BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 650
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   July 6, 2011

                           ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                                Julia Brownley, Chair
                   SB 650 (Lowenthal) - As Amended:  June 23, 2011
          
          ÝThis bill was referred to and heard by the Assembly Higher 
          Education Committee as it relates to the issues under its 
          jurisdiction]
          
           SENATE VOTE  :   39-0
           
          SUBJECT  :  Postsecondary education: the College Promise 
          Partnership Act

           SUMMARY  :  Establishes the College Promise Partnership Act (Act) 
          authorizing the Long Beach Community College District (LBCCD) 
          and the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) to enter into 
          a partnership for purposes of concurrent enrollment.  
          Specifically,  this bill  :    

          1)Authorizes the LBCCD and the LBUSD to enter into a partnership 
            to provide participating pupils with an aligned sequence of 
            rigorous high school and college coursework leading to 
            capstone college courses, with consistent and jointly 
            established eligibility for college courses. 

          2)Defines "capstone college course" to mean a California 
            Community College (CCC) course that is either (1) a 
            lower-division for credit course that is transferable to the 
            California State University (CSU) or University of California, 
            as specified, or (2) a college-level, occupational course for 
            credit, as specified, that is a part of a sequence of career 
            technical education (CTE) courses leading to a degree or 
            certificate in that subject area.

          3)States that the purpose of the partnership shall be to provide 
            a seamless bridge to college for pupils not already college 
            bound and to reduce the time needed for advanced students to 
            complete programs.

          4)Requires a pupil who elects to participate in the partnership 
            to complete the augmented California Standards Test (CST) in 
            grade 11 to determine readiness for college-level coursework, 
            and to enroll in coursework during grade 12 to remedy any 








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            deficiencies diagnosed by the augmented test, and requires the 
            consent of a parent or guardian prior to a pupil's 
            participation in the partnership.

          5)Specifies that existing concurrent enrollment provisions do 
            not apply to pupils enrolled in the partnership.

          6)Requires the LBCCD and the LBUSD to design focused pathways 
            leading to credit in general education, or a CTE certificate, 
            or degree, including at least one capstone college course, 
            requires the partnership to coordinate the delivery of student 
            support services, including counseling, to participating 
            pupils, and requires the LBCCD to participate in the Early 
            Assessment Program in order to participate in the partnership.

          7)Specifies the following relative to funding for purposes of 
            the partnership: 

             a)   LBCCD shall be credited with additional units of 
               full-time equivalent students (FTES) attributable to the 
               attendance of partnership pupils at LBCC;
             b)   LBUSD shall be credited for attendance by partnership 
               pupils' attendance at school for the minimum school day in 
               the manner prescribed by law;
             c)   LBCCD shall not receive funding for an instructional 
               activity for which a school district has been, or shall be, 
               paid; and,   
             d)   LBCCD shall not receive increased allocations which are 
               above the regularly funded FTES enrollment cap from the 
               General Fund.

          8)Requires the LBCCD, if the LBCCD elects to enter into the 
            partnership, to provide an independent evaluation of the 
            partnership to the California Community College (CCC) 
            Chancellor's Office and the Legislature that addresses issues 
            and makes recommendations surrounding admittance, enrollment, 
            and course registration priority provided to pupils 
            participating in the partnership, and analyzes whether the 
            partnership meets specified objectives including increasing 
            college retention and completion rates and improving 
            assessment performance.  

          9)Requires the evaluation to be submitted to the Legislature on 
            or before December 30, 2016, and repeals this provision on 
            December 30, 2019.








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          10)Authorizes the governing board of the LBCCD 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 participating in the partnership, and 
            authorizes for purposes of receiving state apportionments, the 
            LBCCD to include high school pupils who attend a community 
            college within the district and participate in the 
            partnership, provided that no school district has received 
            reimbursement for the same instructional activity.

          11)Requires LBCCD to report to the CCC Chancellor's Office 
            regarding the moneys utilized for the partnership by November 
            1 of each year the partnership is in operation.

          12)Specifies that credit for partnership courses completed shall 
            be at the level determined to be appropriate by the governing 
            boards of the LBCCD and the LBUSD pursuant to the terms of the 
            partnership.

          13)Authorizes LBCCD to assign priority for enrollment and course 
            registration to any of the following groups:

             a)   Students pursuing and making satisfactory academic 
               progress toward a degree, certificate, transfer, or basic 
               skills objective that is declared or reaffirmed upon 
               enrollment in each academic term;
             b)   Students pursuing and making satisfactory academic 
               progress pursuant to an approved individual education plan 
               toward a career development objective that is declared or 
               reaffirmed upon enrollment in each academic term; and,
             c)   Students participating in the partnership.

