CALIFORNIA EDUCATION CODE SECTION 48700-48740

48700. This article shall be known and may be cited as the Targeted Truancy and Public Safety Grant Program. 48705. For purposes of this article, the following definitions apply: (a) "High-risk youth" means a juvenile 15 years of age or younger who has been declared a ward of the juvenile court for the first time, or who is placed under the supervision of the probation department pursuant to Section 654 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and who has at least two of the following four risk factors: (1) Poor school behavior and performance. (2) Family problems. (3) Substance abuse. (4) Delinquent behavior. (b) "Poor school behavior and performance" means having attendance problems of truancy or a pattern of missing school, missing certain classes, or missing certain times of the schoolday; behavior problems that result in suspension or expulsion; or failing one or more classes. (c) "Family problems" means poor supervision and control; domestic violence, trauma; recent financial problems, marital or family discord; or documented child abuse or neglect. (d) "Substance abuse" means the abuse of alcohol or drugs by minors, other than experimentation. (e) "Delinquent behavior" means a pattern of stealing, incorrigibility, or gang membership or association. 48710. (a) The Targeted Truancy and Public Safety Grant Program is a three-year grant demonstration program, and shall be administered by the State Department of Education. The program shall operate in school districts or county offices of education, each of which shall design, establish, implement, and evaluate a locally designed program to prevent and intervene in the truancy patterns of high-risk youth who have been referred for the first time to the county probation department. The goal of the Targeted Truancy and Public Safety Grant Program is to develop and implement intervention strategies that will end each participating high-risk youth's escalating pattern of truancy, antisocial behavior, and delinquency. (b) The State Department of Education shall inform each school district and county office of education about targeted truancy programs before announcing the availability of the Targeted Truancy and Public Safety Grant Program, and shall provide technical assistance to each school district and county office of education that is considering, or has submitted, a grant application pursuant to this article. Technical assistance includes, but is not limited to, successful models, features of successful targeted truancy intervention programs, and multiagency collaboration. (c) The school districts and county offices of education selected for the Targeted Truancy and Public Safety Grant Program shall be geographically balanced, as determined by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. (d) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall award grants in an amount at least not to exceed a total of one million two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($1,250,000) over the three-year grant period. No grant shall be awarded unless the applicant makes available resources in an amount at least equal to the amount of the grant. Resources may included in-kind contributions from participating agencies. An applicant shall demonstrate that the grant program will involve a collaborative multiagency effort to address truancy and delinquency behaviors, and that the chief probation officer in the county supports the application and will assist in the implementation of the program. (e) After awarding Targeted Truancy and Public Safety Grants, the State Department of Education shall provide ongoing technical assistance to those school districts and county offices of education that are awarded grants. 48715. The State Department of Education shall give funding priority to proposals that include a comprehensive approach to all of the following: (a) Strategies that produce education success, in part by assisting families of high-risk youth to ensure that these youth attend school regularly. (b) A restorative justice program for juvenile offenders that promotes accountability to the victim. (c) Adequate levels of supervision, structure, and support to minors and their families throughout the intervention process. (d) Accountability by the minors for their actions and developing in the minors increased sensitivity to the impact of their actions on others. (e) Promotion of prosocial values, behaviors, and relationships. (f) Individualized intervention strategies that have strong followup after the crisis stage. (g) Culturally appropriate, family centered services, driven by the needs of youth and families, and built on individual, family, and community strengths. (h) Service integration and coordination through structured collaboration among public and private agencies that may include, but not be limited to, county or local school attendance review boards, truancy mediation programs, or pupil support teams. (i) Evidence of community involvement in the application that includes commitments from a broad base of participants from local government and the community, including, but not limited to, community-based youth development organizations, probation, social service agencies, civic organizations, the business community, religious groups, parents, law enforcement, and representatives of at-risk youth. (j) Family empowerment through support, education, and services. 