Pupils: diploma alternatives: fee waiver: foster youth.

Existing law authorizes certain persons, including, among others, any person 16 years of age or older, to have his or her proficiency in basic skills taught in public high schools verified according to criteria established by the State Department of Education. Existing law requires the State Board of Education to award a certificate of proficiency to persons who demonstrate that proficiency. Existing law requires the department to develop standards of competency in basic skills taught in public high schools and to provide for the administration of examinations prepared by, or with the approval of, the department to verify competency. Existing law authorizes the department to charge a fee for each examination application in an amount sufficient to recover the costs of administering the requirements of these provisions but prohibits the fee from exceeding an amount equal to the cost of test renewal and administration per examination application. Existing law prohibits the department from charging the fee to an examinee who qualifies as a homeless child or youth and meets other specified criteria. This bill would additionally prohibit the department from charging the fee to a foster youth, as defined, who is under 25 years of age. Existing law separately requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to issue a high school equivalency certificate and an official score report, or an official score report only, to a person who has not completed high school and who meets specified requirements, including, among others, having taken all or a portion of a general education development test that has been approved by the state board and administered by a testing center approved by the department, with a score determined by the state board to be equal to the standard of performance expected from high school graduates. Existing law authorizes the Superintendent to charge an examinee a one-time fee to pay costs related to administering these provisions and issuing a certificate, as specified. Existing law limits the amount of the fee to $20 per person and requires each scoring contractor to forward that fee to the Superintendent. Existing law prohibits a scoring contractor or testing center that charges its own separate fee from charging that separate fee to an examinee who qualifies as a homeless child or youth, is under 25 years of age, and can verify his or her status as a homeless child or youth. This bill would additionally prohibit the scoring contractor or testing center from charging the fee to a foster youth, as defined, who is under 25 years of age. Existing law requires the Superintendent, on or before December 1, 2018, to submit 2 reports to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, one relating to high school proficiency tests, and one relating to high school equivalency tests, that each include, among other things, the number of homeless youth that took a high school proficiency or equivalency test in each of the 2016, 2017, and 2018 calendar years, and the impact of the opportunity to take a high school proficiency or equivalency test at no cost on the number and percentage of homeless youth taking a high school proficiency or equivalency test. This bill would require the Superintendent to also incorporate data on high school proficiency or equivalency test examinees who are foster youth, as defined, into each report.