BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                             Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
                            2015 - 2016  Regular  Session

          AB 968 (Williams) - Postsecondary education: transcripts.
          
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          |Version: February 26, 2015      |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0          |
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          |Urgency: No                     |Mandate: Yes                    |
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          |Hearing Date: August 17, 2015   |Consultant: Jillian Kissee      |
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          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.


          Bill  
          Summary:  This bill requires the governing boards of the state's  
          public and private postsecondary education institutions to  
          indicate that a student has been suspended or expelled from the  
          institution on the student's transcript for the time period of  
          the student's ineligibility to enroll.


          Fiscal  
          Impact:  
           Costs likely ranging from about $200,000 to $300,000 for  
            colleges to develop and implement the required notation on  
            student transcripts.  These costs could be required to be  
            reimbursed by the state if the Commission on State Mandates  
            determines this bill to impose a state mandate.  If determined  
            a mandate, it could create pressure to increase the community  
            college mandate block grant to reflect the new mandate.  See  
            staff comments.  (Proposition 98)
           The University of California (UC) and the California State  
            University (CSU) do not anticipate additional costs associated  







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            with this bill.  


          Background:  Existing law requires the UC Regents, the CSU Trustees, and  
          the governing board of every community college district to adopt  
          specific rules governing student behavior and applicable  
          penalties for violations of the rules; as well as the adoption  
          of procedures by which students are informed of such rules and  
          applicable penalties.  (Education Code § 66300)

          Current law provides that any community college district that  
          receives an application for admission from an individual who has  
          been expelled from, or who is undergoing expulsion proceedings  
          in another district for any of a number of specified offenses  
          may deny, permit, or permit conditionally, the enrollment of the  
          student.  The district must first hold a hearing, as specified,  
          to determine whether the individual poses a continuing danger to  
          the district's students and employees.  Current law also  
          requires a formal appeal process be established for any student  
          denied enrollment under these provisions.  


          Proposed Law:  
            This bill requires the governing board of each community  
          college district, the CSU Trustees, the UC Regents, the  
          governing body of each independent institution of higher  
          education, and the governing body of each private postsecondary  
          educational institution to indicate on a student's transcript  
          during a student's suspension or expulsion when a student is  
          ineligible to reenroll, for the duration the student is  
          ineligible to reenroll. 


          Related  
          Legislation:  AB 969 (Williams, 2015) expands those expulsion  
          offenses which a community college district may require a  
          student seeking admission to disclose to include sexual assault,  
          domestic violence, dating violence and stalking.  It also  
          provides that a district may require a student previously  
          expelled for these offenses to inform the district considering  
          admission of such expulsion.  AB 969 is pending in this  
          committee.










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          Staff  
          Comments:  This bill requires the governing board of each  
          community college district to make specified notations on  
          student transcripts related to suspension and expulsion.  The  
          California Community College Chancellor's Office indicates that  
          costs would range between $1,000 and $3,000 for each college to  
          comply with this requirement.  According to the Chancellor's  
          Office, about 68 colleges use electronic transcripts and would  
          therefore incur costs towards the low end of the range, while  
          the others would incur costs up to $3,000 each.


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