BILL NUMBER: AB 515 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 10, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 27, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 5, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Brownley
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Smyth)
FEBRUARY 15, 2011
An act to add and repeal Section 78302 of the Education Code,
relating to community colleges.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 515, as amended, Brownley. Public postsecondary education:
community colleges: extension program.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, which
are administered by the Board of Governors of the California
Community Colleges. The governing board of any community college
district is authorized, without approval of the board of governors,
to establish and maintain community service classes in civic,
vocational, literacy, health, homemaking, technical, and general
education, as specified.
This bill would authorize the governing board of any
community college district, without approval of the board of
governors, to establish and maintain an extension program offering
credit courses establish the California Community
Colleges Extension Pilot Program to permit the governing board of a
community college district that meets specified
requirements to establish and maintain an extension program offering
credit courses .
The bill would specify that the courses be required to
require an extension program to, among other things,
be self-supporting, open to the public, and developed and
conducted in conformance with specified statutory and regulatory
guidelines. No The bill would require the
Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to
determine whether an extension program meets specified requirements
and to annually review extension programs. The bill would require
that governing boards not expend any General Fund moneys
would be expended to establish or
and maintain the courses except program revenues
generated by these provisions. The bill would prohibit districts
from allowing extension credit courses to supplant courses funded
with state apportionments and from reducing certain state-funded
course sections with the intent of reestablishing those course
sections as part of an extension program , and would require
district boards to annually certify compliance with these
prohibitions, as specified . The bill would also prohibit
extension credit courses from being conducted in a manner that
supplants the use of district instructional space for courses funded
with state apportionments.
This bill would allow community college districts to
charge students for establish fees not to exceed
the actual costs of the courses, as defined, and would require
administrative costs to be minimized to the greatest extent possible.
The bill would also require state and federal financial aid to
be available to eligible students participating in the program and
would require a district governing board to provide for fee waivers,
as specified. Each participating district would be required to
collect and keep records relating to the extension program and submit
them , and a schedule of course fees, to the
chancellor's office chancellor by October 1 of
each year. This information would, in turn, be submitted by the
chancellor to the Legislative Analyst by November 1 of each year. The
bill would require the Legislative Analyst to submit a written
report on the pilot program to the Legislature by
November January 1, 2015, summarizing the
information provided by the chancellor, assessing compliance of the
program with the Legislature's intent, and suggesting any needed
statutory improvements.
The bill would make the requirement for a report to the
Legislature inoperative on January 1, 2019
July 1, 2016 . This act would remain in effect
operative only until January 1, 2019,
July 1, 2016, unless that date is deleted or
extended.
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. Section 78302 is added to the Education Code, to read:
78302. (a) The governing board of any community college
district may, without the approval of the Board of Governors of the
California Community Colleges, establish and maintain an extension
program offering credit courses. California Community
Colleges Extension Pilot Program is hereby established to permit the
governing board of a community college district that meets the
requirements of this section to establish and maint ain an
extension program offering course credits.
(b) An A community college
district may establish and maintain an extension program
offering credit courses established under this section shall
have the following characteristics: if the program
meets all of the following requirements:
(1) The program shall be self-supporting, and all costs associated
with the program shall be recovered.
(2) Program enrollment shall be open to the public.
(3) The program shall be developed in conformance with the
provisions of the Education Code and Title 5 of the California Code
of Regulations governing community college credit courses and
shall be subject to annual review by the chancellor pursuant to
paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) .
(4) The provisions of Section 87482.6 providing that
, which requires community college districts to make
progress toward 75 percent of the hours of credit instruction
should be being taught by full-time
instructors , shall apply to extension programs offering
credit classes established under this section.
(5) Program revenues , and program expenditures
conforming to the current expense of education as defined by
subdivision (c) of Section 84362, shall be included by the district
in complying with subdivision (d) of Section 84362, which requires
that 50 percent of the district's current expense of education to be
expended during each fiscal year for payment of salaries of classroom
instructors.
(6) The program shall be subject to district collective bargaining
agreements.
(c) The chancellor's office shall do both of the following:
(1) Determine whether a community college district's extension
program meets the requirements specified in subdivision (b).
(2) Annually review extension programs established pursuant to
this section.
(c)
(d) Governing boards shall not expend any General Fund
moneys to establish and maintain extension courses other than program
revenues generated under this section.
(d)
(e) (1) Extension credit courses
shall not supplant courses funded with state apportionments.
