BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 1741
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Author: |Rodriguez |
|-----------+-----------------------------------------------------|
|Version: |June 22, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: June 29, 2016 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Consultant:|Kathleen Chavira |
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: California College Promise Innovation Grant Program
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the California College Promise Innovation
Grant Program, to be administered by the Chancellor's Office of
the California Community Colleges (CCC), to distribute grants to
support the colleges in establishing or expanding regional
programs to address college preparedness, attendance, and
graduation, as specified, in partnership with school districts
and public postsecondary universities in California.
BACKGROUND
Existing law establishes the Early Commitment to College Program
(ECCP), with voluntary participation by pupils and school
districts, for the purposes increasing college attendance and
success rates among low-income students. The program requires
participating school districts to provide specified information
on college attendance and to participate in the "Save Me a Spot
in College" pledge. The Superintended of Public Instruction is
required to administer the voluntary program and report on
participation rates in 2017. The program is sunset on January
1, 2019.
(Education Code § 54710, et seq.)
Existing law also establishes the College Promise Partnership
Act until June 30, 2017, which authorizers the Long Beach
Community College District and Long Beach Unified School
AB 1741 (Rodriguez) Page 2
of ?
District to enter into a partnership, as specified, to provide
participating pupils with an aligned sequence of rigorous high
school and college coursework, as specified. The purpose of the
program is required to be the provision of a seamless bridge to
college for students not already college bound and a reduction
of the time for advanced students to complete programs.
Existing law also provides for the crediting of additional units
of full-time equivalent students attributable to the attendance
of partnership students at the community college, as specified.
An evaluation of the program is due to the Legislature, by
December 30, 2016. (EC § 48810-48814)
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Establishes the California College Promise Innovation Grant
Program, under the administration of the CCC Chancellor's
Office, and authorizes the distribution of grants, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, to the governing boards
of community college districts for this purpose. It:
a) Establishes the goals of the program as
supporting California Community College (CCC)
districts in establishing or expanding regional
Promise programs in partnership with school districts
and public postsecondary universities in California.
b) Outlines the specific goals to be
accomplished by these programs to include:
i) Increasing the number and
percentage of high school students within the
region who:
(1) Are prepared for and attend
college directly from high school.
(2) Are placed in college level math
and English at the University of California
(UC) or California State University (CSU).
(3) Successfully transfer from a CCC
to a UC or CSU.
AB 1741 (Rodriguez) Page 3
of ?
(4) Graduate with a bachelor's degree.
ii) Reducing and eliminating achievement
gaps for groups underrepresented in postsecondary
education, as specified.
iii) Leveraging of existing state and local
funding to better align efforts to improve
student success.
2) Establishes the criteria for receiving a grant under the
new program. It:
a) Requires that the application
demonstrate that the CCC will partner with one or more
school districts and one or more CSU or UC campuses in
a program that includes all of the following
practices/principles:
i) Partnership with one or
more school districts to establish an Early
Commitment to College Program consistent with
that authorized under specified Education Code
provisions.
ii) Partnership with one or more school
districts to support and improve high school
student preparation for college and reduce
postsecondary remediation through specified
practices.
iii) Utilization of evidence-based placement
and student assessment indicators at the CCC
district, as specified.
iv) Providing access to courses through its
registration practices for enrolled students, as
well as outreach to these students regarding the
Associate Degree for Transfer and the Transfer
Entitlement Cal Grant Program.
b) Requires the Chancellor's office to be
AB 1741 (Rodriguez) Page 4
of ?
responsible for developing application criteria,
administrative guidelines, and other requirements for
administering the program and outlines specific
application and prioritization criteria. It:
i) Requires the application
criteria to encourage applicants to (and assigns
first priority to these applications):
(5) Identify public and private
sources of funding for purposes of
sustainability; and/or,
(6) Leverage local and state funding
to align efforts to improve student success;
and/or,
ii) Assigns second priority to applicants
that develop partnerships with school districts
predominately within the California Community
College (CCC) residential boundaries, or serve a
greater proportion of students, or develop at
least one partnership with a California State
University (CSU) campus.
c) Requires the Chancellor's office to
post all applications that receive funding on its Web
site.
