BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 542
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|Author: |Wilk |
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|Version: |March 23, 2015 Hearing |
| |Date: July 1, 2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Kathleen Chavira |
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Subject: Community colleges: early and middle college high
schools
SUMMARY
This bill exempts Early College High School students from the
requirement that a community school district governing board
assign a low enrollment priority to special part-time or
full-time students and prohibits a student enrolled in a
community college physical education (PE) course required for
the student's middle college or early college high school
program from being considered a special part-time or full-time
student, thereby excluding these students from the cap on PE
courses for which the community college can claim full-time
equivalent students (FTES).
BACKGROUND
Existing law:
1)Authorizes the governing board of a school district, upon
recommendation of the principal of a pupil's school and with
parental consent, to authorize a student to concurrently
enroll in a community college during any session or term to
undertake one or more courses of instruction. (Education Code
§ 48800 et seq.)
2)Authorizes a community college district governing board to
admit as a special part-time or full-time student any student
eligible pursuant to EC 48800 and requires the governing board
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of a California Community College district to assign these
students a low enrollment priority in order to ensure that
these students do not displace regularly admitted community
college students. An exemption to this requirement is
extended to Middle College High School (MCHS) students. (EC §
76001)
3)Restricts the proportion of a community college PE class that
may be comprised of special part-time or full-time students to
10 percent and caps the amount of state apportionment that may
be claimed for these students at no more than 5 percent of the
district's total reported full-time equivalent enrollment of
special part-time and full-time students. (EC § 76002)
4)Establishes Middle College High Schools as broad-based
comprehensive instructional programs focusing on college
preparatory and school-to-work curricula, career education,
work experience, community service, and support and
motivational activities. (EC § 11300)
5)Existing law declares that early college high schools (ECHS)
are innovative partnerships between public secondary schools
and a local community college,
California State University of California or University of
California, that allow students to earn up to two years of
college credit at the same time they are earning a high school
diploma. Early college high schools (ECHS) are small
autonomous schools that blend high school and college into a
coherent educational program.
(EC §11302)
ANALYSIS
This bill relaxes the restrictions on community college
enrollment of special part-time and full-time students enrolled
in middle college and early college high schools. It:
1)Exempts special part-time or full-time community college students
who attend an early college high school from the requirement
that they be assigned a low enrollment priority by the
community college district.
2)Declares that a student attending middle college high school or
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early college high school is not considered a special
part-time or full-time student for purposes of the enrollment
and apportionment caps on community college PE courses if the
PE course is required for the student's high school program,
thereby excluding these students from the caps on PE courses
for which the community college can claim full-time equivalent
students (FTES).
3)Eliminates any cap on enrollment or apportionment funding
applicable to special part-time and full-time students in
community college PE courses for students attending middle
college, or early college high schools.
STAFF COMMENTS
1)Need for the bill. According to the author's office, AB 230
(Carter, Chapter 50, Statues of 2011), extended the exemption
from low priority enrollment status to Middle College High
School (MCHS) students and this bill will bring parity to ECHS
students by extending them the same exemption. In addition,
the author is concerned that students enrolled in ECHS and
MCHS programs located on community college campuses do not
have access to high school PE facilities yet must complete PE
courses to meet state level high school graduation
requirements. Currently community colleges that provide these
classes are not reimbursed for providing them to these
students. This bill would ensure community colleges receive
funding for providing PE courses to these students.
2)Related History. In December 2002, the Orange County Register
ran the first in a series of highly critical articles
regarding concurrent enrollment practices in the community
colleges. The articles specifically focused on high school PE
classes and various suspected abuses, including "phantom"
classes that were apparently never held.
