BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 848
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Date of Hearing: May 18, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 848 (Campos) - As Amended: May 11, 2011
Policy Committee: Labor and
Employment Vote: 6-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) or the Chancellor of the Community Colleges to require
recipients of the state apprenticeship funding for building and
trade programs to report annually, prior to receiving
reimbursement, information concerning educational outcomes.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the programs to report the number and percentages of
apprentices who have received postsecondary educational credit
(including the amount of credit earned) and the
number/percentage of apprentice graduates who have completed a
postsecondary degree.
2)Requires the SPI or the Chancellor to determine the format for
collection and presentation of this information so as to best
convey pupil progress toward degree completion for each
participating institution. This measure further requires the
information, upon request, to be provided to the Division of
Apprenticeship Standards (DAS) in the Department of Industrial
Relations (DIR).
FISCAL EFFECT
1)GF administrative costs, likely less than $100,000, to SDE and
CCCs to report specified information about building and trade
apprenticeship programs, as specified. Current law requires
SDE to collect specified information from apprenticeship
programs and CCCs contribute program information to this
report.
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2)The 2010 Budget Act allocated $15.7 million GF/98 to the State
Department of Education (SDE) apprenticeship programs. The
budget further required programs to be reimbursed $5.04 per
instructional hour. This allocation includes a 19.8%
reduction.
3)The 2010 Budget Act allocated $7.1 million GF/98 to the
California Community College (CCC) apprenticeship programs.
The budget further required programs to be reimbursed $5.04
per instructional hour. As part of the 2009 budget process,
CCCs were given complete discretion over the use of these
program funds. Therefore, CCCs are authorized to use this
funding for any educational purpose.
COMMENTS
1)Background . Apprenticeship programs are offered for a
specified length of time, usually three to five years, and
include on-the-job training and classroom related and
supplemental instruction (RSI). According to DAS, each program
operates under apprenticeship training standards agreed to by
labor and/or management in accordance with state and federal
law. Statute requires the joint apprenticeship committee to
determine the standards, with help from DAS.
Local education agencies (LEAs) and CCCs partner with
apprenticeship program sponsors in sharing the responsibility
for RSI development and delivery. According to SDE, it
supports 35 regional occupational centers and programs (ROC/P)
and LEA adult education programs with over 200 apprenticeship
programs supporting over 40,000 registered apprentices. The
CCC reports it has approximately 25,000 apprentices enrolled
in over 160 apprenticeship programs comprised of a total of 66
trades/crafts titles located on 39 campuses. CCC also states
that in many of the RSI apprenticeship programs an apprentice
can earn a certificate or degree (Associate of Arts or
Associate of Science). All programs offered by LEAs and CCCs
are required to be approved by DAS.
LEAs and CCCs receive funding based on the actual number of
hours in RSI coursework. Each LEA is capped on the number of
hours of instruction it can claim for reimbursement.
2)Rationale . Proponents of this measure (State Building and
Construction Trades Council) argue the number of credits
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received for individuals enrolled in CCC apprenticeship
programs varies among districts and between campuses within a
district. They contend this bill will identify programs
successful in allocating RSI credits to program participants.
3)Existing law requires, pursuant to the annual budget act, the
SPI to report to the Department of Finance (DOF) and the
Legislature not later than February 1 of each year on the
amount of funds expended, and the hours of RSI offered in, the
apprenticeship program during the prior FY, as specified.
Statute also requires programs, as a condition of receiving
funding, to provide the necessary information to the SPI in
order to complete the report.
Pursuant to the annual budget act, the Chancellor is required
to develop criteria for apprenticeship programs and submit
that for review along with an annual progress report on
program implementation to the Legislative Analyst, the Office
of the Secretary for Education, and DOF no later than December
1 of each year. The report is required to include summaries of
allocations and expenditures by program and by district, where
applicable.
4)Will this report provide information necessary to meet the
author's intent ? The author indicates the bill's intent is to
know which apprenticeship programs are successful in ensuring
students receive a postsecondary degree. However, statue does
not require apprentice program graduates to receive an
associate degree. While the information is valuable to
determine which programs are helping individuals achieve
postsecondary success, it may be misleading to the public if a
program is not successful in this regard because the program
is not required to ensure individuals receive an associate
degree.
Also, this measure only requires programs that receive RSI
funding to report specified information. According to the
CCCs, however, there are apprenticeship programs operating who
do not receive this funding. Should not the state have
information from all programs? The author may wish to
consider these issues.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
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