. Provide effective evidence-based or evidence-informed programs that prevent and reduce substance abuse among its pupils;
    3. Establish a coordination-of-services team that considers referrals for services, oversees school-wide efforts, and uses data-informed processes to identify struggling pupils who require early interventions and specifies that this team may include existing staff; and,
    4. Provide comprehensive professional development opportunities for school employees, including teachers that enable school employees to recognize and respond to a child’s unique needs, including the ability to provide referrals to professionals in the school who can provide the needed support service.
12. Prohibits construing this bill to require teachers to provide mental health services to pupils.
13. Requires each recipient of either a planning or operational grant to annually report each of the following to CDE:
    1. The number of school health professionals employed with grant funds;
    2. The ratio of newly hired health professionals to pupils;
    3. Information indicating an increase in the level of evidence-based programming for pupil support services and the specific outcomes being addressed by each program that is funded;
    4. Changes in measurable outcomes identified as goals of the program funded, including, but not limited to, reductions in dropout rates reductions in SUDs, decreased rates of school suspensions and expulsions, or increased graduation rates over the span of the operational grant; and,
    5. An evaluation of the impact of the Program, including a comparison of data from before the grant was awarded; discipline referrals; attendance; suspensions; and, other relevant data that can be used to assess impact.
14. Requires no later than January 1, 2021 and at least annually thereafter, CDE to provide the Legislature and make available publicly on its internet website a report detailing:
    1. Budget information including the funding allocated to each agency and the specific outcomes addressed, as specified; and,
    2. Data measuring outcomes, and year-over-year trend data that demonstrate the progress that has been attained in meeting target levels for each outcome.
15. Establishes the following definitions:
    1. “Local educational agency” or “LEA” means a school district, charter school, or a county office of education;
    2. “Lead agency” means the California Department of Education (CDE);
    3. “Qualifying school” includes a school in which 55% or more of the pupils enrolled are unduplicated pupils, as defined; and,
    4. “School health professional” means an individual holding a services credential with a specialization in pupil personnel services or a services credential with a specialization in health for a school nurse.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Establishes Medi-Cal, administered by DHCS, to provide Californians with access to affordable, integrated, high-quality health care, including medical, dental, mental health, substance use treatment services, and long-term care.
2. Establishes the Department of Public Health (DPH) to protect the public's health and to help shape positive health outcomes for individuals, families, and communities,
3. Establishes CDE to oversee the state's diverse public school system, which is responsible for the education of more than 6 million children and young adults in more than 10,000 schools with 295,000 teachers
4. Establishes AUMA through enactment of Proposition 64 as approved by the voters on November 8, 2016.
5. Imposes, effective January 1, 2018, a cannabis excise tax upon purchasers of cannabis or cannabis products sold in the state at the rate of 15% of the average market price of any retail sale by a cannabis retailer.
6. Requires AUMA funds to be deposited in YEPEITA. Requires DHCS to administer YEPEITA.
7. Requires the funds appropriated to the YEPEITA to be disbursed by DHCS for programs for youth designed to educate about and to prevent SUDs and to prevent harm from substance use.
8. Requires DHCS to enter into interagency agreements with the DPH and the CDE to implement and administer these programs. Permits these programs to include, but not be limited to, the following:
   1. Prevention and early intervention services to recognize and reduce risks associated with substance use and the early signs of problematic use and SUDs;
   2. Grants to schools for student assistance programs designed to prevent and reduce substance abuse, and improve school retention and performance, by supporting students who are at risk of dropping out of school and promoting alternatives to suspension or expulsion;
   3. Grants to programs for outreach, education, and treatment for homeless youth and out-of-school youth with SUDs;
   4. Access and linkage to care provided by county behavioral health programs for youth who have, or are at risk of developing, a substance use disorder;
   5. Youth-focused SUD treatment programs, which utilize a two-generation approach with the capacity to treat youth and adults together; and,
   6. Programs to assist individuals, as well as families and friends, to reduce the stigma associated with substance use including seeking substance use disorder services.
9. Permits funds identified in 6) above to also be utilized for workforce training and wage structures to increase the hiring pool of behavioral health staff with SUD prevention and treatment expertise, and for construction of community-based youth treatment facilities.
10. Permits DHCS to contract with each county behavioral health program for the provision of services and requires funds identified in 6) above to be allocated to counties based on demonstrated need, including the number of youth in the county and the prevalence of SUDs among adults.
11. Requires a school to include in its School Accountability Report Card, the availability of qualified personnel to provide counseling and other pupil support services, including the ratio of academic counselors per pupil.
12. Expresses the intent of the Legislature that the governing board of each school district and each county superintendent of schools maintain fundamental school health services at a level that is adequate to accomplish all of the following: preserve pupils’ ability to learn; fulfill existing state requirements and policies regarding pupils’ health; and, contain health care costs through preventive programs and education.
13. Requires the governing board of a school district to give diligent care to the health and physical development of pupils, and authorizes the district to employ properly certified persons for the work.

