BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 230
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          Date of Hearing:   April 27, 2011

                           ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                                Julia Brownley, Chair
                    AB 230 (Carter) - As Amended:  April 14, 2011
           
           ÝThis bill was referred to and heard by the Assembly Higher 
          Education Committee as it relates to the issues under its 
          jurisdiction]
           
          SUBJECT  :   Joint educational programs: middle college high 
          school students: enrollment priority 

           SUMMARY  :  Exempts a student attending a middle college high 
          school (MCHS) from the requirement that California Community 
          College (CCC) governing boards assign a low enrollment priority 
          to concurrent enrollment students if that student is seeking to 
          enroll in a community college course that is required for the 
          student's middle college high school program.

           EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Authorizes the governing board of a community college district 
            to 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, as 
            specified. 

          2)Requires a CCC governing board to assign concurrent enrollment 
            students a low enrollment priority to ensure that these 
            students do not displace regularly admitted students.  

          3)Finds and declares that MCHSs have proven to be a highly 
            effective collaborative effort between local school districts 
            and community colleges, and that the goal of the MCHS is to 
            select at-risk high school students who are performing below 
            their academic potential and place them in an alternative high 
            school located on a community college campus in order to 
            reduce the likelihood that they will drop out of school before 
            graduation.

          4)Establishes MCHSs as broad-based instructional programs 
            focusing on college preparatory and school-to-work curricula, 
            career education, work experience, community service, support 
            and motivational activities, reduced adult-student ratios, 








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            flexible scheduling to allow for work internships, community 
            service experiences, and work apprenticeships.  

          5)Authorizes school districts to establish and maintain one or 
            more alternative schools within the district, defines 
            alternative school for this purpose, and authorizes the SPI, 
            for the operation of an alternative school, to waive any 
            provision of the Education Code, except as specified. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   This bill has been keyed non-fiscal. 

           COMMENTS  :  MCHSs and Early College High Schools (ECHS) operate 
          in a similar manner to provide high school pupils opportunities 
          to take college courses while still in high school as part of an 
          integrated program.  Pupils participating in these programs are 
          considered special part-time or full-time students for purposes 
          of attending a community college to fulfill the college aspect 
          of the program.  Because current law assigns high school pupils 
          who seek CCC concurrent enrollment a low enrollment priority, 
          pupils that are part of a MCHS or ECHS program, fall under this 
          low enrollment priority category.  According to information 
          provided by the author, pupils attending MCHS and ECHS programs 
          are encountering difficulty in enrolling in the necessary 
          community college classes they need to meet the dual degree 
          coursework requirement of such programs and thus there has been 
          a decrease in the number of students completing the full mission 
          of these programs.  The author also points out that MCHSs and 
          ECHSs are experiencing a drop in the number of new student 
          applications due to pupils' difficulty in enrolling in community 
          college courses.  

          This bill seeks to exempt a MCHS pupil from being assigned a 
          "low-enrollment priority" by a community college, if the pupil 
          is seeking to enroll in a community college course that is 
          required for that pupil's middle college high school program.  
          The intent of the bill is to give pupils in these programs 
          increased access to CCC courses and expand their opportunities 
          to complete the MCHS program.

          Budget cuts and increased student demand has left CCCs unable to 
          provide course offerings to fully meet the needs of all students 
          seeking CCC enrollment.  According to the CCC Chancellor's 
          Office, in 2009-10, the CCC system took a $520 million (8%) 
          budget cut which resulted statewide in 38,000 fewer course 
          sections being offered and 140,000 first-time students being 








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          turned away.  Furthermore, the CCC reductions in the 2011-12 
          Budget will mean an anticipated 350,000 students will be turned 
          away next year.  Because there is more demand than there are 
          course offerings, course registration priorities play an 
          important role in managing CCC enrollment.  Enrollment 
          priorities determine which groups of students are enrolled in 
          courses and which students get turned away.  Existing law 
          requires CCC to assign high school pupils a low enrollment 
          priority in order to ensure they do not displace regularly 
          admitted CCC students.  This bill creates a narrow exemption 
          from the low enrollment priority for students attending a MCHS, 
          if the student is seeking to enroll in a community college 
          course that is required for the student's MCHS program.  The 
          proposal does not give MCHS students priority in CCC enrollment 
          but rather gives CCCs some flexibility in the priority 
          assignment for MCHS students.   

