BILL ANALYSIS Ķ
SB 500
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 6, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
SB 500 (Hancock) - As Amended: June 20, 2011
SENATE VOTE : Vote not relevant
SUBJECT : Partnership academies
SUMMARY : Makes various changes to the California Partnership
Academy (CPA) program, as specified. Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes the governing board of a school district, that has
made every effort to enroll at-risk pupils in a CPA and fewer
than 50% of at-risk pupils enroll, to elect to approve CPA
enrollment at a number greater than 50% of pupils who do not
meet the at-risk criteria, and requires such determination to
be made on an annual basis and reported to the California
Department of Education (CDE), as a condition of receipt of
funds.
2)Requires the CDE to establish guidelines to assist the
governing board of a school district in approving CPAs with
greater than 50% enrollment of pupils who do not meet the
criteria of at-risk pupils, and requires the guidelines to be
developed using funds in existence on or before January 1,
2012.
3)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) in
developing guidelines with respect to CPAs to include within
the guidelines, measures to encourage and fund partnership
academies serving rural school districts, and adds that with
regards to enrollment provisions of the guidelines, school
districts may determine the total number of pupils enrolled in
a CPA.
4)Allows a school district to authorize grade 9 pupils to enroll
in CPAs and specifies that if a school district elects to
enroll grade 9 pupils, the school district shall comply with
all of the following:
a) Adopt a policy describing the goals and criteria for
grade 9 participation;
b) Submit an academy program of study to the CDE
demonstrating how the grade 9 course is integral to the
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academy; and,
c) Submit to the CDE data on grade 9 participation, as
specified by the CDE.
5)Prohibits a school district from receiving funding for the
establishment or maintenance of grade 9 courses, and states
that all costs associated with establishing or maintaining
grade 9 courses shall be borne solely by the school district.
6)Requires, if funds are appropriated in the annual Budget Act
or any other measure for the support of CPAs funded pursuant
to SB 70 (Scott), Chapter 352 of the Statutes of 2005, funds
to be allocated in the manner specified in current law
governing CPAs.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the CPA program as a state-school-private sector
partnership to provide combined academic and occupational
training to eligible at-risk students in grades 10-12,
inclusive.
2)Requires participating districts to provide assurances of the
following: each academy will be established as a "school
within a school," academy teachers will work as a team in
planning, teaching and troubleshooting program activities,
academy teachers will have a common planning period to share
student and educational information, and each academy pupil
will be provided with the specified program components.
3)Finds that CPAs are in the forefront of school efforts to
integrate academic and career technical education (CTE) and
that they can be effective in providing an integrated learning
program and high motivation toward pursuing skilled
occupational fields to pupils at risk of dropping out of
school and to pupils not motivated by the regular educational
curriculum, establishes criteria for identifying at-risk
pupils, and authorizes up to one-half of the pupils enrolled
at a partnership academy to be pupils who do not meet the
criteria of at-risk pupils.
4)Establishes funding and grant amounts to be awarded to school
districts for purposes of planning, establishing and
maintaining academies, and expresses legislative intent to
expand the CPA program.
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5)Establishes the Career Technical Education Pathways
Initiative, requiring the Board of Governors (BOG) of the
California Community Colleges (CCC) to assist economic and
workforce regional development centers and consortia to
improve CTE education pathways between high schools and CCC
and requiring the CCC Chancellor to develop, implement and
report on a strategy for CTE Pathway Initiative program
objectives and outcomes.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, on the previous version of the bill, $14.697 million
in 2012-13 and $15.147 million in 2013-14 in general fund costs
to continue CPAs.
COMMENTS : A CPA is a three-year program in grades 10-12,
structured as a school-within-a-school. CPAs serve at-risk
pupils and the program requires that no less than one half of
each new class meet the specified at-risk criteria. A student
is considered at-risk if he or she has three of the following:
past record of irregular attendance, past record of
underachievement, past record of low motivation or disinterest
in the regular school program, economical disadvantages, scores
of below basic or far below basic in the mathematics or English
language arts California Standards Test, or a grade point
average of 2.2 or below or the equivalent of a C minus. The
curriculum of CPAs is focused on a career theme and is
coordinated with related academic classes. The career technical
focus for a CPA is determined by an analysis of the local labor
market and fields that have companies willing to support the
program.
