BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 986
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
986 (Gipson)
As Amended April 23, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+----------------------|
|Higher |11-2 |Medina, Baker, |Chávez, Harper |
|Education | |Bloom, Irwin, | |
| | |Jones-Sawyer, | |
| | |Levine, Linder, | |
| | |Low, Santiago, | |
| | |Weber, Williams | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+----------------------|
|Appropriations |13-4 |Gomez, Bonta, |Bigelow, Gallagher, |
| | |Calderon, Chang, |Jones, Wagner |
| | |Daly, Eggman, | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Gordon, Holden, | |
| | |Quirk, Rendon, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Requires the Chancellor of the California Community
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Colleges (CCC) to provide a report to the Legislature regarding
Compton Community College District (Compton CCD). Specifically,
this bill:
1)Requires the CCC Chancellor to report to the Legislature
concerning the priorities identified in each Fiscal Crisis and
Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) report of Compton CCD and
provide a response on how the Chancellor intends to resolve
issues identified in the FCMAT report in a timely manner.
2)Provides that in any instance that there is a decline in
performance, the chancellor shall specifically identify
strategies for ensuring progress in its response to that report.
3)Requires the report(s) to be submitted within 150 days from
issuance of each FCMAT report.
EXISTING LAW:
1)In 2004, AB 61 (Dymally), Chapter 139, Statutes of 2004,
authorized the CCC Board of Governors to authorize the CCC
Chancellor to suspend the authority of the Compton CCD Board of
Trustees and appoint a special trustee, at expense to Compton
CCD, to manage operations. The law establishes that the special
trustee remains in place until the Chancellor, FCMAT, the
Director of Finance, and the Governor concur with the special
trustee that the Compton CCD has, for two consecutive years, met
the requirements of the assessment and recovery plan.
(Education Code (EDC) Section 71093)
2)In 2005, AB 318 (Dymally), Chapter 50, Statutes of 2005,
provided an emergency appropriation of $30 million from the
General Fund to the CCC Board of Governors for apportionment to
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the Compton CCD to facilitate the establishment of a partnership
with another CCC district to continue educational programs at
the Compton CCD campus, following the loss of Compton CCD's
accreditation. (EDC Sections 41329.58 and 74292 to 74296)
3)AB 318 also required FCMAT to conduct an audit by October 30,
2006, of alleged fraud, misappropriation of funds, and illegal
fiscal practices at Compton CCD and report to the CCC Board of
Governors and the Department of Finance. FCMAT was required to,
by January 31, 2007, conduct a comprehensive audit and prepare a
recovery plan. Finally, FCMAT was required to file regular
written status reports to the Legislature and Governor, among
others, regarding Compton CCD's progress toward addressing
deficiencies identified by FCMAT and the Accrediting Commission
for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC). (EDC Section
41329.59)
4)In 2014, following the potential loss of accreditation and the
appointment of a special trustee at San Francisco Community
College District, AB 2087 (Ammiano), Chapter 466, Statutes of
2014, was enacted to require the CCC Board of Governors to
ensure regulations governing the appointment of a special
trustee to manage a community college district include specific
benchmarks to indicate the presence of local capacity to resume
management of the district and clear standards that require
meaningful consultation by a special trustee with the district
prior to decision making. (EDC Section 84040)
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, General Fund costs of $50,000 to $75,000 for the
Chancellor's Office to prepare and submit each report to the
Legislature within 150 days of the release of each FCMAT progress
report, as required.
COMMENTS: Background. On May 21, 2004, the CCC Chancellor issued
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Executive Order No. 2004-01, to initiate state intervention to
resolve long-standing fiscal problems at Compton CCD. A full-time
special trustee was appointed and undertook a number of activities
in an attempt to resolve the Compton CCD's fiscal problems. On
January 31, 2005, the Accrediting Commission of Community and
Junior Colleges (ACCJC) announced it had placed Compton CCD on
"show cause" status and required the district to correct a series
of deficiencies related to fiscal management and stability. On
June 17, 2005, ACCJC announced it had reviewed Compton CCDs "show
cause report" and determined the district had not adequately
addressed deficiencies and terminated accreditation effective
August 19, 2005.
Federal and state laws provide that the termination of
accreditation results in the immediate loss of all state and
federal funds, including general funds and categorical
apportionment revenues, financial aid, and maintenance funds. In
order to ensure instructional services could continue at the
Compton CCD campus, on August 21, 2006, the El Camino Community
College District (ECCCD) approved a partnership agreement to
establish the Compton Center. The agreement for the Compton
Center includes operations under the direct management of El
Camino CCD through a vice president on the Compton Center site.
The vice president reports to the superintendent/president of El
Camino CCD for the operational aspects of the Compton Center,
including its instructional programs and student services.
Business services, facilities, personnel, governance components
and other programs and services are managed by the Compton CCD's
chief executive officer (CEO). The CEO reports to the state
special trustee for the Compton CCD. The Compton CCD five-member
elected Board of Trustees remains in place, but its role is
limited to an advisory capacity.
Purpose of this bill. According to the author, in order for the
Compton CCD Board of Trustees to be able to fully govern
autonomously, they must be provided every opportunity to be a
direct stakeholder and hold similar capacity to what they will be
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expected to assume once they are accredited. The author notes
that this bill is intended to make progress toward the long-term
goal of returning governing authority to the Compton CCD Board of
Trustees.
FCMAT progress report. The initial FCMAT comprehensive review of
Compton CCD took place in April 2007, and assessed the Compton CCD
using 335 professional and legal standards in five areas of
district operations. The standards were aligned to the four
standards of the ACCJC to develop specific recommendations for
operational improvements that would help prepare the district to
return to fiscal solvency and local governance and enhance its
readiness to re-establish accreditation.
In October of 2014, FCMAT released its 8th progress report on
Compton CCD, as is required under the provisions of AB 318.
According to FCMAT, the process for the Compton CCD requires much
time and improvement and will likely proceed incrementally. FCMAT
anticipates that the Compton CCD will continue to make the
progress necessary for an eventual return to local governance.
However, at the time of the 2014 report, the required criteria had
not been met and governance authority could not be returned to the
local Board of Trustees. FCMAT noted that the return of legal
powers and duties to the elected board is contingent on meeting
specified requirements.
ACCJC progress. ECCCD and Compton CCD are working together to
obtain independent accreditation for the El Camino Compton Center.
In January of 2015, the Compton Center submitted an eligibility
application to ACCJC. This application is the first step toward
obtaining independent accreditation of the Compton Center. Once
independent accreditation is obtained and Compton CCD has met all
state requirements for returning local control, both processes may
take several more years, the ECCCD and Compton CCD could seek to
apply for a substantive change from ACCJC to reflect the change in
governance.
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Analysis Prepared by:
Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916) 319-3960 FN:
0000744