FISCAL EFFECT: This bill has not yet been analyzed by a fiscal committee.

COMMENTS:

1. PURPOSE OF THIS BILL. According to the author, the need for supportive services at schools has long been recognized and recent data show that the support staff to student ratios remain at troubling levels. School-based services allow for the treatment of immediate student needs throughout the school day and can play a critical role in connecting students and their families with other community health services. Healthy students with continual access to supportive services perform better in school and have better attendance rates. Our students, families, schools, and communities deserve a robust student health system as provided by this bill.
2. BACKGROUND.
   1. Cannabis Tax Uses in Other States. Other states that have legalized recreational use of cannabis have also allocated portions of their tax revenues to education, prevention, and treatment. The State of Colorado allocates a portion of revenues generated through taxes, licensing, and fees related to the sale of medical and retail cannabis to support school mental health, including substance use prevention and education. Initiatives funded include:
      1. Colorado School Health Professional Grant to fund staff; professional development and training; and, resources to develop and implement high quality behavioral health programming, including evidence-based programs that address substance use prevention and universal screening;
      2. Colorado School Bullying Prevention Grant to fund the implementation of evidence-based bullying prevention practices; family and community involvement in school bullying prevention strategies; and, adopting policies on bullying education and prevention; and,
      3. Student Reengagement Grant to assist LEAs in providing educational services and supports to maintain student engagement and support student reengagement at the secondary level.

The State of Washington also allocates revenues generated through the legal sale of cannabis to community-based and school-based programs that address issues such as substance use prevention; school engagement; and, physical and mental wellness.

• 1. California lags in providing social and emotional support to pupils. According to the CDE, 29% of California school districts have no counseling programs at all. When counseling programs exist, counselors are often asked to add administrative duties such as testing, supervising, and class scheduling. The ratio of students per counselor in this state averages 945:1, compared to the national average of 477:1, ranking California last in the nation.

As of FY 2016-17, there were 2,630 credentialed school nurses in California which does not meet the threshold of one nurse per school as there are more than 10,000 public K-12 schools in California. Data from the Lucille Packard Foundation suggest that the nurse to pupil ratio in California schools is 2,784:1.

According to CDE data for 2016-17, there were 5,932 school psychologists and 687 social workers employed in California schools. The Packard Foundation, citing 2015 data, notes that the ratio for school psychologists is 1,265:1 and for social workers is 12,870:1. The National Association of School Psychologists recommends that districts employ one school psychologist for every 500 to 700 students. According to National Association of Social Workers standards, school social work services should be provided at a ratio of 1:250 students and when a social worker is providing services to students with intensive needs, a lower ratio, such as 1:50, is suggested

• 1. Informational Joint Hearing. The Senate Health and Education Committees held a joint hearing on February 13, 2019, entitled “Implementing the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act’s, Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment Account.” During the hearing, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) provided an overview of AUMA as it relates to the YEPEITA and the potential role of the Legislature in the implementation of YEPEITA. The LAO report stated that AUMA is silent on many issues including:
     1. Specificity of outcomes to be achieved from the YEPEITA;
     2. Specificity of funding priorities among a long list of permissive activities and programs;
     3. How program spending is to be evaluated and how lessons learned from evaluations could be applied;
     4. Processes to ensure effective oversight of account spending and program implementation;
     5. How the three implementing departments (DHCS, CDE, and DPH) are to work together;
     6. Definition of “youth;”
     7. Specificity on the universe of entities eligible to receive grant funding; and,
     8. Specificity on the amount that can be spent on state-level programmatic (as opposed to administrative) activities.