At-risk student enrollment : One of the proposals in this bill
authorizes a school district to elect to approve CPA enrollment
of more than 50% of pupils that do not meet the at-risk
criteria, in circumstances in which a school district has made
every effort to enroll at-risk pupils and less than 50% of
at-risk pupils enroll. The bill further requires such a
determination to be made on an annual basis and reported to the
CDE. A measure enacted last year that became operative on July
1 of this year, made changes to the at risk criteria by adding
elements with the intent of potentially making more pupils
eligible to participate in CPAs. Those changes were recently
enacted, and therefore no information is available as to what,
if any, impact these changes have made in student eligibility.
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The intent in authorizing a district to enroll less than 50% at
risk pupils in a CPA, according to the author is to open up the
program to other pupils. The objective of the CPAs from their
inception has been to target at-risk pupils and many would argue
that CPAs should continue to do so. While the intent behind
this provision is to allow for some flexibility in enrollment so
as to allow for more pupil participation in these programs, it
appears that without additional resources to fund more CPAs,
this proposal could have the effect of shifting the focus of
CPAs' traditionally targeted population. Additionally, no data
or evidence has been provided that demonstrates that districts
are having difficulty meeting the at-risk pupil enrollment
requirement. The language in the bill is very broad, and does
not specify how a district will demonstrate that "every effort"
has been made to enroll at least 50% at-risk pupils, or how the
CDE would make the determination that the district indeed made
"every effort." This change has the potential of increasing
demand for the program, and it is not clear as to how CDE will
manage or prioritize the limited number of grants that are
available. This Committee may wish to consider whether it may
be prudent and timely, in light of the existing fiscal climate
and the absence of data, to allow districts to enroll less than
50% at-risk pupils in a CPA. Staff recommends the bill be
amended to delete this section from the bill.
In an effort to collect data, the author wishes to incorporate
language requesting the CDE to use data collected from the
annual reports of the CPAs, provide an analysis, and make
recommendations to the Legislature on ways to improve the
quality of the delivery of services and add the following
language:
Using the data collected from the annual reports of
the California Partnership Academies, the department
is requested to provide an analysis of the program
components and make recommendations to the Legislature
on ways to improve the quality of curriculum, the
delivery of services, ways to address enrollment
issues, including, but not limited to, student
eligibility and performance, professional development
for staff, access to, and administration of, student
work experience, and sustainability of the academies
when the state support ceases. The department is
encouraged to make recommendations regarding the
various types of academies that have been created by
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the Legislature or funded privately by business and
industry and the implications of program oversight by
the department of multiple types of academies. The
department is encouraged to share their findings and
recommendations with the Senate and Assembly Education
Committees at the beginning of each new two year
session.
Because CPAs are required to annually report on their
performance and operation to the CDE, this information should be
available at the state level for purposes of developing the
aforementioned analysis.
Rural school districts : This bill requires the SPI to develop
guidelines with respect to CPAs that include measures to
encourage and fund CPAs serving rural school districts. The
author points out that small rural school districts have
difficulty establishing CPAs, and the intent of this provision
is for the SPI to encourage rural school districts to establish
CPAs. An EdSource report published in 2009 showed that 10 of
northern and 8 central California counties did not have any CPAs
in operation. The existing language in the bill is unclear as
to whether requiring the specified guidelines to include
'measures' will achieve the author's intent. Staff recommends
clarifying this section to require the SPI to develop
strategies, rather than measures, to encourage the establishment
and funding of CPAs in rural districts.
9th grade participation : This bill authorizes school districts
to create a grade 9 component of a CPA but prohibits districts
from receiving funding for this purpose. The current CPA model
is a grade 10-12 model and according to information provided by
the author, some districts want to expand these programs to
grade 9 but feel they do not have the authority to do so, even
if they are not seeking funding for this purpose. This bill
gives districts the authority and places specific requirements
on districts that choose to do this, including the submission of
a program of study and pupil participation data. The rationale
for these requirements is to collect information that can help
determine if there is interest, and the level of that interest,
to expand the program to grade 9, at a future time when the
fiscal climate improves.
According to the California Department of Education (CDE), there
are 461 CPAs currently operating in the state and according to
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the author there are 186 CPAs are funded through SB 70 (Scott),
Chapter 352, Statues of 2005. The SB 70-funded CPAs will sunset
and will lose funding in 2013-14. Additionally, there are 58
green technology CPAs funded through AB 519 (Budget Committee),
Chapter 757, Statutes of 2008 that will be losing funding in
2011-12. This bill specifies that funds appropriated in the
Budget Act or other measure, to support SB-70 funded CPAs shall
be allocated under the existing formula established in statute.