          14)Sunsets the provisions of this bill on June 30, 2018, and 
            repeals them on January 1, 2019.

          15)Makes various findings and declarations relative to the Long 
            Beach College Promise. 

           EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Authorizes the governing board of a school district, upon 
            recommendation of the principal of a pupil's school of 
            attendance, and with parental consent, to authorize a pupil 
            who would benefit from advanced scholastic or vocational work 








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            to attend community college as a special part-time or 
            full-time student. 

          2)Prohibits a principal from recommending, for any particular 
            grade level, or community college summer session attendance, 
            more than 5% of the total number of pupils who completed that 
            grade immediately prior to the time of recommendation. 

          3)Exempts from the 5% cap a pupil recommended by his or her 
            principal for enrollment in a college-level summer session 
            course if the course in which the pupil is enrolled meets 
            specified criteria and repeals these provisions on January 1, 
            2014. 

          4)Prohibits any physical education course at a CCC from having 
            more than 10% of its enrollment comprised of high school 
            students, and provides that a CCC may not receive state 
            apportionments for high school students enrolled in physical 
            education courses in excess of 5% of the CCC district's total 
            reported enrolled number of high school students.

          5)Allows the governing board of a CCC to restrict enrollment of 
            K-12 students based on age, completion of a specified grade 
            level, and demonstrated eligibility.

          6)Provides that, for purposes of receiving state apportionments, 
            CCC districts may only include high school students within the 
            CCC district's report on FTES if the students are enrolled in 
            courses that are open to the general public, as specified. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   According to the Senate Appropriations 
          Committee, likely minor, non-reimbursable costs.

           COMMENTS  :  Concurrent enrollment provides pupils the opportunity 
          to enroll in college courses and earn college credit while still 
          enrolled in high school.  Currently, a pupil is allowed to 
          concurrently enroll in a CCC as a "special admit" while still 
          attending high school, if the pupil's school district determines 
          that the pupil would benefit from "advanced scholastic or 
          vocational work."  Special-admit students have typically been 
          advanced pupils wanting to take more challenging coursework or 
          pupils who come from high schools where Advanced Placement or 
          honors courses are not widely available.

          This bill establishes a local partnership between the LBUSD and 








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          the LBCCD for purposes of providing participating pupils a 
          bridge to college for pupils not already college-bound and to 
          reduce the time needed for advanced students to complete 
          programs.  

           Background on the Long Beach College Promise  :  According to 
          information provided by the author, the "Long Beach College 
          Promise" is an extension of the Long Beach Educational 
          Partnership, which was created in 1994 and became a national 
          model for its efforts to provide a "seamless education" for Long 
          Beach students from preschool to graduate school.  On March 20, 
          2008, education leaders from the LBUSD, LBCC, and CSU Long Beach 
          (CSULB) signed the Long Beach College Promise providing all 
          LBUSD students the opportunity to receive a college education.  
          Beginning in fall 2008, the Long Beach College Promise provides 
          a tuition-free semester at LBCC, guaranteed college admission, 
          early and continued outreach, and multiple pathway support.  It 
          appears that the Long Beach College Promise already contains 
          many of the same goals of the partnership established through 
          this bill.  However, this bill seeks to give flexibility to the 
          LBUSD and LBCCD with regard to existing concurrent enrollment 
          restrictions, so as to allow for greater participation of high 
          school pupils in the partnership.      

           Concurrent enrollment restrictions  : One of the most significant 
          changes to existing law proposed by this bill is to authorize 
          LBCCD to provide a priority to partnership pupils when enrolling 
          and registering for college courses.  Existing law provides that 
          concurrent enrollment students receive a low enrollment priority 
          in order to ensure they do not displace regular CCC students.  
          During difficult budget times, course registration priorities 
          can play an important role in managing enrollment at CCCs.  This 
          bill gives LBCCD the opportunity to prioritize students pursuing 
          and making satisfactory academic progress toward a degree, 
          certificate, transfer, basic skills, students making progress on 
          an individual education plan toward a career development 
          objective, and students participating in the partnership, so it 
          is unclear as to which groups of students might be impacted by 
          allowing partnership pupils to be amongst the three priorities 
          stated in this bill.  It can be argued however that some 
          students will be affected in consideration that General Fund 
          reductions combined with increased student demand has left many 
          CCCs around the state unable to provide course offerings to 
          fully meet student needs.  On the other hand, it can be argued 
          that this bill could reduce the need for remediation, as this 








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          partnership tries to address academic deficiencies while pupils 
          are still in high school.  