LAO stated that the Legislature should be guided by lessons learned from the implementation of Proposition 63 (2004), the Mental Health Services Act, which lacked specificity and direction for major areas of implementation including: development of a robust data collection and evaluation framework, establishment of a set selection of outcomes, protocols for the management of unspent funds and establishment of appropriate reserve levels, determination of the relative importance of prevention/early intervention vs. treatment; and, addressing the workforce capacity issue. These lessons from Proposition 63 create an opportunity for the Legislature to provide direction and state its preferences related to YEPEITA spending. The LAO also stated the Legislature should consider codifying its preferences in statute, while maintaining flexibility to support iterative decision-making. Finally, the LAO concluded the Legislature should consider providing direction with the goal of facilitating good decision-making by the three implementing departments.

1. SUPPORT. The California Teachers Association, cosponsor of this bill, states that this bill will increase the delivery of credentialed in-school student support service personnel to students. The increase in student support services personnel at school sites will assist in promoting health behaviors, in preventing problems from occurring, and address behavioral issues impeding students from success. The American Civil Liberties Union, also in support states that this bill ensures no students slip through the cracks by creating a multi-tiered care system with teachers at the frontline of recognizing and referring students who need services and school nurses and counselors providing preventive services, assessments, and referrals to community-based organizations and healthcare providers.
2. OPPOSITION. The California Right to Life Committee states that this bill considers the classroom and the students as laboratory subjects for both mental and physical experimental studies in the continuous search to increase the workforce development program. CRLF concludes this bill appears to be more involved with awarding tax dollars to local community organizations and creating new ways to discover salaries for employees, who have not been as highly educated or trained as professionals, than offering in-depth support services for students.
3. RELATED LEGISLATION.
   1. AB 1098 (O’Donnell and Wood) establishes a framework for accountability and legislative oversight of funds allocated to the YEPEITA created by the legalization of recreational cannabis in California. AB 1098 is pending before the Assembly Education Committee.
   2. AB 1085 (McCarty) encourages specified after school programs to establish programs that are designed to educate about and prevent SUDs or to prevent harm from substance abuse; authorizes the DHCS to consider selecting those programs for funding from the YEPEITA. AB 1085 is pending in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
   3. AB 8 (Chu) requires schools to have one mental health professional for every 400 pupils accessible on campus during school hours, and for schools of less than 400 pupils, to employ at least one mental health professional for one or more schools or enter into an agreement with a county agency or community-based organization to provide mental health services to pupils. AB 8 is pending before the Assembly Health Committee.
   4. AB 396 (Eggman) establishes a pilot program, the School Social Worker Pilot Program, to provide a multiyear grant award to one school district or the governing body of a charter school in each of the Counties of Alameda, Riverside, San Benito, San Joaquin, and Shasta to fund a social worker at each eligible school, for FYs 2021-22 to 2025-26. AB 396 is pending before the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
4. PREVIOUS LEGISLATION.
   1. AB 2328 (Nazarian) of 2018 would have enacted the Youth Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Program Act of 2018 with funding to be provided in part by YEPEITA. AB 2328 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
   2. AB 2471 (Thurmond) of 2018 was virtually identical to this bill and would have required the transfer of funds from the YEPEITA established through the passage of AUMA to the CDE to establish a grant program which would allow schools to provide in-school support services to pupils. AB 2471 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
   3. AB 2022 (Chu), Chapter 484, Statutes of 2018, requires each school of a school district or county office of education, and charter schools, to notify students and parents or guardians of pupils, at least twice per school year, about how to initiate access to available student mental health services on campus or in the community.
   4. AB 882 (Arambula) of 2017 would have established the School Nursing and Pupil Health Care Services Task Force (Task Force), and required the Task Force to identify model school health care services programs and practices to improve the safety and quality of health care services to pupils. AB 882 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
5. DOUBLE REFERRAL. This bill has been double referred. It passed the Assembly Committee on Education with a vote of 6-0 on March 27, 2019.
6. POLICY COMMENTS. Existing law requires that the funds appropriated to the YEPEITA under the AUMA are to be administered by DHCS and disbursed by DHCS for programs for youth designed to educate about, and to prevent, SUDs and to prevent harm from substance use. Existing law further requires DHCS to enter into interagency agreements with DPH and CDE to implement and administer these programs. AUMA further requires DHCS, DPH, and CDE to solicit input from volunteer health organizations, physicians who treat addiction, treatment researchers, family therapy and counseling providers, and professional education associations with relevant expertise as to the administration of any grants made under AUMA. This bill, by making a direct appropriation of funds from the YEPEITA to the Program appears to circumvent the process and requirements outlined in AUMA.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

