BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 173
AUTHOR: Liu
AMENDED: April 8, 2013
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 17, 2013
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira
SUBJECT : Adult Education.
SUMMARY
This bill reduces the categories of adult education courses
authorized to be offered by K-12 districts and the
community colleges in order to receive state funding and
establishes processes and new authorities to align student
assessment policy, performance data and accountability
systems, teacher qualifications, and fee policy for adult
education courses offered by either the California
Community Colleges (CCC) and K-12 local educational
agencies. The bill also declares the Legislature's intent
that adult education funding be allocated on the basis of
enrollment and performance beginning in 2015-16.
BACKGROUND
Current law authorizes both the California Community
Colleges and K-12 systems to offer and receive state
funding for adult education courses. (Education Code �
41976 and � 84757)
Current law prohibits the local governing board of a
community college district maintaining a noncredit course
from requiring an adult enrolled in such a course to pay
nonresident tuition or any fee or charge of any kind for a
class in English and citizenship for foreigners, a class in
an elementary subject, a class designated as granting high
school credit to an individual without a high school
diploma or other adult basic education programs and
courses, as specified.
(EC � 76380)
Current law authorizes a school district governing board to
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require a fee of an adult enrolled in a class for adults
and prohibits the total of the fees required and revenues
derived from average daily attendance from exceeding the
estimated cost of maintaining such classes. Current law
also prohibits the imposition of a charge of any kind for a
class in English and citizenship or a class in an
elementary subject, nor for any class which is designated
as granting high school credit when the class is taken by a
person who does not hold a high school diploma. However,
current law temporarily grants the authority to districts
to charge a fee for a class in English and citizenship
until July 1, 2015
(EC � 52612)
Current law prohibits the California Community Colleges
from requiring an adult enrolled in a noncredit course to
pay nonresident tuition or any fee or charge of any kind
for a class in English and citizenship for foreigners, a
class in an elementary subject, a class designated by the
governing board as a class for which high school credit is
granted when the class is taken by a person who does not
hold a high school diploma, or any class offered by a
community college district pursuant to Sections 8531, 8532,
8533, or 8534. (EC �76380)
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Requires the California Department of Education and
the Community College Chancellor's Office to:
a) Coordinate and issue assessment
policy guidelines to be used by CCC and K-12
districts for purposes of placement in an adult
education course.
b) Jointly establish and implement a
comprehensive performance accountability system
for adult education courses, as specified.
2) Reduces the categories of adult education courses for
which state funding may be claimed in both the K-12
system and the community college system from 10 to 6.
More specifically it:
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a) Deletes the authority to claim
adult education funding for adult programs in
parenting, adult programs for older adults, and
adult programs in home economics and adult
programs in health and safety education.
b) Maintains six categories of
state-supported adult education (K-12) and
non-credit adult education courses at the
community college including, elementary and
secondary basic skills and other courses required
for a high school diploma, English as a second
language (ESL), classes and courses for
immigrants eligible for educational services, as
specified, education programs for adults with
disabilities, short-term career technical
education programs with high employment
potential, and programs for apprentices.
3) Authorizes the governing board of a community college
district to charge a fee for adult education courses,
pursuant to regulations adopted by the Board of
Governors, until July 1, 2015 and further:
a) Requires a community college
district that chooses to charge a fee for adult
education courses to report information on the
amount of the fee, the number of classes, and
enrollment in those classes to the Chancellor's
Office for purposes of providing the information
to the Legislative Analyst's Office.
b) Requires the Legislative Analyst's
Office (LAO) to provide a summary and analysis of
the reported information to the appropriate
legislative fiscal and policy committees by
January 1, 2016.
4) Requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing and
the Academic Senate for the California Community
Colleges to meet and review their current requirements
for adult education instructors and to develop and
make recommendations on reciprocity standards to the
appropriate policy and fiscal committees by July 1,
2014.