           Background on MCHS and ECHS  :  MCHS are established in the 
          Education Code as broad-based, comprehensive instructional 
          programs focusing on college preparatory and school-to-work 
          curricula, career education, work experience, community service, 
          support and motivational activities.  Located on a community 
          college campus, MCHSs offer students at risk of educational 
          failure the opportunity to take high school classes and college 
          classes to increase the likelihood of participating pupils to 
          qualify for college upon graduation.   According to CDE, MCHS 
          were initially federally funded through the CCC Chancellor's 
          Office. 

          The Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC) received 
          funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other 
          foundation partners for the ECHS Initiative.  According to 
          information on CDE's Web site, ECHS are small, autonomous 
          schools that blend high school and college into a single 
          education program. They are designed to offer students the 
          opportunity to achieve an Associate's Degree or two years of 
          college credit and a high school diploma, within four to five 
          years of entering ninth grade.   According to the Foundation for 
          California Community Colleges (FCCC), many ECHSs have some of 
          the highest API scores, graduation and attendance rates in their 
          respective districts or regions, and the FCCC points out that 
          nationwide, attendance rates for ECHS students average over 90%, 
          as do grade-to-grade promotion rates.  In California, the FCCC 
          serves as an intermediary for the ECHS initiative, and works 
          with 23 community college-high school partnerships throughout 








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          the state that serve more than 5,500 youth.  The initiative 
          works with underrepresented students historically at risk for 
          not attending college.  FCCC points out that it "has already 
          seen the success of many of its 23 partner schools. In spring 
          2008, six of the schools celebrated their first graduations, 
          with 157 total graduates.  Of these students, nine also earned 
          their associate's degrees at the same time as their high school 
          diplomas, and 83 were slated to finish their associate's degrees 
          within the following year."  The National Center for 
          Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching, conducted a 
          survey study of high school students participating in MCHS and 
          ECHS and found that students from all backgrounds including 
          at-risk students performed well in their college classes, and 
          concludes that students who receive support in undertaking 
          challenging college-level courses can perform well regardless of 
          gender, race/ethnicity, place of birth, and socio-economic 
          status.  These programs aim to increase access to higher 
          education for students from underserved populations.  

           Suggested amendment  : According to the author there are 38 MCHS 
          and ECHS programs in the state and this bill only applies to 
          students in MCHS programs.  ECHS do not exist in the EC, however 
          the CDE Web site notes that ECHS are operated as alternative 
          schools.  The EC  authorizes schools districts to operate 
          alternative schools to meet the same standards for curriculum, 
          instruction, and student performance as traditional schools, but 
          to also meet these objectives by offering a different structure, 
          learning philosophy, or academic emphasis to accommodate 
          different student needs, interests and learning styles.  The 
          MCHS model is one such type of alternative school, and so are 
          magnet schools, and metropolitan center and technical (MET) high 
          schools, among others.  

          This bill was heard in and passed the Assembly Higher Education 
          Committee on April 12, 2011 with a vote of 8-0.  

           Arguments in support:   The Regional Council of Rural Counties 
          writes, "AB 230 recognizes that middle high school students are 
          part of a specialized program and would eliminate their low 
          enrollment priority by allowing those students to register for 
          community college classes without limitations.  Often rural 
          areas lack comprehensive educational programs and resources. 
          Enrollment opportunities, such as those provided by AB 230, 
          would increase student access to advanced courses and 
          alternative learning opportunities."








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           Related legislation  :  AB 160 (Portantino) removes certain 
          restrictions on concurrent enrollment and authorizes school 
          districts to enter into partnerships with community college 
          districts to provide high school pupils opportunities for 
          advanced scholastic work, career technical or other coursework 
          at a community college campus.  AB 160 is pending in this 
          Committee. 

          AB 194 (Beall) requires each campus of the California State 
          University (CSU) and the CCCs, and requests the University of 
          California (UC), to give priority in enrollment in classes to 
          foster youth and to former foster youth up to 24 years of age.  
          AB 194 is pending in the Senate Rules Committee.  
            
           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, 
          AFL-CIO
          Regional Council of Rural Counties

           Opposition 
           
          None on file. 
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Marisol Aviña / ED. / (916) 319-2087