California School Nurses Organization (cosponsor)

California Teachers Association (cosponsor)
Teachers for Healthy Kids (cosponsor)

American Civil Liberties Union of California
California Association of School Counselors
California School-Based Health Alliance
California State PTA

Californians for Safety and Justice

Council for a Strong America

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
Kern County Superintendent of Schools

Mission: Readiness

National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter

Readynation

Opposition

California Right to Life Committee, Inc.

Analysis Prepared by: Judith Babcock / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097

Date of Hearing: March 27, 2019

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Patrick O'Donnell, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 258 (

Author:Jones-Sawyer) – As Introduced Ver:January 23, 2019

[Note: This bill is doubled referred to the Assembly Health Committee and will be heard by that Committee as it relates to issues under its jurisdiction.]

SUBJECT: Pupil health: School-Based Pupil Support Services Program Act

SUMMARY: Establishes the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program to increase in-school support services to pupils by appropriating funding from the Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment Account. Specifically, this bill:

1. Declares the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would increase in-school support services to pupils in order to break down barriers to academic success.
2. Establishes the following definitions:
   1. “LEA” or “local educational agency” means a school district, charter school, or a county office of education.
   2. “Lead agency” means the California Department of Education (CDE).
   3. “Qualifying school” includes a school in which 55% or more of the pupils enrolled are unduplicated pupils, as defined.
   4. “School health professional” means an individual holding a services credential with a specialization in pupil personnel services or a services credential with a specialization in health for a school nurse.
3. Appropriates funding from the Youth Education, Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment Account (YEPEIT) to the State Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), for purposes of awarding grants as established in this bill, for each fiscal year beginning with the 2019–20 fiscal year.
4. Requires any funds that are not fully expended in a single fiscal year to be available for purposes of implementing this bill in any one of, or across one or more of, subsequent fiscal years.
5. Requires DHCS to transfer the funds appropriated in paragraph (3) above to the lead agency, upon determining that the grants to be awarded will be used for purposes for which the use of moneys from the YEPEIT account is authorized.
6. Requires all grants awarded under this bill to be matched by the participating LEA with one dollar ($1) for each four dollars ($4) awarded. Permits the CDE to waive the match requirement upon verifying that the LEA made a substantial effort to secure a match but was unable to secure the required matching funds.
7. Requires DHCS to establish an interagency agreement with the CDE to implement this bill in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act, (Proposition 64, as approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election), and in accordance with a determination that the use of the funds for these purposes is authorized. Permits CDE to integrate or redirect existing resources to perform its duties. These duties include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
   1. Developing, promoting, and implementing policy supporting the program.
   2. Reviewing grant applications and awarding grants.
   3. Soliciting input regarding program policy and direction from individuals and entities with experience in the integration of children’s services.
   4. Ensuring that programs funded through grants are designed to educate about and prevent substance abuse disorders and harm that may come from substance use.
   5. Ensuring that programs funded through grants provide accurate education to school employees, youth, and caregivers about substance use, mental health stigma, and physical health.
   6. Ensuring that the programs funded through grants provide effective prevention as well as early intervention of substance use, behavioral health issues, and physical health issues.
   7. Ensuring that the programs funded through grants provide timely treatment of youth and their families and caregivers, as needed.
   8. At the request of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), assisting the LEA or consortium in planning and implementing this program, including assisting with local technical assistance, and developing interagency collaboration.
8. Requires an LEA or a consortium of LEAs to first receive a planning grant that will pay the costs of planning and coordination activities, on behalf of one or more qualifying schools within the LEA, relating to programs that provide support services that will include programs designed to educate pupils and prevent substance use disorders (SUD) from affecting pupils and their families at or near the school.
9. Requires a recipient of a planning grant under this bill to, at a minimum, comply with all of the following requirements:
   1. Implementing a school climate assessment that includes information from multiple stakeholders, including school staff, pupils, and families, that is used to inform the selection of strategies and behavioral health, as well as substance abuse, and interventions that reflect the culture and goals of the school.
   2. Committing to leverage school and community resources to offer comprehensive multi-tiered services on a sustainable basis, which can include community and faith-based organizations, foster care providers, juvenile and family courts, and others, who recognize the early signs of substance use, behavioral health issues, physical health, and other barriers to academic success.
   3. Developing strategies and practices that ensure parent engagement with the school and provide parents with access to resources that support their children’s educational success.
   4. Developing strategies and practices that prevent and reduce dropping out of school.
   5. Creating and maintaining a mechanism, described in writing, to coordinate services provided to individual pupils among school staff and school health center staff while maintaining the confidentiality and privacy of health information consistent with applicable state and federal law.
10. Authorizes, upon completion of the planning phase, the qualifying school, on behalf of which an LEA, or consortium of LEAs, has received a planning grant, to receive an operational grant once it has demonstrated readiness to begin operation of a program or to expand existing support services programs. Establishes an unspecified maximum grant awarded by this bill for an unspecified amount of maximum years.
11. Requires a recipient of an operational grant to, at a minimum, comply with all of the following requirements:
    1. Increase the presence of school health professionals in its schools.
    2. Provide programs that prevent and reduce substance abuse among its pupils.
    3. Establish a coordination-of-services team that considers referrals for services, oversees schoolwide efforts, and uses data-informed processes to identify struggling pupils who require early interventions and specifies that this team may include existing staff.
