BILL NUMBER: SB 1425 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 4, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 27, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Senator Block
FEBRUARY 21, 2014
An act to add Article 1.7 (commencing with Section 78025) to
Chapter 1 of Part 48 of Division 7 of Title 3 of , and to add
and repeal Section 78026 of, the Education Code, relating to
community colleges.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1425, as amended, Block. Community colleges:
retroactive awarding of degrees. degree audit system.
(1) Existing
Existing law establishes the California Community
Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the
California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of the
public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law
establishes community college districts throughout the state, and
authorizes those districts to provide instruction at community
college campuses.
This bill, prior to the beginning of the spring term of each
academic year, and in accord with a specified timetable, would
require each community college district with a specified
Internet-accessible automatic degree audit system in place to conduct
a one-time inquiry as the system is put in place. That inquiry would
seek to identify the students who have completed the required units
to receive a degree or certificate, or who have completed the
transfer requirements of the California State University or the
Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum, in up to 12 of
the highest demand majors, as determined by each community college
district, during the previous 2 academic years.
The bill would require each affected community college campus to
notify the students identified under the bill as eligible to receive
a degree or certificate that they are eligible for the degree or
certificate. The bill would provide that these students would have
the choice of opting out or receiving the degree or certificate.
The
This bill would require the Chancellor of the
California Community Colleges to identify and procure a
commercially available utility
utilities and procure at least one of those utilities to
conduct systemwide automatic degree audits that would enable
community college student services staff to monitor student progress
toward completion of a certificate or degree, or the credits required
to meet the transfer requirements of the California State University
or the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum. The
bill would require the chancellor's office to oversee the
implementation of the bill in accordance with a timetable that would
require all campuses of the California Community Colleges to have the
automatic degree audit system in place by December 31,
2017, 2019, as specified.
The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to submit
a report to the Legislature and the Governor on the progress of the
implementation of the retroactive degree awarding and
online degree audit system on or before December 31,
2017, and on or before December 31 every 3 years thereafter.
2020.
This bill would not be operative until the board of governors
certifies that sufficient funds have been received from state,
federal, or private sources to implement the online degree audit
system that would be created under the bill.
Because this bill would impose new duties on community college
districts, it would constitute a state-mandated local program.
(2) The
The California Constitution requires the state to
reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs
mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for
making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) California is falling behind in producing the necessary
postsecondary education to ensure our state's prosperity and
opportunities for individuals in the 21st century.
(2) California faces a degree and certificate gap, and is
projected to need one million more workers with bachelor's degrees
and an additional 1.3 million workers with associate degrees or
certificates by 2025. Today, one in every four jobs requires at least
an associate degree.
(3) In the near future, one in every three jobs will require at
least an associate degree. Failure to make significant improvements
in degree completion will result in a less productive economy, lower
incomes for residents, less tax revenue for the state, and more
dependence on social services.
(4) The California Community Colleges are the state's largest
workforce provider, offering associate degrees and short-term job
training certificates in more than 175 different fields.
(5) Meeting the current and future need for higher education
requires that postsecondary institutions improve their success rates
with current students and attract, and graduate, individuals from
groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in postsecondary
education.
(6) Degree audit systems efficiently support student persistence
and success efforts, and thereby save money for the institutions in
the longer term. This will be especially true of a degree audit
system that is centralized at the Chancellor's
Office of the Chancellor of the California Community
Colleges and paired with the online educational planner that is being
developed as part of the Seymour-Campbell Student Success Act of
2012.
(7) In California, less than one-fifth of community colleges have
online degree audit systems that can be used to inform their students
about their progress, leaving the remainder of the state's 112
community colleges without a mechanism to identify already earned
degrees.
(8)
(7) As movement toward performance-based budgeting
continues, retroactive degree awarding and degree
audit systems better position an institution to improve student
outcomes.
(9)
(8) Earning a certificate or degree from a community
college doubles an individual's chance of obtaining a job. At a time
when unemployment rates are nearly 9 percent, certificates and
degrees are all the more valuable.
(10)
(9) Earning a degree or certificate from a California
community college, on average, nearly doubles an individual's
earnings within three years, from $25,600 to $45,571.
(11)
(10) A national effort, Project Win-Win, is tackling
this issue in nine other states and is showing promising results.
