Thursday, September 18, 2008

[SDCPJ] URGENT: Act now to restrict ASVAB testing and promote opt-out in California

If you are from California and have not already responded to this urgent call, please do so immediately. The governor will sign or decide to veto this bill anytime in the next 12 days.
 

ACTION IN CALIFORNIA NEEDED IMMEDIATELY! 

 

In 2006, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have established a uniform method for students and parents to opt out when schools, in compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act, release student contact information to military recruiters and colleges.

 

In 2008, the state legislature passed another bill, AB 2994, with a similar opt-out provision. In addition, AB 2994 protects student privacy and parent custodial rights if secondary schools elect to give pupils the military's aptitude test, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). To become law, AB 2994 must be signed by the governor by the end of September.

 

Faxes, phone calls and email are needed immediately to convince Governor Schwarzenegger to sign AB 2994. The office of co-sponsor Assemblywoman Sally Lieber has suggested that communications be sent to the attention of the governor's education consultant, Paul Navarro, who will most likely be advising him on AB 2994:

 

Email: Paul.navarro@gov.ca.gov

Governor's Office Phone Number: (916) 445-2841

Governor's Fax Number (be sure to mark "attn: Paul Navarro"): (916) 558-3160

 

Below are some arguments for signing AB 2994 that take into account Governor Schwarzenegger's stated reasons for vetoing the 2006 opt-out bill. The overall emphasis should be on protecting privacy and parent custodial rights:

 

1. The current state education code (sections 49061a and 49073) fails to comply with federal law, which now allows students under the age of 18 to opt themselves out when secondary schools release pupil contact information to colleges and military recruiters under the No Child Left Behind Act.

 

The relevant federal law, 20 US Code Sec. 7098(a)(2), stipulates with no minimum age requirement that "[A] secondary school student or the parent of the student may request that the student's name, address, and telephone listing . . . not be released without prior written parental consent."

 

Most California schools are still only allowing parents to request that pupil contact information not be released under No Child Left Behind. AB 2994 is therefore necessary to bring the Education Code into compliance with federal law and allow secondary school students to make an opt-out request with no minimum age stipulated.

 

2. Schools are failing to accept legitimate opt-out requests because of the lack of state guidance on opt-out methods and timelines. Existing federal and state laws do NOT specify acceptable methods for opting out or a timeline for doing so. Due to this lack of specificity, some schools are arbitrarily rejecting the opt-out formats used by parents and students, are not always giving them adequate time to exercise their opt-out rights, or are telling students that if they exercise their right to opt-out under No Child Left Behind, they will not be included in school yearbooks or honor roll lists.

 

AB2994 is needed, therefore, in order to eliminate violations of parent and student rights caused by the current lack of direction and uniformity in processing opt-out requests.

 

3. There are no existing federal or state laws to protect family privacy when schools give the ASVAB test to students. Informed consent is not present because the so-called "Privacy Act Statement" that students are asked to sign when they are about to take the test does not tell them that the information they will be providing will be given to military recruiters. The information provided includes a student's Social Security number, race, gender, birth date, contact information, and aptitude profile. Furthermore, parental consent is not a prerequisite, even though the vast majority of tested students are below the age of 18.

 

Only state action through AB 2994 would correct this infringement on student privacy and parent custodial rights. Students would still be able to take the test and use their ASVAB data to explore military enlistment.

 

4. AB 2994 would not impose a burden on schools. They already produce the emergency information request forms that would be used for the opt-out notice, and keeping ASVAB test data confidential merely requires that a school specify this requirement when it requests the test from the military. It's an option that the military already officially offers.

 
For more information, contact Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft, 760-753-7518, comd@comdsd.org.



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