    4. Provide comprehensive professional development opportunities for school employees, including teachers that enable school employees to recognize and respond to a child’s unique needs, including the ability to provide referrals to professionals in the school who can provide the needed support service.
12. Specifies that nothing in this bill be construed to require teachers to provide mental health services to pupils.
13. Requires each recipient of a grant under this bill to annually report each of the following to CDE:
    1. The number of school health professionals employed with grant funds.
    2. The ratio of newly hired health professionals to pupils.
    3. Information indicating an increase in the level of evidence-based programming for pupil support services.
    4. Changes in dropout rates in school over the span of the operational grant.
    5. An evaluation of the impact of the School-Based Pupil Support Services Program. This includes a comparison of data from before the grant was awarded and after. This can include discipline referrals, attendance, suspensions, and other relevant data that can be used to assess impact.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Establishes effective January 1, 2018, a cannabis excise tax to be imposed upon purchasers of cannabis or cannabis products sold in this state at the rate of 15 percent of the average market price of any retail sale by a cannabis retailer (Revenue & Taxation Code (RTC) 34011).
2. Establishes the California Cannabis Tax Fund in the State Treasury consisting of all taxes, interest, penalties, and other amounts collected and paid to the board pursuant to this part. This special trust fund established solely to carry out the purposes of the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act and all revenues deposited into the Tax Fund, together with interest or dividends earned by the fund, are to be expended only in accordance with the provisions of the Act (RTC 34018).
3. Specifies that the Controller is to disburse funds in the California Cannabis Tax Fund as follows (RTC 34019):
   1. Reasonable costs incurred by various state agencies for carrying out specified duties associated with the Act.
   2. Ten million dollars ($10,000,000) to a public university or universities annually beginning in 2018-19 to 2028-29 to research the effect of the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act.
   3. Three million dollars ($3,000,000) annually from 2018-19 through 2022-23 to the California Highway Patrol to adopt protocols to determine whether a driver is operating a vehicle while impaired by the use of cannabis or cannabis products.
   4. Ten million dollars ($10,000,000) annually in 2018-19, increasing to fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) in 2022-23 to the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development to administer a community reinvestments grants program.
   5. Two million dollars ($2,000,000) annually to the University of California San Diego Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research.
   6. By July 15 of each year, beginning in 2018-19 the Controller will, after disbursing funds for the purposes identified in (a) through (e) above, disburse 60 percent of the remaining funds into the YEPEIT account to DHCS for programs for youth designed to educate about, and to prevent, substance abuse disorders and to prevent harm from substance use. Requires the DHCS to enter into interagency agreements with the State Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the CDE to implement and administer these programs. Specifies that these programs may include, but are not limited to, the following:
      1. Prevention and early intervention services to recognize and reduce risks associated with substance use and the early signs of problematic use and substance abuse disorders.
      2. Grants to schools for student assistance programs designed to prevent and reduce substance abuse, and improve school retention and performance, by supporting students who are at risk of dropping out of school and promoting alternatives to suspension or expulsion.
      3. Grants to programs for outreach, education, and treatment for homeless youth and out-of-school youth with substance use disorders.
      4. Access and linkage to care provided by county behavioral health programs for youth who have, or are at risk of developing, a substance use disorder.
      5. Youth-focused substance use disorder treatment programs, which utilize a two-generation approach with the capacity to treat youth and adults together.
      6. Programs to assist individuals, as well as families and friends, to reduce the stigma associated with substance use including seeking substance use disorder services.
   7. Specifies that the funds identified in (f) above may also be utilized for workforce training and wage structures to increase the hiring pool of behavioral health staff with substance use disorder prevention and treatment expertise, and for construction of community-based youth treatment facilities.
   8. Specifies that the DHCS may contract with each county behavioral health program for the provision of services and that the funds identified in (f) above will be allocated to counties based on demonstrated need, including the number of youth in the county, and the prevalence of substance use disorders among adults.
4. Requires a school to include in its School Accountability Report Card, the availability of qualified personnel to provide counseling and other pupil support services, including the ratio of academic counselors per pupil (Education Code (EC) 33126).
5. Expresses the intent of the Legislature that the governing board of each school district and each county superintendent of schools maintain fundamental school health services at a level that is adequate to accomplish all of the following: preserve pupils’ ability to learn, fulfill existing state requirements and policies regarding pupils’ health, and contain health care costs through preventive programs and education (EC 49427).
6. Requires the governing board of a school district to give diligent care to the health and physical development of pupils, and authorizes the district to employ properly certified persons for the work (EC 49400).
7. Specifies that the minimum requirements for the services credential with a specialization in pupil personnel services are a baccalaureate degree or higher degree from an approved institution, a fifth year of study, and any specialized and professional preparation that the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) requires. The services credential with a specialization in pupil personnel services authorizes the holder to perform, at all grade levels, the pupil personnel service approved by the CTC as designated on the credential, which may include, but need not be limited to, school counseling, school psychology, child welfare and attendance services, and school social work (EC 44266).
8. Specifies that the minimum requirements for a services credential with a specialization in health for a school nurse are all of the following: a baccalaureate or higher degree from an accredited institution, a valid California license as a registered nurse, and one year of coursework beyond the baccalaureate degree in a program approved by the CTC. The services credential with a specialization in health for a school nurse authorizes the holder to perform, at grades 12 and below, the health services approved by the CTC designated on the credential (EC 44267.5).

