BILL NUMBER: AB 1409 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Portantino
FEBRUARY 23, 2007
An act to amend Sections 48800, 48800.5, 48802, and 76001 of, and
to add Section 48800.6 to, the Education Code, relating to pupils.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1409, as introduced, Portantino. Pupils: concurrent enrollment
in community college and secondary or elementary school.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges under
the administration of the Board of Governors of the California
Community Colleges. Existing law authorizes the establishment of
community college districts under the administration of community
college governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide
instruction at community college campuses throughout the state.
Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district
to authorize pupils, with parental permission, who would benefit from
advanced scholastic or vocational work, to attend community college
as special part-time students to undertake one or more courses of
instruction at the community college level, in order to provide
educational enrichment opportunities for a limited number of eligible
pupils.
This bill would authorize school districts to enter into
partnerships with community college districts to provide secondary
school pupils with the opportunity to benefit from advanced
scholastic, career-technical, or vocational work, or other coursework
at a campus of the California Community Colleges. The bill would
delete provisions requiring the principal of a secondary school to
apply various criteria before recommending a pupil for community
college summer session.
The bill would provide a procedure for a pupil who has not yet
attained secondary school level to receive approval from a school
district governing board in order to attend a community college. The
bill would specify that these pupils would be included in the
calculation of full-time equivalent students for the purposes of
determining the amount of the state apportionment to be received by a
community college district.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Campuses of the California Community Colleges are located
throughout California, providing an educational resource for all
communities.
(b) Some high school students are allowed to take classes at
community colleges. These students are called "special-admits" and
they participate in "concurrent enrollment programs," mainly targeted
at "advanced education," primarily defined as college-level work.
(c) There are strict limits on this activity in law, providing
these opportunities to only 5 percent of any high school class and
restricting the types of classes students may take to include only
"advanced education" in most cases.
(d) A serious abuse of concurrent enrollment by a few school and
community college districts several years ago resulted in statutory
reform and restriction on this type of enrollment.
(e) The current restrictions inhibit local ability to make maximum
use of community college facilities and opportunities, and the time
has come to encourage and expand these valuable programs, but with
appropriate statutory prohibitions to guard against a repeat of the
abuses of the past.
(f) Allowing high school students to take community college
courses could provide benefits to students and to the state in a wide
array of opportunities, including more opportunities for advanced
scholastic work, career-technical partnerships and coursework, basic
skills remediation, preparation for the high school exit examination,
English as a second language, and dropout prevention.
(g) Exposure to college classes and the college environment while
in high school improves college participation rates.
(h) Concurrent enrollment saves money for both the state and the
students and provides for more effective use of facilities.
SEC. 2. Section 48800 of the Education Code is amended to read:
48800. (a) (1) The governing board of a
school district may determine which enter
into a partnership with a community college district to provide
secondary pupils would with the
opportunity to benefit from advanced scholastic ,
career-technical, or vocational work , or other
coursework at a campus of the California Community Colleges .
The intent of this section is to provide educational
enrichment opportunities for a limited number of eligible pupils,
rather than to reduce current course requirements of elementary and
secondary schools, and also to help ensure a smoother
transition from high school to college for pupils by providing them
with greater exposure to the collegiate atmosphere , and to
maximize the educational opportunities available to California's
secondary school pupils by encouraging programs and partnerships
between school districts and community college districts, including,
but not limited to, advanced scholastic, college-level, and
career-technical coursework, summer school opportunities,
California High School Exit Examination preparation, English as a
second language, basic skills remediation, and dropout intervention
. The governing board may authorize those pupils,
(2) A secondary school pupil ,
upon recommendation notification of the
principal of the pupil's school of attendance, and with parental
consent, to may attend a community
college during any session or term as special part-time or full-time
students and to undertake one or more courses of
instruction offered at the community college level
.
(b) If the governing board denies a request for a special
part-time or full-time enrollment at a community college for any
session or term for a pupil who is identified as highly gifted, the
board shall issue its written recommendation and the reasons for the
denial within 60 days. The written recommendation and denial shall be
issued at the next regularly scheduled board meeting that falls at
least 30 days after the request has been submitted.
(c) A pupil shall receive credit for community college courses
that he or she completes at the level determined appropriate by the
school district and community college district governing boards.
(d) (1) The principal of a school may recommend a pupil for
community college summer session only if that pupil meets all of the
following criteria:
(A) Demonstrates adequate preparation in the discipline to be
studied.
(B) Exhausts all opportunities to enroll in an equivalent course,
if any, at his or her school of attendance.
(2) For any particular grade level, a principal may not recommend
for community college summer session attendance more than 5 percent
of the total number of pupils who completed that grade immediately
prior to the time of recommendation.
(3) A high school pupil recommended by his or her principal for
enrollment in a course shall not be included in the 5 percent
limitation of pupils allowed to be recommended pursuant to paragraph
(2) if the course in which the pupil is enrolled meets one of the
criterion listed in subparagraphs (A) to (C), inclusive, and the high
school principal who recommends the pupil for enrollment provides
the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, upon the request
of that office, with the data required for purposes of paragraph
(4).
(A) The course is a lower division, college-level course for
credit that is designated as part of the Intersegmental General
Education Transfer Curriculum or applies toward the general education
breadth requirements of the California State University.
(B) The course is a college-level, occupational course for credit
assigned a priority code of "A," "B," or "C," pursuant to the Student
Accountability Model, as defined by the Chancellor of the California
Community Colleges and reported in the management information
system, and the course is part of a sequence of vocational or career
technical education courses leading to a degree or certificate in the
subject area covered by the sequence.
