BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 1070 (Steinberg) - Career Technical Education Pathways
Program.
Amended: March 26, 2012 Policy Vote: Education 8-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 24, 2012 Consultant: Jacqueline
Wong-Hernandez
SUSPENSE FILE.
Bill Summary: SB 1070 recasts and revises provisions of the
Education Code that govern the Career Technical Education (CTE)
Pathways Initiative, and extends the program's sunset date from
January 1, 2013 until January 1, 2018. This bill makes numerous
legislative findings and declarations.
Fiscal Impact:
Sunset extensions: Substantial General Fund cost pressure
beginning in 2014-15, after the program's current funding
source is reduced by $28 million. On-going annual cost
pressure of $48 million beginning in 2015-16, after the
program's current funding source ends.
Background: SB 70 (Scott) Chapter 352/2005 established the CTE
Pathways Initiative and provided funding for its activities. The
program is currently a component of the California Community
Colleges Economic and Workforce Development (EWD) Program and
has served nearly 750,000 California middle and high school
pupils and college students through a variety of programs and
services designed to increase their success in college and
career.
SB 1133 (Torlakson) Chapter 751/2006, the Quality Education
Investment Act (QEIA) implemented a settlement with the
California Teachers Association and makes funding available to
allocate to elementary, secondary, and charter schools that are
ranked in either decile 1 or 2 as determined by the 2005
Academic Performance Index base.
Since then, QEIA money has been used to (among other purposes)
provide funding for the CTE Pathways Initiative grants and
SB 1070 (Steinberg)
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contracts. QEIA funding is budgeted through 2014-15 for this
program, but its current annual funding level of $48 million
will fall to $20 million in 2014-15, the last year for which
QEIA funds will be available. The discrepancy in funding is
caused by statute (which allocated the money) having been
enacted before the final settlement amount was reached. By
2014-15, the $2.71 billion final settlement will have a
remainder of $181 million, not the $450 million allocated for
2014-15 in statute.
Proposed Law: This bill makes changes to the governing
principles and updates the goals of the CTE Pathways Initiative.
It sets out new requirements for grant priorities, favoring
programs that can demonstrate statewide benefit, and additional
accountability measures for grantees and requirements for grant
renewal. This bill extends the CTE Pathways program sunset to
January 1, 2018, and provides that funding is subject to a
Budget appropriation.
Related Legislation: SB 1402 (Lieu), a companion bill also
scheduled to be heard by this Committee on May 7, 2012,
generally recasts and revises provisions governing the
California Community Colleges' Economic and Workforce
Development Program and extends its sunset to January 1, 2018.
Staff Comments: This bill extends the sunset on a program that
has received annual funding of $48 million of QEIA settlement
money past the end of that funding source, creating General Fund
cost pressure to continue funding the program through 2017-2018.
Without the sunset extension authorized by this bill, the
program would cease at the end of its funding cycle.
The changes to the program's principles and accountability are
unlikely to result in additional costs to the program.