3) Declares the Legislature's encouragement of:
a) Various entities, as specified, to
provide support services as needed in coordination
with the CCCs.
b) The Chancellor's Office to coordinate
implementation of the program with other funded
college readiness and pathways programs.
c) The governing board of a recipient
community college district to coordinate with a
partnering school district or public postsecondary
university to coordinate the programs and activities
proposed in the district's application, as specified.
AB 1741 (Rodriguez) Page 5
of ?
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author, this bill is
inspired by the success of Long Beach College Promise and
other similar programs. AB 1741 will incentivize community
college districts to enter into similar partnerships with
their local school districts and community organizations.
It will also permit already existing partnerships to apply
for grant funding to expand their programs. According to
the author, funding provided in the budget and the awards
program created by AB 1741 will enable these successful
programs to be replicated across the state and encourage
students to pursue higher education.
2) Related budget activity. The Budget Act of 2016 (SB 826,
Leno,) provides $15 million for the K-12 partnerships
program and also stipulates that these funds are to be
allocated and spent pursuant to pending legislation.
According to the author, AB 1741 provides the statutory
authority and programmatic structure for this funding
allocation.
3) Early Commitment to College Program (ECCP). This bill
requires a grant applicant to include partnership with
school to establish a program consistent with the intent of
the ECCP. SB 890 (Scott, Chapter 472, Statutes of 2008)
established the ECCP to ensure early notification and early
commitment of college opportunities for pupils in middle
school and high school and their families. The program was
intended to motivate pupils to stay in school, graduate
from high school, take college preparatory coursework, and,
if they chose to do so, seek postsecondary opportunities.
Although the ECCP was launched in 2009 by the California
Department of Education (CDE) participation rates among
school districts has been low, possibly due to a lack of
financial resources to support the program.
4) College Promise programs. According to the author, Promise
programs are innovative partnerships that connect local
K-12, community college and 4-year university segments to
provide clear pathways for students to follow to achieve
their degree. The districts involved in the program also
work together to ensure that the curriculum is aligned and
AB 1741 (Rodriguez) Page 6
of ?
that a student will graduate high school having completed
all of the requirements to enter college. Successful
programs such as Long Beach College Promise also engage
city entities, local non-profits and businesses to
establish fully-rounded partnerships to invest in student
success.
5) Long Beach Promise Program. The Long Beach Promise Program
was established as a collaborative partnership between the
Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD), the Long Beach
City College and the California State University at Long
Beach (CSULB) with the general goals of increasing college
preparation, college access, and ultimately college
success. The program reports that since 2008 LBUSD students
have seen a 34 percent gain in admission to CSULB, LBBC
transfer students are admitted to CSULB at a rate 18
percent higher than applicants from other community
colleges. CSULB reports that its graduation rates for
Latinos, African Americans and Asians have risen 20
percent, 22 percent and 23 percent respectively. In 2011,
SB 650 (Lowenthal, Chapter 633, Statutes of 2011)
statutorily authorized the partnership and granted greater
flexibility in the program's implementation than normally
allowed for dual enrollment programs. These provisions are
sunset on June 30, 2017 and an independent evaluation of
the program is required by December 30, 2016.
6) Evaluation and sunset component? This bill establishes a
grant program which will provide $15 million to community
colleges to establish or expand Promise programs. Generally
such a program would require an evaluative component to
determine the effective use of the funds as well as any
changes that might be necessary should the Legislature
consider extension of the program. However, according to
the author, these are one-time startup funds and no future
funding is anticipated for the program as applicants are
expected to identify other public and private sources of
funding to sustain them. As such, an evaluative report may
be unnecessary.
However, given the one-time nature of the funding and this
program staff recommends that these provisions be sunset on
January 1, 2021.
AB 1741 (Rodriguez) Page 7
of ?
SUPPORT
Campaign for College Opportunity
Western Association for College Admission Counseling
OPPOSITION
None received.
-- END --