(a) The director may approve school attendance demonstration projects in San Diego and Merced Counties, at the option of each county, to demonstrate means of increasing school attendance and graduation rates of children or teens who receive benefits under the CalWORKs program. The project shall emphasize a social service approach to children and families who are experiencing truancy problems, and shall include collaboration with the academic community to support a successful school experience. Families shall be provided a range of services, resources, and tools to assist them in coping with issues related to their children’s school problems. These shall include integrated services involving the county and the appropriate school districts. After all other avenues to encourage a student to
attend school have been exhausted and a family has failed to correct the truancy of a child in the family unit, a participating county may reduce a family grant by the amount of the truant child’s portion grant. The full grant shall be replaced upon a showing that the student has attended school full-time for one month or has otherwise cooperated with an education or training plan developed with the county and the school district.
(b) Participating counties shall measure their success in achieving the following outcomes:
(1) Increased attendance and graduation.
(2) Decreased truancy.
(3) Higher grade point averages.
(4) Increased ADA.
(5) Decreased dropout rates.
(6) Increased collaboration among agencies providing services for children.
(7) Reinforcement of parental responsibility.
(c) Prior to being selected as a demonstration project site, the governing board of each school district shall approve the project and a clear delineation of the county’s and the school or school district’s responsibilities shall be established in a memorandum of understanding.
(d) Each county shall identify how it plans to attain the goals of the demonstration project and the evaluation methodology and funding source that will be used to evaluate the extent to which the goals are attained.
(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 27, Sec. 116. (SB 80) Effective June 27, 2019.)
(a) The department, in conjunction with the State Department of Education and the Attorney General, may evaluate the effectiveness of one program, as described in this section in a county that chooses to operate such a program.
(b) The truancy coordinator in the district attorney’s office shall provide assistance to school districts to address cases of habitual truancy as defined in Section 48262 of the Education Code.
(c) The county truancy coordinator shall perform, at a minimum, all of the following duties:
(1) Represent the district attorney on the county school attendance review board pursuant to Section 48321 of the Education Code.
(2) Prepare letters as requested by local school districts that provide a warning notice to parents of truant pupils subject to criminal prosecution and penalties pursuant to Section 48293 of the Education Code.
(3) Develop a district truancy mediation program, as defined in Section 48263.5 of the Education Code, unless the county probation department has elected to provide the program.
(d) The school attendance review board shall assist the district attorney and the court in ensuring that every parent or guardian and truant pupil prosecuted and convicted under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 48200) of Part 2 of the Education Code, complies with the sentence of the court, including, but not limited to, collection of fines, ensuring the performance of community service and providing certification of school attendance.
(Added by Stats. 1997, Ch. 270, Sec. 181. Effective August 11, 1997. Operative January 1, 1998, by Sec. 183 of Ch. 270.)