BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1112
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Date of Hearing: April 8, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
AB 1112
(Lopez) - As Amended March 26, 2015
[Note: This bill is doubled referred to the Assembly Higher
Education Committee and will be heard by that Committee as it
relates to issues under its jurisdiction.]
SUBJECT: Adult education: consortia: parenting education:
family literacy education
SUMMARY: Authorizes adult programs, California Community
Colleges (CCC) noncredit courses and classes, and the adult
education regional consortia, established pursuant to Education
Code (EC) Section 84830, to provide family literacy education.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Expands parenting education provided by adult education
programs administered by school districts and CCC noncredit
courses to include family literacy education, which may
include support to children and schoolaged youth with limited
English proficiency backgrounds in the households of
participating adults.
2)Specifies that the grant funds provided to regional consortia
to create and implement adult education plans shall include
parenting education, including, but not necessarily limited
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to, parent cooperative preschools and classes in child growth
and development and parent-child relations, and family
literacy education, which may include support to children and
schoolaged youth with limited English proficiency backgrounds
in the households of participating adults.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Authorizes the establishment of adult school programs and
specifies eligibility criteria, programmatic requirements, and
the manner in which school districts' adult education revenue
limit per unit of average daily attendance (ADA) shall be
determined.
2)Authorizes the following classes and courses to be offered by
the school districts and county superintendent of schools for
apportionment purposes from the adult education fund:
a) Adult programs in parenting, including parent
cooperative preschools, and classes in child growth and
development, parent-child relationships, and parenting.
b) Adult programs in elementary and secondary basic skills
and other courses and classes required for the high school
diploma.
c) Adult education programs in English as a second
language.
d) Adult education programs for immigrant eligible for
educational services in citizenship, English as a second
language, and workforce preparation classes in the basic
skills of speaking, listening, reading, writing,
mathematics, decisionmaking and problem solving skills, and
other classes required for preparation to participate in
job specific technical training.
e) Adult education programs for adults with disabilities.
f) Adult short-term career technical education programs
with high employment potential.
g) Adult programs for older adults.
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h) Adult education programs for apprentices.
i) Adult programs in home economics.
j) Adult programs in health and safety education.
3)Prohibits state apportionment to be made for any course or
class not specified in law.
4)Authorizes the governing board of a school district to require
a fee. For a class in English and citizenship, a fee may be
charged only until July 1, 2015. Prohibits the total of the
fees required and revenues derived from the ADA from exceeding
the estimated cost of all such classes maintained.
5)Defines "adult" as a person 18 years of age or older for a
person who is not concurrently enrolled in a regular high
school program.
6)Charges the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office
(CCCCO) and the California Department of Education (CDE) to
jointly implement an adult education planning process;
authorizes the CCCCO and the CDE to distribute $25 million to
regional consortia to develop plans with the shared goal of
better serving the educational needs of California's adult
learners; and, specifies that the following five areas are to
be addressed in the plans:
a) Elementary and secondary basic skills, including classes
required for a high school diploma.
b) Classes and courses for immigrants in English as a
second language, citizenship, and workforce preparations.
c) Education programs for adults with disabilities.
d) Short-term career technical education programs with high
employment potential.
e) Programs for apprentices.
FISCAL EFFECT: The Legislative Counsel has keyed this bill as a
state-mandated local program.
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COMMENTS: Background. Adult education in California is part of
a large, complex, and diverse multi-provider system. It is a
vital and integral part of the larger educational system that
provides adults with the skills and education that enable them
to earn a high school diploma or a general educational
development (GED) certificate, become United States citizens,
acquire specific job skills, learn English, and/or become
independent and productive parents and members of their
community. Adult education is provided by a number of delivery
systems, but the two main providers are school districts and the
CCCs.
In 2008-09, K-12 adult education programs enrolled 1.2 million
adult learners in almost 300 adult schools throughout
California. The 2012-13 budget allocated $635 million for the
adult education categorical program. Adult education schools
offer the following ten programs:
1)Adult Basic Education;
2)English as a Second Language;
3)High School Diploma or Adult Secondary Education, including
General Education Development certification;
4)Citizenship Preparation;
5)Career Technical Education;
6)Adults with Disabilities;
7)Health and Safety;
8)Parent Education;
9)Home Economics; and,
10)Older Adult.
Due to budget problems, from the 2008-09 through 2014-15 fiscal
years, local educational agencies (LEAs) were allowed to use
approximately 40 categorical programs funds for any educational
purposes. According to the Legislative Analyst's Office, schools
districts diverted between 50 to 60% of the adult education
program funds for other general fund uses.
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In 2013, the Governor proposed and the Legislature passed a new
K-12 funding system that replaced revenue limits with a new base
grant - the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). LCFF
incorporated most categorical program funds into the base grant
and eliminated the categorical programs. School districts
choosing to continue their adult education programs would do so
using their base funds.
AB 86 Regional Consortia. Also in 2013, the budget provided $25
million for the development of regional consortia comprised of
CCC and K-12 school districts for the purpose of creating plans
to integrate existing programs and determine how best to serve
adult students within regions throughout the state (AB 86
(Budget Committee), Chapter 48, Statutes of 2013). AB 86
specified that the plans developed by the regional consortia
shall only include the provision of the following programs:
1)Elementary and secondary basic skills (GED);
2)Classes and courses for immigrants (citizenship, English as a
second language);
3)Education programs for adults with disabilities;
4)Short-term career technical education programs; and,
5)Programs for apprentices.
Excluded are four programs that are authorized to be offered
through adult schools, including 1) parenting education; 2)
programs for older adults; 3) home economics; and 4) health and
safety programs. The Governor's 2015-16 budget proposes to
allocate $500 million for the adult education block grant, which
will be used to fund the programs included in the AB 86 regional
consortia plans. This bill adds parenting education to the
courses to be offered through the regional consortia plans and
expands parenting education to include family literacy
education, with special focus on support for adults with
children and schoolaged youth with limited English proficiency.
The bill also expands parenting education programs previously
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offered through adult education categorical funds and noncredit
adult education courses offered by CCCs to include family
literacy education.
What is family literacy education? According to the author,
this bill is modeled after family literacy programs provided by
federal Workforce Investment Act, Title II funding and through
the California's Community-Based English Tutoring (CBET)
programs. The goal of these programs is not only to provide
English instruction to parents, but also to provide parents with
the skills that will enable them to assist their children do
better in school, especially children with limited English
proficiency. For example, the CBET program, which was
previously a $40 million categorical program, may teach parents
how to help their children with reading, writing, listening,
speaking, study skills, homework and effective parenting
technique (source: San Bernardino Adult School). Parents must
agree to read to their children, help their children with
homework and talk with their children about school. A 2011
report by the CDE titled "Linking Adults to Opportunity" stated
that "two years of data analysis showed significant improvement
among the children whose parents participated in these Adult
Education programs. In the Oakland Unified School District,
children of CBET parents averaged 19 percent gain on the
California English Language Development Test."
Budget trailer bill. In order to expand the programs funded
through the regional consortia, the budget trailer bill that
will implement the $500 million for the proposal adult education
block grant will have to include parent education and family
literacy. The author may wish to consider making this request
through the budget process.
Arguments in support. The author states, "Due to the
elimination of the parent education spending categories, parents
no longer have access to family literacy education and the CBET
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programs through adult education. This bill looks to reinstate
parent education as an eligible funding category as studies have
shown that children whose parents participated in these programs
showed academic improvement."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087
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