This project introduces degree audit systems at colleges to
accomplish both of the following:
(A) Award degrees retroactively.
(B) Ensure
to ensure that, moving forward, students have
real-time information about their progress toward obtaining a degree.
(b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to do all of
the following:
(1) Build on national and local efforts to identify current
or former students who are eligible to obtain
their certificate or degree.
(2) Award degrees and certificates retroactively to those students
who have completed degree or certificate requirements.
(3)
(2) Establish a central an
auditing system at the California Community Colleges that
enables individual community colleges to audit student records,
identify the students who are eligible for a certificate or degree,
and notify these students of this valuable information.
SEC. 2. Article 1.7 (commencing with Section 78025) is added to
Chapter 1 of Part 48 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education Code,
to read:
Article 1.7. Retroactive Awarding of Degrees
Degree Audit System
78025. (a) The board of governors shall require all community
colleges to award degrees retroactively in accordance with this
article.
(b) Prior to the beginning of the spring term of the academic
year, and commencing with the 2015-16 academic year for the first 28
campuses, each community college district shall perform a one-time
inquiry as the automatic degree audit system required by this article
is put in place at each campus, consistent with the timetable
prescribed in Section 78026, to identify the students who have
completed the semester or quarter units required to receive a degree
or certificate, or who have completed the California State University
(CSU) or the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum
(IGETC) transfer requirements in up to 12 of the highest demand
majors, as determined by each community college district, during the
previous two academic years.
(c) A community college campus shall notify those students
identified pursuant to subdivision (b) as eligible to receive a
degree or certificate that they are eligible to receive the degree or
certificate. Those students shall have the choice to opt out or to
receive the degree or certificate.
78026. 78025. (a) The Chancellor of
the California Community Colleges shall identify a
commercially available utility
utilities to conduct systemwide automatic degree
audits for these purposes, audits, and procure
that utility at least one of those utilities
in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State
Contract Act (Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 10100) of Part 2 of
Division 2 of the Public Contract Code). Once this
that utility is or those
utilities are procured, the chancellor's office shall oversee
the implementation of this article in accordance with the following
timetable:
(1) At least 28 84 campuses of the
California Community Colleges shall have the automatic degree audit
system in place by December 31, 2015. 2018.
(2) At least 56 campuses of the California Community Colleges
shall have the automatic degree audit system in place by December 31,
2016.
(3)
(2) All campuses of the California Community Colleges
shall have the an automatic degree
audit system in place by December 31, 2017.
2019.
(b) The An automatic degree audit
system procured under this section shall satisfy all of the following
conditions:
(1) It shall comply with all pertinent privacy and security
considerations and requirements.
(2) It shall be centrally purchased
procured by the Chancellor's Office
Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges
in order to reduce costs through a bulk procurement process.
(3) It shall be managed by each community college district for use
among the campuses within each respective district.
(4) It shall enable community college counselors, advisors, and
other student services staff to monitor student progress toward
completing a degree or certificate program, or achieving the minimum
requirements for CSU or IGETC transfer.
(5) It shall be accessible to community college personnel and
students through an Internet Web portal that provides a degree
progress profile, generated for each student upon request, that
includes all information regarding credits earned that is available
in the community college's data.
78027. The
78026. (a) The
Legislative Analyst's Office shall submit a report to the Legislature
and the Governor on the progress of the implementation of the
retroactive degree awarding and online degree
audit system on or before December 31, 2017, and on or
before December 31 every three years thereafter. 2020.
(b) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this
section is repealed on December 31, 2024.
78028. 78027. The metrics to be
determined and reported pursuant to Section 78027
78026 shall include, but not necessarily be limited to,
all of the following:
(a) The number and percentage of community college students who
were identified and were awarded associate degrees or certificates,
or who were determined to have completed the CSU or IGETC transfer
requirements because of the degree audit system.
(b)
(a) The estimated economic benefits for the college and
labor market of the degree audit system.
(c)
(b) Other relevant indicators of student success
resulting from having a degree audit system in place.
78029. 78028. This article shall
not be operative until the board of governors certifies that
sufficient funds have been received from state, federal, or private
sources to implement the online degree audit system that would be
created under this section. The board of governors shall prominently
post this certification promptly on its Internet Web site.
SEC. 3. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local
agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant
to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.