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown

COMMENTS:

This bill directs a portion of the funds to be generated from an excise tax on cannabis and cannabis products authorized for use in youth education, prevention, early intervention and treatment, according to the provisions of Proposition 64, to flow through the DHCS to the CDE to administer a grant program to support in-school support services for pupils at qualifying schools. As noted above, current law requires the Controller to disburse funds to the DHCS and requires DHCS to enter into interagency agreements with the CDE and the CDPH to administer the specified programs, but is silent on the transfer of funds between departments.

Need for the bill. According to the author, “the need for supportive services at schools has long been recognized and recent data shows us the support staff to student ratios remain at troubling levels. School-based services allow for the treatment of immediate student needs throughout the school day and can play a critical role in connecting students and their families with other community health services. Healthy students with continuous access to supportive services perform better in school and have better attendance rates. Our students, families, schools and communities deserve a robust student health system as provided by this bill.”

Other states use cannabis tax revenues to support school services. The State of Colorado allocates a portion of revenues generated through taxes, licensing, and fees related to the sale of medical and retail cannabis to support school mental health, including substance use prevention and education. Initiatives funded include:

• Colorado School Health Professional Grant to fund staff; professional development and training; and resources to develop and implement high quality behavioral health programming, including evidence-based programs that address substance use prevention and universal screening.
• Colorado School Bullying Prevention Grant to fund the implementation of evidence-based bullying prevention practices; family and community involvement in school bullying prevention strategies; and adopting policies on bullying education and prevention.
• Student Reengagement Grant to assist LEAs in providing educational services and supports to maintain student engagement and support student reengagement at the secondary level.