Districts shall not reduce state-funded course sections needed by
students to achieve basic skills, workforce training, or transfer
goals, with the intent of reestablishing those course sections as
part of the extension program. District boards of governors
shall annually certify compliance with this subdivision by board
action taken at a regular session of the district governing board.
(2) Districts receiving a stability adjustment to their
apportionment funding shall not offer an extension program.
(3) Thirty days in advance of each session, a district maintaining
an extension program under this section shall submit a list of the
extension courses that they will be offering to the chancellor's
office.
(4) The chancellor shall monitor compliance with this subdivision
as part of the annual review conducted pursuant to paragraph (2) of
subdivision (c).
(5) The governing board of a district maintaining an extension
program under this section shall annually certify compliance with
this subdivision by board action taken at a regular meeting of the
board.
(e)
(f) Extension credit courses shall not be conducted in
district instructional space in a manner that supplants the use of
district instructional space for courses funded with state
apportionments.
(g) Students completing extension courses through the pilot
program shall be limited to applying no more than 24 semester units
to an associate or transfer degree from a California Community
College. Students shall be limited to obtaining a maximum of 12
credit units per semester in an extension program, excluding career
technical education courses.
(f)
(h) (1) Governing boards may
charge students enrolled in extension courses a fee
establish fees not to exceed the actual
cost of maintaining extension courses. Actual costs shall
include the actual cost of instruction, the cost of necessary
equipment and supplies, student services and institutional support
costs, and other costs of the district used in calculating the costs
of education for nonresident students , as
provided for in Article 9 (commencing with Section 76140) of Chapter
1 of Part 27 . To the greatest extent possible, districts shall
minimize the costs of administration.
(2) The chancellor may establish a fee limit subsequent to the
first annual review conducted pursuant to paragraph (2) of
subdivision (c).
(3) It is the intent of the Legislature that surplus seats in
extension courses that are not filled by students participating in
the extension program be made available to all community college
students at a cost no higher than the amount of the fee prescribed by
Section 76300.
(4) Notwithstanding this subdivision, fees for nonresident
students participating in an extension program may be established in
conformance with Article 9 (commencing with Section 76140) of Chapter
1 of Part 27.
(i) Each campus maintaining an extension program under this
section shall ensure that state and federal financial aid is
available to eligible students who participate in the program.
Students receiving financial aid for this program shall receive the
same priority for enrollment as students not receiving financial aid.
(j) To maximize student access, a district governing board
maintaining an extension program under this section shall develop
policies through which fees shall be waived in full or in part,
consistent with subdivisions (d) and (h). It is the intent of this
section to maximize student access to extension courses for credit,
regardless of student enrollment type or student income level, as a
result of the use of financial aid and enrollment fee waivers.
(g)
(k) Degree credit courses offered as extension courses
shall meet all the requirements , standards, and criteria for
courses in subdivision (a) of Section 55002 of Title 5 of the
California Code of Regulations , including, but not limited to,
all criteria and procedures as prepared, distributed, and maintained
by the chancellor .
(h)
(l) (1) Each community college district maintaining an
extension program offering credit courses under
this section shall collect and keep records that measure student
participation, student demographics, and student outcomes in a manner
consistent with measures collected by districts in regular credit
programs supported through state apportionment, including an analysis
of program effects, if any, on district workload and district
financial status. Districts shall submit this information to the
chancellor's office chancellor by
October 1 of each year. For districts operating more than one
college, the evaluation shall be for each participating college.
(2) Each community college district maintaining an extension
program under this section shall submit a schedule of course fees to
the chancellor by October 1 of each year.
(2)
(3) The chancellor shall submit all district
information provided pursuant to paragraph (1)
paragraphs (1) and (2) to the Legislative Analyst by
November 1 of each year. By January 1, 2015, the Legislative Analyst
shall submit to the Legislature a written report on the pilot
program that includes a summary of the information provided
pursuant to paragraph (1) paragraphs (1) and
(2) , an assessment of the extent to which community
college extension programs are operated in a manner consistent with
legislative intent, and suggestions to the Legislature for needed
statutory improvements.
(i)
(m) The requirement for submitting a report imposed
under paragraph (2) (3) of subdivision
(h) (l) is inoperative on
January 1, 2019 July 1, 2016 , pursuant to
Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
(j)
(n) A report submitted pursuant to subdivision
(h) (l) shall be submitted in compliance with
Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(k) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2019, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2019, deletes or extends
that date.
(o) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2016, and, as
of January 1, 2017, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2017, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.