(a) Any participant required to participate pursuant to Section 11331.5 who maintains satisfactory progress in school shall, not more than four times in a calendar year, receive a one hundred dollar ($100) supplement to the amount of aid paid pursuant to Section 11450. The supplement shall be paid to the assistance unit of which the teenage parent is a member in the month following submission of the report card, if received by the county no later than the eleventh calendar day of the month, or in the second month following submission of the report card, if received by the county after the eleventh calendar day of the month.
(b) (1) Any participant required to participate pursuant to Section 11331.5 who fails to demonstrate that he or she has made adequate progress in school, either by failing to provide the report card or based on the grades on the report card, shall, not more than four times in a calendar year, be subject to a sanction that shall be a reduction of one hundred dollars ($100) of the amount that would otherwise be paid under Section 11450 apportioned equally over a two-month period.
(2) (A) Participants, including, but not limited to, those subject to sanctions, may seek to demonstrate good cause for lack of adequate progress. If there is good cause for lack of adequate progress the county shall either defer the participant from program participation, or waive all or part of the sanction, or both. Participants shall not otherwise be subject to conciliation under Section 11327.4 and sanctions under Section 11327.5, and shall be referred to case management services to determine the causes of poor school performance and how it can be improved.
(B) For the purposes of this section, failing to make adequate progress in school shall constitute good cause only when there is a condition or other circumstances that substantially deprive the participant of the ability to make adequate progress on the report card or periodic progress report.
(c) Any participant required to participate pursuant to Section 11333.5 who successfully completes high school or a California high school equivalency examination shall receive a five hundred dollar ($500) supplement. No assistance unit shall receive a one hundred dollar ($100) supplement when a five hundred dollar ($500) supplement for the same report card or progress report is paid. The five hundred dollar ($500) supplement shall be paid to the teenage parent in the month following submission of the record of completion, if received by the county no later than the 11th calendar day of the month, or in the second month following submission of the record of completion, if received by the county after the 11th calendar day of the month.
(d) The sanction specified in subdivision (b) shall be applied only once per report card, not to exceed fifty dollars ($50) in any single month, and shall be applied to the amount of aid paid to the assistance unit of which the teenage parent is a member pursuant to Section 11450. The participant shall submit a copy of the report card to the case manager within 10 working days of receipt of the report card.
(e) (1) For purposes of this section, in schools that provide periodic report cards with letter grades, satisfactory progress means maintaining a grade point average of at least 2.0 on a scale where A equals 4.0 points and F equals 0 points, and adequate progress means maintaining a grade point average of at least 1.0 on the same scale.
(2) For the purposes of this section, in schools or other educational programs that do not provide letter grades indicating student performance, satisfactory progress or inadequate progress shall be determined by the school’s regular assessment of periodic progress.
(f) In cases where a participant is subject to a sanction pursuant to subdivision (b), case managers shall do all of the following:
(1) Fully inform teenage parents of the consequences of continuing to fail to comply with the program.
(2) Make reasonable efforts to reach teenage parents who they believe are in danger of continuing to fail to make satisfactory or adequate progress or not to attend school.
(3) Make reasonable efforts to secure a face-to-face meeting with a teenage parent before initiating a sanction.
(g) If a teenage parent fails or refuses to comply with program requirements without good cause, the case manager shall again inform the client of the consequences of not participating in the program, and shall provide the teenage parent with the telephone number and address of the local welfare rights organization or legal aid society, should he or she need further assistance.
(Amended by Stats. 1998, Ch. 902, Sec. 44. Effective January 1, 1999. As prescribed in former Section 11334.8, this section (as part of Article 3.5) resumed full operation on April 1, 2013, after a period of inoperation or limited operation. Note: Former Section 11334.8 was last amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 439, before its repeal on April 1, 2013.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018