BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 1837 (Low) - Postsecondary education: Office of Higher
Education Performance and Accountability
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|Version: March 17, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0, G.O. 13 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: August 1, 2016 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill establishes the Office of Higher Education
Performance and Accountability (Office), a successor agency to
the former California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC),
as the statewide postsecondary education coordination and
planning agency. The purpose of the Office is to advise the
Governor, Legislature, and other government officials and
institutions of postsecondary education.
Fiscal
Impact:
Costs in the low millions annually to maintain the Office once
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fully operational. (General Fund)
Costs to Segments: All segments cite costs, totaling about
$600,000, related to working with the Office and responding to
data requests based on workload from the former CPEC. The
California Community Colleges (CCC) Chancellor's Office
estimates costs of about $443,000 across four positions; the
California State University (CSU) estimates $110,000 for one
position; and the (University of California) estimates the
need for an additional half of a position, equating to about
$50,000. (General Fund)
Potential significant out year costs to the segments for their
participation in an eligibility study. (General Fund)
Background: The 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education in California, and
through existing law, established the CPEC, a 17 member body, to
be responsible for coordinating public, independent, and private
postsecondary education in California and providing independent
policy analysis and recommendations to the Legislature and the
Governor on postsecondary education issues. The CPEC was tasked
with providing fiscal and policy recommendations to the Governor
and Legislature; monitoring and coordinating public
institutions; and ensuring comprehensive planning for higher
education and effective use of resources.
In 2011, Governor Brown vetoed funding of about $2 million
General Fund for the CPEC resulting in its closure. In the veto
message, the Governor cited the commission's ineffectiveness but
requested "that the state's three public higher education
segments, along with other higher education stakeholders,
explore alternative ways to more effectively improve
coordination and development of higher education policy."
Existing law also establishes the state's goals for higher
education. The goals are to: (1) improve student access and
success which includes, but is not limited to, greater
participation by demographic groups, including low-income
students, that have historically participated at lower rates,
greater completion rates by all students, and improved outcomes
for graduates; (2) better align degrees and credentials with the
state's economic, workforce, and civic needs; and (3) ensure the
effective and efficient use of resources in order to increase
high-quality postsecondary educational outcomes and maintain
affordability.
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Proposed Law:
This bill establishes the Office, a successor agency to the
former CPEC, as the statewide postsecondary education
coordination and planning agency. This bill also requires the
Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) to report to the Legislature
regarding the performance of the Office and its functions by
January 1, 2020.
Specifically this bill:
Office makeup
Establishes the Office within the Governor's Office. The
Governor is required to appoint the Executive Director which
is to be confirmed by a majority vote of the membership of the
Senate.
Establishes an advisory board to examine and make
recommendations to the Office regarding its functions and
review and comment on any recommendations made by the Office
to the Governor and the Legislature. The advisory board
consists of the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on
Education and the Chairperson of the Assembly Committee on
Higher Education and six public members with experience in
postsecondary education appointed to four year terms by the
Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly.
The advisory board is required to develop an annual report on
the condition of higher education in California and an annual
review of the performance of the executive director of the
Office. The advisory board members do not receive
compensation but do receive reimbursement for actual and
necessary expenses for its functions.
Office functions
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Requires the Office to:
o Biennially evaluate statewide and
institutional performance related to the state's goals
for higher education and take into consideration
certain metrics.
o Make recommendations on cross-segmental
initiatives in areas such as efficiencies in
instructional delivery, financial aid, transfer, and
workforce coordination.
o Advise on the need and location of new
institutions and campuses of higher education,
proposals by the public segments for new programs, the
priorities that guide the public segments and the
degree of coordination between segments.
o Make recommendations on proposals for changes
in eligibility pools for admission to postsecondary
education segments. The Office must periodically
conduct a study (often referred to as an eligibility
study) of the percentages of California public high
school graduates estimated to be eligible for
admission to the UC and CSU.
o Maintain programmatic, policy, and fiscal
expertise to receive and aggregate information
reported by the institutions of higher education.
o Develop and maintain a database, with
specified functions, to serve as a clearinghouse for
postsecondary education information.
o Furnish information from the segments upon
request of the Governor and the Legislature.
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o Annually report to the Governor and
Legislature regarding the progress in achieving the
state goals for higher education.
Related
Legislation: Several bills have been pursued in the past that
relate to the functions of the former CPEC. The most recent, SB
42 (Liu, 2015), almost identical to this bill, was vetoed by the
Governor whose message said in part: "While there is much work
to be done to improve higher education, I am not convinced we
need a new office and an advisory board, especially of the kind
this bill proposes, to get the job done."
Staff
Comments: Based on the size of the CPEC's last budget, costs to
reinstitute a similar entity such as the one proposed in this
bill would be about $2 million General Fund and 19 positions.
However, in previous years the CPEC was funded with $3.7 million
General Fund.
Depending upon the frequency and the nature of data being
requested, this could drive significant workload to the segments
to compile and submit the information to the Office. This bill
authorizes the Office to require the governing boards and higher
education institutions to submit data on plans and programs,
costs, selection and retention of students, enrollments, plant
capacities, and other matters related to effective planning,
policy development, and articulation and coordination. It also
requires the Office to furnish information concerning these
matters to the Governor and the Legislature upon request. Any
data reporting requirements the Office imposes, with statutory
authority to do so, on the CCCs will likely be deemed by the
Commission on State Mandates to be a reimbursable state mandate.
Staff notes that currently the segments respond directly to the
Administration and Legislature on data requests that cover many
of the topics included in this bill.
This bill also includes a reporting requirement for the LAO
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regarding the performance of the Office and its functions by
January 1, 2020. This date falls before the LAO's annual budget
analysis publication. It may make more sense to require this
report at a later date so that it can be included in the budget
analysis. The LAO estimates general costs of about $150,000 to
complete a program evaluation. The requirement in this bill
would likely not result in additional costs to the state, but
would result in less time available to respond to other requests
or complete other reports requested by the Governor and
Legislature.
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