(C) The course is necessary to assist a pupil who has not passed
the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE), does not offer
college credit in English language arts or mathematics, and the pupil
meets both of the following requirements:
(i) The pupil is in his or her senior year.
(ii) The pupil has completed all other graduation requirements
prior to the end of his or her senior year, or will complete all
remaining graduation requirements during a community college summer
session, which he or she is recommended to enroll in, following his
or her senior year of high school.
(4) On or before November 1, 2007, and on or before January 1 of
each year thereafter, the Chancellor of the California Community
Colleges shall report to the Department of Finance the number of
pupils recommended pursuant to paragraph (3) who enroll in community
college summer session courses and who receive a passing grade.
(5) The Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges
may not include enrollment growth attributable to paragraph (3) as
part of its annual budget request for the California Community
Colleges.
(6) Notwithstanding Article 3 (commencing with Section 33050) of
Chapter 1 of Part 20, compliance with this subdivision may not be
waived.
(e) Paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) of subdivision (d) shall become
inoperative on January 1, 2009.
SEC. 3. Section 48800.5 of the Education Code is amended to read:
48800.5. (a) A parent or guardian of a pupil, regardless of the
pupil's age or class level, may petition the governing board of the
school district in which the pupil is enrolled to authorize the
attendance of the pupil at a community college as a special full-time
student on the ground that the pupil would benefit from
advanced scholastic or vocational work the instruction
that would thereby be available. If the governing board denies
the petition, the pupil's parent or guardian may file an appeal with
the county board of education, which shall render a final decision
on the petition in writing within 30 days.
(b) A pupil who attends a community college as a special full-time
student pursuant to this section is exempt from compulsory school
attendance under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 46100) of Part
26.
(c) A parent or guardian of a pupil who is not enrolled in a
public school may directly petition the president of any community
college to authorize the attendance of the pupil at the community
college as a special part-time or full-time student on the ground
that the pupil would benefit from advanced scholastic or
vocational work the instruction that would
thereby be available.
(d) Any pupil authorized to attend a community college as a
special full-time student shall, nevertheless, be required to
undertake courses of instruction of a scope and duration sufficient
to satisfy the requirements of law.
(e) For purposes of allowances and apportionments from the State
School Fund, a community college shall be credited with additional
units of average daily attendance attributable to the attendance of
special full-time students at the community college.
SEC. 4. Section 48800.6 is added to the Education Code, to read:
48800.6. (a) A pupil who has not yet attained secondary school
level shall receive approval from the governing board of the school
district that he or she attends to enroll at a community college. A
parent or guardian of a pupil who has not yet attained secondary
school level may petition the governing board of the school district
in which the pupil is enrolled in accordance with subdivision (a) of
Section 48800.5. If the governing board denies a request for a
special part-time or full-time enrollment at a community college for
any session or term for a pupil who is identified as highly gifted,
the governing board shall issue its written recommendation and the
reasons for the denial within 60 days. The written recommendation and
denial shall be issued at the next regularly scheduled board meeting
that falls at least 30 days after the request has been submitted.
(b) A parent or guardian of a pupil who has not yet attained
secondary school level may directly petition the president of any
community college to authorize the attendance of the pupil at the
community college as a special part-time or full-time student on the
ground that the pupil would benefit from the instruction that would
thereby be available.
SEC. 5. Section 48802 of the Education Code is amended to read:
48802. (a) For purposes of allowances and apportionments from
Section B of the State School Fund, a community college shall be
credited with additional units of average daily attendance
attributable to the attendance of pupils at the community college as
special part-time students pursuant to this article and as set forth
in Section 76002.
(b) A school district whose pupils attend a community college as
special part-time students pursuant to this article shall, for
purposes of allowances and apportionments from Section A of the State
School Fund, continue to receive credit for attendance by those
pupils computed in the manner prescribed by law, and a pupil's
attendance at school for the minimum schoolday shall be deemed a day
of attendance for purposes of making the computation.
(c) No community college district shall receive an allowance or an
apportionment for an instructional activity for which a school
district has been, or shall be, paid an allowance or an
apportionment.
SEC. 6. Section 76001 of the Education Code is amended to read:
76001. (a) The governing board of a community college district
may admit to any community college under its jurisdiction as a
special part-time or full-time student in any session or term any
student who is eligible to attend community college pursuant to
Section 48800 or , 48800.5 , or
48800.6 .
(b) If the governing board denies a request for a special
part-time or full-time enrollment at a community college for a pupil
who is identified as highly gifted, the board shall record its
findings and the reasons for denial of the request in writing within
60 days. The written recommendation and denial shall be issued at the
next regularly scheduled board meeting that falls at least 30 days
after the request has been submitted.
(c) The attendance of a pupil at a community college as a special
part-time or full-time student pursuant to this section is authorized
attendance, for which the community college shall be credited or
reimbursed pursuant to Sections 48802 and 76002 , provided that
no school district has received reimbursement for the same
instructional activity . Credit for courses completed shall be
at the level determined to be appropriate by the school district and
community college district governing boards.
(d) For purposes of this section, a special part-time student may
enroll in up to, and including, 11 units per semester, or the
equivalent thereof, at the community college.
(e) The governing board of a community college district shall
not assign a low enrollment high
priority for registration or enrollment to special
part-time or full-time students described in subdivision (a) in order
to ensure that these students do not displace regularly admitted
students.