The State of Washington also allocates revenues generated through the legal sale of cannabis to community-based and school-based programs that address issues such as substance use prevention; school engagement; and physical and mental wellness.

California lags in providing social and emotional support to pupils. According to the CDE, 29 percent of California school districts have no counseling programs at all. When counseling programs exist, counselors are often asked to add administrative duties such as testing, supervising, and class scheduling. The ratio of students per counselor in this state averages 945 to 1, compared to the national average of 477 to 1, ranking California last in the nation.

As of 2016-17, there were 2,630 credential school nurses in California. This clearly fails to meet the threshold of one nurse per school as there are more than 10,000 public K-12 schools in California. Data from the Lucille Packard Foundation suggests that the nurse to pupil ratio in California schools is 2,784 to 1.

According to CDE data for 2016-17, there were 5,932 school psychologists and 687 social workers employed in California schools. The Packard Foundation, citing 2015 data, notes that the ratio for school psychologists is 1,265 to 1 and for social workers is 12,870 to 1.

Clearly, California lacks sufficient numbers of trained personnel in our schools to meet the social and emotional needs of over six million pupils.

Recommended Amendments. Committee staff recommend that the bill be amended to:

1. Require that programs funded pursuant to this article be programs demonstrated to be effective and evidence-based or evidence-informed.
2. Require that CDE, in cooperation with DHCS, identify measureable goals to be achieved by programs funded, including, but not limited to, reductions in substance abuse disorders among youth, and improvements in measureable school outcomes, such as increased graduation rates, decreased rates of suspensions and expulsions, and increased school retention.
3. Clarify language requiring each program recipient to report to CDE annually on expenditures and outcomes for each relevant targeted goal, and for CDE to report to the Legislature on the allocation of funds, goal areas targeted, and outcomes reported.

Prior and related legislation. AB 1098 (O’Donnell &Wood) of this Session provides a framework for accountability and legislative oversight of funds allocated to the YEPEIT account created by the legalization of recreational cannabis in California. This bill is pending before this Committee.

AB 1085 (McCarty) of this Session encourages specified after school programs to establish programs that are designed to educate about and prevent substance use disorders or to prevent harm from substance abuse. Also authorizes the DHCS to consider selecting those programs for funding from the YEPEIT account, established by the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act. This bill is pending before this Committee.

AB 8 (Chu) of this Session, requires schools to have one mental health professional for every 400 pupils accessible on campus during school hours, and for schools of less than 400 pupils, to employ at least one mental health professional for one or more schools or enter into an agreement with a county agency or community-based organization to provide mental health services to pupils. This bill is pending before the Assembly Health Committee.

AB 396 (Eggman) of this Session establishes a pilot program, the School Social Worker Pilot Program, to provide a multiyear grant award to one school district or the governing body of a charter school in each of the Counties of Alameda, Riverside, San Benito, San Joaquin, and Shasta to fund a social worker at each eligible school, for the 2021–22 fiscal year to the 2025–26 fiscal year. This bill is pending before the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 2471 (Thurmond) of the 2017-18 Session, was virtually identical to this bill and would have required the transfer of funds from the YEPEIT account established through the passage of the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act to the CDE to establish a grant program which would allow schools to provide in-school support services to pupils. This bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 2022 (Chu) Chapter 484, Statutes of 2018, requires each school of a school district or county office of education, and charter schools, to notify students and parents or guardians of pupils, at least twice per school year, about how to initiate access to available student mental health services on campus or in the community.

AB 882 (Arambula) of the 2016-17 Session would have established the School Nursing and Pupil Health Care Services Task Force, and required the Task Force to identify model school health care services programs and practices to improve the safety and quality of health care services to pupils. This bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

SB 1239 (Wolk) of the 2013-14 Session would have required school districts eligible to receive concentration funding under the Local Control Funding Formula to employ at least one school nurse as a supervisor of health. This bill was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

California Association of School Counselors

California School Nurses Organization

California School-Based Health Alliance

California Teachers Association

Teachers for Healthy Kids

Opposition

None on file

Analysis Prepared by: Debbie Look / ED. / (916) 319-2087