BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó






                         SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                             Alan Lowenthal, Chair
                           2011-2012 Regular Session
                                        

          BILL NO:       AB 216
          AUTHOR:        Swanson
          INTRODUCED:    January 31, 2011
          FISCAL COMM:   Yes            HEARING DATE:  June 22, 2011
          URGENCY:       No             CONSULTANT:Daniel Alvarez

           SUBJECT  :  Community colleges: Inmate education programs, 
          apportionment 
                    calculations.
          
           SUMMARY  

          This bill waives the open course requirement for community 
          college courses offered in state correctional facilities 
          and allow attendance hours generated by credit courses to 
          be funded at the credit rate, instead of the noncredit 
          funding rate.  

           BACKGROUND  

          Current law authorizes a community college district to 
          claim state apportionment for classes it provides to 
          inmates of any city, county, or city and county jail, road 
          camp, farm for adults, or federal correctional facility 
          (not for inmates in state correctional facilities).   Under 
          current law the attendance hours generated by these 
          classes, whether credit or noncredit, are counted as 
          noncredit attendance hours for apportionment purposes. 
          (Education Code § 84810.5)

          Classes provided to inmates of state correctional 
          facilities are not currently authorized for state 
          apportionment.  In addition, no funds provided for inmate 
          education programs can be considered as part of the base 
          revenues for community college districts in computing 
          apportionments.  (EC § 84810.5)

           ANALYSIS
           
           This bill  waives the open course requirement for community 
          college courses offered in state correctional facilities 




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          and allow attendance hours generated by credit courses to 
          be funded at the credit rate, instead of the noncredit 
          funding rate.  More specifically, the bill:

          1)   Waives open course provisions for any local community 
               college district governing board that provides classes 
               for inmates in state correctional facilities.

          2)   Expands the existing authority of local community 
               college governing boards to claim full-time equivalent 
               student (FTES) for inmate education programs to 
               include FTES generated in state correctional 
               facilities.

          3)   Prohibits the use of the waiver of open course 
               provisions granted in the bill in any other context or 
               situation.

          4)   Authorizes attendance hours generated in community 
               college courses offered in state, city, county or 
               federal correctional facilities to be funded at 
               either: (a) the marginal credit rate for credit 
               courses, (b) the noncredit rate for noncredit courses, 
               or (c) the career development and college preparation 
               (CDCP) rate, as specified.  

          5)   Deletes the prohibition on the inclusion of funds 
               received for inmate education programs in the base 
               revenue computations for community college district 
               apportionments.  

          6)   Prohibits community colleges from claiming state 
               funding for attendance hours generated in any inmate 
               education class for which the college receives full 
               compensation for direct education costs or through 
               contract or instructional agreement from another 
               public agency or private source, and requires the 
               offset of state aid for partial compensation received 
               from any such source.  

          7)   Declares that the bill does not provide a source of 
               funds to shift, supplant or reduce costs incurred by 
               the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in 
               providing inmate education. 

           STAFF COMMENTS  




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           1)   Need for the bill  . According to the author's office, 
               this bill is intended to "remove the current barriers 
               and disincentives to CCC coursework in correctional 
               facilities to help address the inadequate educational 
               attainment that leads to the state's high 
               incarceration and recidivism rates."

           2)   Would CCCs shift course offerings to the richer FTES 
               funded rates?   As of March 2011, credit courses are 
               currently funded at the rate of $4,578 per FTES and 
               noncredit courses at $2,744 per FTES, a difference of 
               $1,834.  And the CDCP rate per FTES is $3,232.  Would 
               colleges begin to reclassify some existing noncredit 
               courses as credit, without a sufficient educational 
               basis?

           3)   CCC course offering priorities  :  Ongoing budget 
               shortfalls and resulting General Fund reductions 
               combined with increased student demand in part due to 
               unemployment and the overall economic slowdown has 
               left CCCs unable to provide course offerings to fully 
               meet student needs.  According to CCC Chancellor Jack 
               Scott, approximately 140,000 students have been turned 
               away from CCCs, over 95 percent of all classes are at 
               capacity, an estimated 10,000-15,000 student are on 
               wait lists for courses.  CCC reductions proposed in 
               the 2011-12 Budget will mean an anticipated 350,000 
               students will be turned away next year.  In recent 
               years the Legislature has directed CCC in implementing 
               budget reductions to prioritize transfer, basic 
               skills, and career technical education courses.  The 
               goal of this legislation is to encourage CCC course 
               offerings for inmates.  The Committee may wish to 
               consider if encouraging inmate education is consistent 
               with the Legislature's priorities for CCC course 
               offerings.  

           4)   Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)  
               are typically funded to provide inmate education in 
               state correctional facilities.  The proposed 2011-12 
               Budget, in response to an overall General Fund 
               shortfall of $26 billion, included an approximately $1 
               billion reduction or redirection to the CDCR budget.  
               Of this total, approximately $101 million is a 
               presumed reduction in rehabilitative programs, 




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               including academic, vocational, substance abuse and 
               other programs for inmates and parolees.  

               Furthermore, in previous years, when the CDCR has been 
               squeezed by increasing custody and health care costs 
               of inmates, the department typically scales back 
               rehabilitative program offerings, for example in 
               2010-11 Budget approximately $250 million in 
               rehabilitative program funding was eliminated.  
               According to the CDCR Office of Correctional 
               Education, academic courses through the 12th grade are 
               available at 32 institutions, and 15 different 
               vocational trades are taught within CDCR facilities.

               Would the offering of credit funded instruction by 
               community colleges make it easier for CDCR to scale 
               back its rehabilitative programs?  Previous 
               legislation similar to this bill raised issues 
               surrounding the possible supplanting of CDCR's inmate 
               education effort.  This bill contains language 
               specifying these provisions shall not be construed as 
               providing a source of funds to shift, supplant or 
               reduce the current CDCR efforts.

           5)   Prior Legislation  .

                        AB 1702 (Swanson, 2010) was nearly identical 
                    to this measure. This measure passed from this 
                    Committee on an 8-0 vote. AB 1702 was held on the 
                    Senate Appropriations suspense file. 

                        SB 574 (Hancock, 2009) was similar to this 
                    measure.  It passed from this Committee on a 9-0 
                    vote.  SB 574 was ultimately held on the Senate 
                    Appropriations suspense file. 

                        SB 413 (Scott, 2008) was nearly identical to 
                    SB 574.  SB 413 was vetoed by the Governor whose 
                    veto message read in pertinent part:

                    This bill is substantively similar to a bill I 
                    previously vetoed in a prior legislative session. 
                     While I respect the author's attempt to get 
                    community colleges to play a role in improving 
                    instructional delivery to correctional inmates, 
                    this bill as drafted appears to create 




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                    inappropriate fiscal incentives for community 
                    colleges, state prisons, local correctional 
                    agencies, and other contracting entities that may 
                    lead to supplanting current funding provided 
                    through the California Department of Corrections 
                    and Rehabilitation.
          
           SUPPORT  

          Advancement Project
          American Federation of State, County, and Municipal 
          Employees, AFL-CIO
          California School Employees Association
          Community College League of California 
          Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
          Greater Sacramento Urban League
          Kern Community College District
          Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
          Los Angeles Community College District
          Peralta Community College District
          Rio Hondo Community College District
          San Jose-Evergreen Community College District
          West Kern Community College District

           OPPOSITION

           None on file.