BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2160 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 2160 (Ting) As Amended August 18, 2014 Majority vote ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |78-0 |(May 28, 2014) |SENATE: |31-2 |(August 19, | | | | | | |2014) | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: HIGHER ED. SUMMARY : Requires a grade point average (GPA) for all high school seniors at public schools to be submitted to the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) electronically by a school or school district official. The Senate amendments : 1)Establish that each pupil enrolled in grade 12 in a California public school, including a charter school, other than pupils who opt out, shall be deemed to be a Cal Grant applicant. 2)Require CSAC to require: a) A GPA be submitted to it for all Cal Grant A and B applicants, except for those permitted to provide test scores in lieu of a GPA; b) A GPA be submitted to it electronically for all grade 12 pupils at public schools, including charter schools, each academic year, except for pupils who have opted out. Social security numbers must not be included in the information submitted to CSAC unless CSAC determines it necessary to complete the application for financial aid, in which case the school may obtain permission from the pupil and/or guardian. c) Each reported GPA include a certification, executed under penalty of perjury, by a school official, that the GPA reported is accurately reported. 3)Provide Legislative intent that high schools and institutions of higher education certify the GPA of their students in time to meet the application deadlines imposed by law. AB 2160 Page 2 4)Requires a school district or charter school to provide an opportunity for a student and/or guardian to opt out of all of the aforementioned and requires students and/or guardians to be notified of the opportunity to opt out. 5)Provides that until a student turns 18 years of age, only a parent or guardian may opt the pupil out. Once a student turns 18 years of age, only the student may opt himself or herself out. EXISTING LAW : 1)Requires GPAs for Cal Grant A and B applicants to be submitted to CSAC; requires GPAs to include a certification by a school official that the GPA is accurately reported; authorizes CSAC to establish grace periods for the receipt of GPAs and corrections; and, establishes Legislative intent that high schools and institutions of higher education certify GPAs of students in time to meet Cal Grant application deadlines. (Education Code (EDC) Section 69432) 2)Authorized school districts to release information from pupil records to agencies or organizations in connection with the application of a pupil for, or receipt of, financial aid. However, information permitting the personal identification of a pupil or his or her parents may be disclosed only as may be necessary for purposes as to determine the eligibility of the pupil for financial aid, to determine the amount of the financial aid, to determine the conditions that will be imposed regarding the financial aid, or to enforce the terms or conditions of the financial aid. (EDC Section 49076) FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: 1)Mandate: Potentially significant reimbursable mandate on school districts to electronically submit the GPAs of every 12th grade student, with specified exceptions, and to administer an opt-out system for families. 2)CSAC administration: Potentially significant workload to receive and process additional GPAs, and to provide technical assistance to schools and school districts. This workload would be off-set, to some degree, by a reduction in the number AB 2160 Page 3 of hard copy GPAs that CSAC processes. 3)Cal Grant awards: Potentially significant Cal Grant costs (General Fund), to the extent that this bill results in more Cal Grant awards. COMMENTS : The Education Trust-West (ETW) is the sponsor of this bill. ETW issued a report in 2013 entitled, The Cost of Opportunity, which found that only 54% of California's 12th graders completed a FAFSA in 2012, and only 50% completed both steps of the requirements to apply for a Cal Grant by the March 2nd deadline. In 2014, a follow up Equity Alert entitled, Doorways to College Aid: Boosting Access to Financial Aid in California, found that 2013 rates increased statewide by 7% and 8% respectively; a total of 25,000 additional FAFSA completions and more than 30,000 additional Cal Grant applications. ETW notes that, while these increases highlight the work by school districts and the state to help students apply for financial aid, still 170,000 (42%) 12th graders from the class of 2013 did not complete a Cal Grant application. ETW notes that one "high-impact practice employed by districts is to submit GPAs electronically for all students. Some districts continue to balk at adopting this practice due to privacy concerns despite the fact that it has proven effective in getting more students into the pipeline for college aid. A number of districts that have shifted to this practice have seen dramatic gains in the number of Cal Grant awards offered to their students." ETW research indicates that districts that piloted using electronic GPA verification and other data-driven practices found a 15% increase in Cal Grant completion. This bill would require public high schools to electronically transfer high school GPAs for all high school seniors to CSAC. According to the author, while some districts already provide GPAs to CSAC for all or some students, many do not. The author notes that Los Angeles and San Francisco unified school districts are already providing GPAs for all high school seniors to CSAC and, according to the author, report that costs for computer programming are minor and absorbable and districts experienced an overall cost savings associated with high school counselors no longer being required to complete paper forms for students. The author also notes that CSAC reported processing over 70,000 paper GPA forms in 2013, taking significant staff time. The author believes that overall cost savings associated with this bill could result in more time for high school AB 2160 Page 4 counsellors and CSAC to outreach to students encouraging FAFSA completion. Without legislation, the author argues "it would take several years for all school districts to implement the best practice in this bill." Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916) 319-3960 FN: 0005058