48720. Each school district or county office of education, in implementing its Targeted Truancy and Public Safety Grant, shall provide the following: (a) Adequate levels of supervision, structure, and support to minors and their families both during and after the intervention and treatment process for the following purposes: (1) To ensure the protection of the community, the minor, and his or her family. (2) To facilitate the development of positive behavior patterns. (3) To eliminate any obvious barriers to the family's progress. (b) Accountability on the part of the minor for his or her actions, including criminal behavior, and assistance to the minor in developing a greater awareness and sensitivity for the impact of the minor's actions, including criminal behavior, on other people and situations. (c) Assistance to the families in their efforts to ensure their minor is attending school regularly. (d) Assistance to the minor in developing strategies for attaining and reinforcing school success. (e) Promotion and development of positive social values, behavior, and relationships by providing opportunities to the minor to directly help people, improve the community, participate in positive leisure-time activities specially chosen to match his or her individual interests, skills, and abilities, and have greater access and exposure to positive adult and juvenile role models. (f) Promotion and development of individualized intervention strategies that may include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) Delivery of services in close proximity to the minor's or family's home. (2) Community case advocates to assist in building bridges of trust. (3) A restorative justice program to promote rehabilitation of juveniles and offer victims a forum for healing. (g) Implementation of gang intervention strategies, where appropriate. (h) Provision of a continuum of care with strong followup services that continue to be available to the minor and family, as long as needed, after a crisis. 48725. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall establish minimum standards, funding schedules, and procedures for selecting participating school districts or county offices of education that shall take into consideration, but not be limited to, all of the following: (a) Size of the eligible high-risk youth population. (b) Demonstrated ability to administer the program. (c) Identification of service delivery area. (d) Demonstrated ability to provide or develop intervention strategies that will provide the services described in Section 48720 for the eligible high-risk youth population and their families. (e) Likelihood that the program will continue to operate after state grant funding ends. (f) A formal evaluation component to assess the success of the implementation of the grant program. 48730. (a) The State Department of Education, in collaboration with the Board of Corrections, shall create an evaluation design for the Targeted Truancy and Public Safety Grant Program that will assess the effectiveness of program implementation and operation and the degree to which the school district or county office of education has met the following minimum criteria: (1) Utilization of a multiagency, multidisciplinary team so that the program can effectively draw on the professional knowledge, skill, and experience of all team members in areas including, but not limited to, education, job preparation and search, job skills, vocational training, life skills, counseling, drug and alcohol treatment, health care, parenting skills, family literacy, community service opportunities, building self-esteem and self-confidence, mentoring, restorative justice, restitution programs, gang intervention, recreational, social and cultural activities, transportation, and child care. (2) Empowerment of the family to recognize and ultimately solve the problems related to their minor's truancy and criminal behavior, and to participate as an integral part of the treatment team and process. (3) Teamwork on the part of all treatment and intervention agencies involved in the grant program, including the family, professionals, and any community volunteers. (b) The State Department of Education shall also judge the success of each grant program by comparing a control group to an experimental group. Data from the school and court records shall be examined for juveniles and their families in each group according to, but not limited to, the following criteria: (1) The number of schooldays of attendance during the current or most recent semester. (2) The number of truancies reported. (3) The number of suspensions and expulsions recorded by the school. (4) The number of subsequent arrests, petitions to declare the minor a ward of the juvenile court, or proceedings in the superior court. (5) The juveniles' grade point averages for the most recently completed school grading period. (c) The State Department of Education shall contract with an independent evaluator to assess the overall success of the Targeted Truancy and Public Safety Grant Program. 48735. Grant recipients shall collect and report data to the State Department of Education that includes, at a minimum, those items identified in subdivision (b) of Section 48730, and any other data to indicate the effect of intervention strategies and grant program operations on the risk factors used to identify the grant program's high-risk youth participants. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall annually summarize the data reported by those awarded grants, and shall develop a final analysis of the grant program in a report to be submitted to the Legislature on or before March 1, 2001. 48740. The Targeted Truancy and Public Safety Grant Program shall be implemented within nine months of the appropriation of funds for the program, and shall terminate three years and nine months from the date of the appropriation of funds.