BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 889
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Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
889 (Chang) - As Amended May 1, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill authorizes a school district to allow a pupil to
concurrently enroll at a community college to take STEM
(science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) courses if
the student has exhausted all opportunities to enroll in
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equivalent courses in the school district. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Authorizes school districts and community college districts
(CCDs) to establish partnership agreements, as specified,
regarding the above.
2)Prohibits a CCD from receiving a state apportionment for an
instructional activity for which a school district is paid an
apportionment.
3)Limits to 11 the number of credits for which a student may
enroll at a community college pursuant to a partnership
agreement.
4)Allows a CCD to assign an enrollment priority to a pupil
admitted pursuant to a partnership agreement only to the
extent this does not displace regularly admitted community
college students.
5)Makes CCDs and school districts entering into a partnership
agreement exempt from existing concurrent enrollment
parameters.
6)Requires partnering districts to report specified information
annually to the Chancellor's Office of the California
Community Colleges (CCC), which must transmit the reports to
the Legislature, the Governor, and the Superintendent of
Public Instruction.
FISCAL EFFECT:
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1)To the extent CCDs can claim apportionment funding for
additional concurrently enrolled students, there will be
increased General Fund (Prop 98) costs. The equivalent of only
33 additional full-time equivalent students (FTES) statewide,
at the current funding rate of $4,676 per FTES would exceed
$150,000. To the extent, however, that community colleges as a
whole are already using all state funds apportioned for
enrollment, the bill will result in unknown Prop 98 cost
pressure to allocate additional state funding for enrollment
growth.
2)To the extent the bill results in more students accelerating
their postsecondary education-by reducing their time to
degree-the state, the districts, and students will benefit
from these efficiencies.
COMMENTS:
1)Background. Current law authorizes the governing board of a
school district, upon recommendation of the principal of a
student's school of attendance, and with parental consent, to
authorize a student who would benefit from advanced scholastic
or vocational work to attend a community college as a special
part-time or full-time student. Additionally, current law
prohibits a principal from recommending, for community college
summer session attendance, more than five percent of the total
number of students in the same grade level.
2)Purpose. According to the author's office, students pursuing
degrees in STEM often take the longest time to graduate, and
part of the delay is due to lack of course availability,
specifically in "bottleneck" courses that many students
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require for their respective majors but only a small portion
can take at a time.
The author contends that the current limit placed on the
number of students allowed to concurrently attend a CCC, while
also being enrolled in a public high school, continues to
create obstacles for "high achieving students that would
otherwise be able to create an opportunity for a smooth
transition from high school to college while simultaneously
fulfilling requirements for their undergraduate degree."
3)Related Legislation. AB 288 (Holden), also on today's
committee agenda, seeks to expand concurrent enrollment by
authorizing school districts and CCDs to enter into
partnerships to provide seamless pathways from high school to
community college for career technical education (CTE) or
preparation for transfer, improving high school graduation
rates, or helping high school pupils to achieve college and
career readiness.
AB 542 (Wilk), pending on this committee's Suspense file,
allows a student attending an early or middle college high
school (E/MCHS), who is enrolled in a community college
physical education (P. E.) course required for the student's
E/MCHS program, to not be considered as a special part-time or
full-time student for purposes of existing enrollment caps on
special part-time and full-time students.
4)Prior Legislation. AB 1451 (Holden) of 2014, which was similar
to AB 288, was held on Suspense in Senate Appropriations.
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AB 1540 (Hagman) of 2014, which was similar to this bill, but
applied specifically to computer science courses, was held on
this committee's Suspense file.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081