          Additionally, current law restricts summer concurrent enrollment 
          to 5% of the total number of high school pupils who completed a 
          grade immediately prior to the time of a principal making a 
          recommendation and provides for specified exemptions to the 5% 
          cap.  Additionally, current law requires principal 
          recommendation and school board authority in order for eligible 
          high school pupils to attend a community college as a special 
          part-time or full-time student during any session or term.  A 
          pupil that is not recommended by a principal is able to attend a 
          community college as a special part-time or full-time student, 
          the pupil's parent or guardian petitions the governing board of 
          the school district to authorize the attendance, and if a pupil 
          is not enrolled in public school, his or her parent can directly 
          petition the president of the CCC.  This bill exempts pupils 
          participating in the partnership from all of these 
          aforementioned requirements, and instead, requires a 
          participating pupil to have parental consent, to complete the 
          augmented CST in grade 11, and to enroll in coursework in grade 
          12 to remedy deficiencies.  

          The author states, "Current law restricts Long Beach Community 
          College (LBCC) from admitting more high school students to take 
          courses at LBCC.  This bill would give greater flexibility to 
          LBCC to admit more Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) 
          seniors who are participating in the Long Beach College Promise 
          Program."  

          Previous concerns about abuses of concurrent enrollment in the 
          CCCs have led to some of the existing restrictions, for example, 
          in 2002 some community college districts were inappropriately 
          enrolling high school students in physical education (PE) 
          courses, instructors were paid twice for the same courses, state 
          apportionments were paid to both K-12 and the CCC for the same 
          courses, and CCC districts were using summer sports camps to 
          inflate their enrollments for significant monetary gain.  Some 
          districts eventually admitted their illegal actions and repaid 
          funds.  Statute now places strict limits on PE concurrent 
          enrollment.  While this bill removes some barriers to concurrent 
          enrollment for pupils participating in the partnership, this 
          bill does not change the limitations regarding physical 
          education (PE) courses.  In addition to concerns about PE 
          abuses, concerns have been expressed that expanding concurrent 








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          enrollment can potentially allow for increased "double dipping" 
          on the part of K-12 and CCC districts.  The concern is generally 
          that concurrent enrollment allows both the school district and 
          the CCC district to claim apportionments for the same student.  
          This bill seeks to address this concern by prohibiting LBCCD 
          from receiving funding for instructional activities for which a 
          school district has been, or shall be, paid an allowance or 
          apportionment.  

           Sunset date  : According to the rules of this Committee, any bill 
          that proposes the creation of a pilot project shall contain a 
          statement of purpose of the proposed pilot project which 
          specifically states the goals or objectives and the length of 
          time of the project; any such bill shall also contain a sunset 
          provision not to exceed five years.  This bill contains a 
          six-year sunset and the author points out that the reason is to 
          ensure the bill encompasses an entire student cohort 
          participating in the Long Beach College Promise.  Assuming a 
          cohort takes 5 years to complete the program, and given that the 
          program started in the fall of 2008, ten years will have passed 
          by the time this bill sunsets, which appears to give ample time 
          to study the impact of the pilot program.   Staff recommends  an 
          amendment to shorten the sunset from six to five years, 
          consistent with this Committee's rules.        

           Technical amendments  : To replace references to "a school 
          district" with "Long Beach Unified School District," as 
          appropriate, throughout the bill, as this bill is specific to 
          the LBUSD and LBCCCD.  

          On page 6, line 6, before "credit" add "at least one of the 
          following," in order to not imply that the curricular pathways 
          that would be offered through this bill can only lead to only 
          one of the following options: general education, a CTE 
          certificate, or a degree but rather the pathways can lead to 
          more than one of these pathways.   

          This bill was heard and passed by the Assembly Higher Education 
          Committee on June 21, 2011 with an 8-0 vote.   

           Arguments in support  :  The Long Beach Unified School District 
          writes, "All three Long Beach education institutions have 
          committed to working together to deliver the College Promise for 
          the young people and families of the Long Beach area to assess, 
          improve and expand high quality, world-class educational 








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          opportunities.  SB 650 (Lowenthal) is intended to accelerate 
          this process by providing LBCCD with additional flexibility to 
          ensure even more students are adequately prepared to enter 
          higher education institutions and graduate or transfer to CSULB 
          in a timely fashion."

           Related legislation :  AB 160 (Portantino), pending in the Senate 
          Appropriations Committee, provides specified exemptions from 
          concurrent enrollment laws for community college districts that 
          enter into partnership agreements with local school districts to 
          provide concurrent enrollment opportunities for high school 
          students.  

          AB 230 (Carter), pending on the Governor's desk, exempts 
          students attending middle college high schools from the 
          requirement that CCC governing boards assign low enrollment 
          priority to concurrent enrollment students.

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :

           Support 
           
          Long Beach Community College District 
          Long Beach Unified School District 
          Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation
          The Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce

           Opposition 
           
          None on file. 

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Marisol Aviña / ED. / (916) 319-2087