Arguments in support : The California Teachers Association
writes, "CTA believes a meaningful educational program must
include both academic and career/technical education programs
that complement and strengthen each other. Students deserve and
require workforce preparation to enter the technical global
economy; all students in the public school system should have
access to career/technical education programs which include
proper counseling and guidance services."
Arguments in opposition : The California Right to Life Committee
writes, "California Right to Life Committee has concerns about
public/private partnerships in general and, therefore, would not
support additional funding for these partnership academies even
if funds were available. We disagree with 'the intent of the
Legislature to preserve support and funding for partnership
academies funded by SB 70 (Scott, Chapter 253, 2005).'"
Related legislation: SB 148 (Steinberg) requires the state
Controller to annually allocate $8.0 million from the California
Energy Commission's Energy Resources Program Account, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, to the Superintendent of
Public Instruction for creating and maintaining partnership
academies. SB 148 is pending in the Senate Education Committee.
SB 275 (Hancock) proposes to consolidate funding for the major
K-12 CTE programs, including partnership academies into a block
grant and would require these programs to provide a sequence of
coursework. SB 275 is pending in this Committee.
SB 1X 1 (Steinberg) Chapter 2, Statutes of 2011 establishes the
Clean Technology and Renewable Energy Job Training, Career
Technical Education, and Dropout Prevention Program for the
purpose of creating California Partnership Academies that focus
on clean technology and renewable energy businesses.
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Previous Legislation : AB 2855 (Hancock), Chapter 685, Statutes
of 2008, establishes, commencing with the 2009-10 school year,
the Green Technology Partnership Academies and the Goods
Movement Partnership Academies as two new categories of CPAs.
SB 1354 (Hancock) Chapter 650, Statutes of 2010 revised the
criteria for identifying pupils that are at risk for purposes of
enrollment in CPAs and required a school district to provide an
assurance that each CPA pupil will be provided with CTE courses
that are part of an occupational course sequence that targets
comprehensive skills and meets specified requirements.
SB 675 (Steinberg) of 2010 allocated funds from the California
Energy Commission's Energy Resources Program Account, for
California Partnership Academies that focused on clean
technology and renewable energy businesses. SB 675 was vetoed
by then Governor Schwarzenegger with the following veto message:
SB 675 would allocate funds from the California Energy
Commission's (Commission) Energy Resource Programs
Account (ERPA) to the California Department of
Education (CDE) for developing and maintaining
programs that focus on employment and training for
energy or water conservation, renewable energy,
pollution reduction, or similar technologies.
Throughout my tenure as Governor, I have been a
staunch supporter of increasing career-tech education
opportunities for our young men and women. I continue
to believe that career-tech education has a vital role
to play in helping to develop and sustain California's
students and our emerging green economy.
Nonetheless, given the current uses of the ERPA
account at the Commission and the precariously low
balance in that fund, this bill would require the
Commission to increase the surcharge on electricity
users throughout California to pay for its provisions.
And even after doing so, the Commission would still
be required in the future to cut its core programs to
pay for this bill, including those related to power
plant licensing, renewable energy facility licensing,
and energy efficiency.
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More importantly, I will not support increasing the
surcharge on electricity users to fund a K-12
Education program. To do so would start a dangerous
precedent for finding unrelated revenue sources to
fund, expand, or create K-12 programs outside of the
Proposition 98 guarantee.
Additionally, the bill only gives a minor role to the
Commission in developing the guidelines for the
program. Just as the Commission is not an expert in
navigating our state's complex education system,
neither are CDE employees proficient in the emerging
technologies and future of our green economy. As
such, the Commission should be CDE's partner in
putting together this program so as to provide our
students with the right skills to enter our green
economy.
If the program included in this bill was wholly funded
using Proposition 98 dollars and a greater role was
given to the Commission to develop guidelines in
cooperation with the Department of Education, I would
sign it.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
State Superintendent of Public Instruction (sponsor)
California Teachers Association
California Association of Leaders for Career Preparation (on
previous version)
California State PTA (on previous version)
Opposition
California Right to Life Committee
Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Aviņa / ED. / (916) 319-2087