Assemblymember Gonzalez-Fletcher Introduced Bill to End School Bus Collections

08Feb
by La Comadre

You may recall a post that La Comadre wrote with a call to action from last year entitled, SAN DIEGO MUST STOP UNJUST TRANSPORTATION TAX IMMEDIATELY. If not, you will become more familiar with the issue now that a bill to end the dreadful practice of sending parents to collections over school bus fees has been introduce.  

AB1974 (D-Gonzalez-Fletcher) will prohibit school districts in the state of California to send parents to collections over unpaid bus fees.   

“This bill would enact the Primary Education Fair Debt Collection Act. The act would provide that a pupil, unless emancipated, can never owe or be billed for a debt by a public school or school district, county office of education, or state special school. The act would prohibit those educational entities from, among other things, withholding grades or transcripts, denying or withholding a diploma, or in any other way taking action against a pupil or former pupil because their parent or guardian owes money to the educational entity. The act would require those educational entities to provide a receipt to a parent or guardian when they make a payment for any amount that they owe on behalf of their pupil or former pupil. The act would prohibit those educational entities from using a debt collector, as defined, to pursue repayment of any debt owed by a parent or guardian of a pupil or former pupil. The act would require an educational entity, if the educational entity has already sent a debt owed by a parent or guardian of a pupil or former pupil to a debt collector before January 1, 2019, to be responsible for any breaches of security that have or will impact the private information of the pupil or former pupil. By imposing additional duties on school districts and county offices of education, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.”

We applaud Assembly Member Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher for introducing this important legislation not just to address San Diego Unified but to make it illegal in all of California.  

When these kind of policies are put out and our voices are heard, actions can and should follow.  This is why we at La Comadre feel strongly that our voices need to be heard and our stories need to be told.  

What do you think?

The following two tabs change content below.

La Comadre

We are Moms, Tias, Ninas and Play-Tias who love children in our lives and we want to help every child succeed in school. Navigating schools and education—from preschool to college—is hard. We want to help each other with this.
We are all in this together with you. We want to be a resource for you and for all of the children you love. Whether you need some info or you have info to share, you know where to go…LA Comadre.

More Comments