These anecdotal allegations resulted in a Chancellor's Office
investigation which revealed that FTES generated by
concurrent enrollment in both credit and noncredit courses
grew from approximately 16,000 in 1992-93 to over 52,000 in
2000-01, outpacing the overall enrollment growth of the
community college system. While concurrent enrollment
included courses in a variety of curricular areas, there had
been significant growth in concurrent enrollment in physical
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education (PE) courses. The proportion of full-time
equivalent students (FTES) for concurrent enrollment in PE
courses was approximately 15 percent in 1992-93, but these
courses comprised 34 percent of FTES for concurrent enrollment
in 2000-01, the equivalent of 1.7 percent of all the FTES
generated by the community colleges as a system. The expansion
of concurrent enrollment in PE courses was more pronounced in
about one-fifth (20 percent) of the system's 72 districts and
was especially evident with respect to PE programs. By
2001-02, six districts within the system produced 53 percent
of the PE concurrent enrollment FTES generated by the entire
system for that year. These districts included Los Angeles,
Butte, North Orange, Contra Costa, Santa Clarita, and Mt. San
Antonio.
As a result, SB 338 (Scott, Chapter 786, Statutes of 2003) was
enacted to specify the conditions whereby concurrent
enrollment of pupils between a school and community college
district is permitted, establish restrictions on the amount of
FTES that could be claimed for PE courses, and require annual
reporting by the Chancellor of the amount of FTES claimed by
each district for special full-time and special part-time
students overall and for PE courses specifically.
3)Middle College High School (MCHS)/Early College High School
(ECHS). According to Jobs for the Future, a nonprofit
organization which launched the ECHS initiative in 2002, there
are currently 40 ECHS in California, of which 92 percent are
partnered with a community college. The demographic make-up
of the ECHS students in the 40 schools in California is as
follows: 60 percent are Latino; 17 percent are White; 9
percent are Black; and, 6 percent are Asian. There are 40 ECHS
in California according to the Jobs for the Future.
ECHS are designed for young people who are underrepresented in
postsecondary education, including students who have not had
access to the academic preparation needed to meet college
readiness standards, students for whom the cost of college is
prohibitive, students of color, first generation
college-goers, and English language learners.
According to the Chancellor's Office, Middle College High
School is a collaborative program that enables high-potential,
"at-risk" students to obtain a high school education while
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concurrently receiving direct access to college courses and
services. The high school is located on and integrated into
the community college environment, whereby high school
students attend classes at a community college and earn credit
toward a high school diploma while having the opportunity to
concurrently take college courses and to receive more
intensive counseling and administrative attention. According
to the Chancellor's Office 9 community colleges offer
recognized middle college programs. These include College of
the Canyons, Contra Costa College, Grossmont College, Los
Angeles Harbor College, Reedley College, San Bernardino Valley
College, San Joaquin Delta College, Santa Ana College, and
West Hills College - Lemoore.
4)Reporting? Current law requires an annual report on the amount
of FTES claimed for special part-time and full-time students
by each district in the preceding academic year, and
specifically requires reporting on degree-applicable physical
education FTES. According to the report, full-time equivalent
students (FTES) for special part-time and full-time enrollment
in physical education (PE) courses has gone from a high of
10,658 in 2002-03 to a low of 567 in 2013-14. It is unclear
whether any of the existing FTES is attributable to Middle
College High School (MCHS) and Early College High School
(ECHS) student enrollments. It is also unclear how many of
these students currently meet their PE requirements by taking
these courses at their high schools. Would this bill create an
incentive for ECHS and MCHS programs to expand enrollment in
community college PE courses? How much community college FTES
should be used to fund PE instruction for special part-time
and full-time students? In light of the extensive issues with
concurrent enrollment PE classes in the past, what is the
potential for abuse of this new authority?
Staff recommends the bill be amended to expand the reporting
requirements in 76002 (d) to specifically include FTES claimed
for degree applicable PE courses in ECHS and MCHS programs.
Staff further recommends the bill be amended to sunset the
authority in 2021, pending a review of these reporting
results.
5)Prior legislation. AB 2352 (Chesbro, 2014) exempted a student
attending an ECHS from lower community college enrollment
status, and authorized districts to claim apportionment
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funding for MCHS and ECHS students for courses required for
the students' program even if the courses did not comply with
existing statutory criteria applicable to other high school
students taking community college courses. AB 2352 was heard
and passed by this committee by a vote of 6-0 but was
subsequently held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SUPPORT
California School Boards Association
College of the Canyons
OPPOSITION
None received.
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