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5) Declares the Legislature's intent that beginning in
2015-16 base adult education funds and noncredit adult
education funds be allocated to providers on the basis
of a combination of enrollment and performance in
statutorily authorized adult education courses.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . In its December 2012 report,
Restructuring California's Adult Education System, the
LAO identified several weaknesses with the current
adult education system, a bifurcated system in which
both K-12 and community colleges offer courses subject
to distinctly different policies. Similar findings
were identified in a series of reports prepared by the
California Budget Project (At a Crossroads series
publications, April 2010 - May 2011).
LAO recommendations to address these weaknesses
included the creation of:
a) A state-subsidized system focused on adult
education's core mission.
b) Common, statewide definitions that clearly
differentiate between adult education and college
education.
c) A common set of policies relating to faculty
qualifications, fees, and student assessment.
d) A dedicated stream of funding that fosters
cooperation between adult schools and community
colleges.
e) An integrated data system that tracks
student outcomes and helps the public hold
providers accountable for results.
This bill begins the implementation of programmatic
changes necessary to better align the bifurcated
system of delivering adult education and non-credit
adult education courses, and to begin a shift towards
a more rational and coordinated funding approach for
K-12 adult education and California Community College
noncredit adult education programs in California.
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2) Related budget activity . The Governor's 2013-14
budget proposes a number of changes to adult education
in California beginning in 2013-14. These changes
include elements that:
a) Eliminate the K-12 adult education
categorical program and consolidate all
associated annual funding into a new K-12 "local
control funding formula."
b) Appropriate $300 million in new Proposition
98 General Fund to reconstitute the adult
education program within the community college
system beginning in 2013-14 (the Governor's
proposal currently restricts community college
apportionments to "credit" instruction).
c) Shift $15.7 million from a K-12
apprenticeship program to a new community college
program.
3) Fee authority . This bill authorizes the community
colleges to charge a fee, subject to the adoption of
regulations by the Board of Governors (BOG).
According to the author, it is the intent to parallel
the fee authority extended to K-12 adult education
programs by AB 189 (Eng, Chapter 606, Statutes of
2011), which was implemented in order to address the
growing demand in English acquisition courses and
enable districts to maintain these courses during the
period of categorical flexibility. In addition these
provisions are intended to be consistent with
Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) recommendations
from Restructuring Adult Education to establish a
modest enrollment fee to resolve some inconsistencies
between K-12 and community adult education courses.
To ensure clear statutory direction regarding this new
fee authority at the community colleges staff
recommends the bill be amended to clarify that "In
order to ensure that a district has the capacity to
meet the demand for adult education courses for recent
immigrants, the community colleges are authorized to
charge a modest fee, pursuant to BOG adopted
regulations and consistent with Education Code �
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52612, until July 1, 2015."
4) Fee authority implementation report . Staff recommends
the bill be amended on page 5, line 5 to indicate that
the "appropriate legislative committees" are the
Senate and Assembly Education and Assembly Higher
Education Committees and the Senate and Assembly
Budget Committees.
5) Clarification of course offerings/restrictions .
Currently this bill authorizes adult education funding
for courses that are required for the high school
diploma. In order to ensure that the reduction in
course categories does not preclude the use of funding
to prepare adults for demonstrating completion of
elementary and secondary basic skills through other
existing means, such as the General Educational
Development (GED) test, staff recommends the bill be
amended to add "or other high school equivalency
certification" on page 4, line 6, after "diploma."
6) Just to be clear . Currently, both K-12 and the
California Community College (CCC) may offer courses
to adults which are funded by means other than state
funding. These include community education courses at
the CCC, which are fee-based self-supporting courses,
and local partnerships at the K-12 level that use
funds available through regional centers, residential
care facilities, and First 5 California, to offer, for
example, parenting classes.
Staff recommends the bill be amended to clarify that
nothing in the provisions should be construed to limit
the authority to offer adult education programs and
courses outside those listed in Education Code
sections 41976 and 84757, provided that those programs
or courses are funded through alternative funding
sources, including fees, if the district is authorized
to charge them.
SUPPORT
Association of California School Administrators
OPPOSITION
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Faculty Association of California Community Colleges.