BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 944
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Date of Hearing: May 1, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 944 (Nestande) - As Introduced: February 22, 2013
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:13-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill establishes a common definition of distance learning
course and requires data gathering and reporting on such courses
offered by the state public postsecondary institutions.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Defines distance learning course as a course conducted with a
majority of the instructional content delivered when faculty
and students are in different locations and instruction is
delivered through technology.
2)Requires the California State University (CSU) and the
California Community Colleges (CCC), and requests the
University of California (UC), by January 1, 2016 and every
two years thereafter until January 1, 2020, to report
specified workload and performance data to the Legislature,
including program completion rates for degree programs that
include exclusively distance learning courses.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Community colleges currently report all the information
required in this bill except distance education program
completion rates. Assuming all districts incurred costs
averaging a few thousand dollars for programming, total
one-time General Fund (Prop. 98) reimbursable costs, for the
initial report, would be $140,000 to $210,000. Costs for
succeeding reports should be reimbursable. The Chancellor's
Office of the CCC will incur one-time General Fund costs up to
$40,000 to update its curriculum inventory.
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2)CSU will incur one-time General Fund costs of $60,000 to
$100,000 to implement the reporting requirements. UC indicates
that any costs would be absorbable.
COMMENTS
1)Background . Distance learning generally refers to instruction
where faculty and students are in separate locations and
communicating using technology-usually over the internet or
with television. The main providers of distance learning in
California are private for-profit colleges and CCC. According
to the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), in 2011-12, the CCC
system spent approximately $500 million serving over 100,000
FTE students through online education (about 10% of total
instruction provided that year). Though CSU does not separate
costs by instructional type, each of the segment's 23 campuses
provide online instruction, primarily to undergraduate s. UC
has historically offered very little state-supported online
instruction, yet over the past few years, UC has expanded its
online program-with plans to continue adding courses in the
near future. Among the three segments, the LAO estimates more
than 20,000 undergraduate courses (and more than 30,000 course
sections) were offered online in 2011-12.
2)Purpose . According to the author, this bill seeks to increase
college access to those unable to participate in traditional
classroom college instruction and/or who find distance
learning to be a better option. The bill's provisions are
based on the recommendations contained in a 2010 LAO report,
"Using Distance Education to Increase College Access and
Efficiency." According to the, LAO there is no common
definition of distance learning among California's public
postsecondary institutions, making it impossible for the
Legislature and segments to measure workload and track
enrollment trends.
3)Prior Legislation . This bill is substantially similar to AB
851 (Nestande) of 2010, which was held on Suspense in Senate
Appropriations.
4)Related Legislation . The following online education bills are
pending in this committee:
a) AB 386 (Levine) requires that CSU students have an
opportunity to enroll in online courses available at other
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CSU campuses, beginning in 2015-16.
b) AB 387 (Levine) requires CSU to report performance date
regarding online course.
c) AB 895 (Rendon) establishes a task force to evaluate and
collect data postsecondary online education.
In addition, SB 520 (Steinberg) seeks to provide a
statewide mechanism for online course providers to offer
transferable courses for credit throughout the state's
public postsecondary education, and SB 547 (Block) requires
the UC, CSU, and CCC academic senates to identify online
courses to be available for students of all three segments.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081