BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 1995
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|Author: |Williams |
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|Version: |May 31, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: June 22, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Kathleen Chavira |
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Subject: Community colleges: homeless students: access to
shower facilities
SUMMARY
This bill requires a community college campus to grant access to
shower facilities for enrolled homeless youth, as specified.
BACKGROUND
Existing federal law defines the term "homeless children and
youth" to mean individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and
adequate nighttime residence, as specified, including, but not
limited to, the following: a) children and youth who are
sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing,
economic hardship, or a similar reason; b) are living in motels,
hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of
alternative adequate accommodations; c) are living in emergency
or transitional shelters; d) are abandoned in hospitals; e) are
awaiting foster care placement; f) have a primary nighttime
residence that is a public or private place not designed for or
ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human
beings; and, g) are living in cars, parks, public spaces,
abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations,
or similar settings: h) migratory children who qualify as
homeless for the purposes of this part because the children are
living in circumstances previously described.
(42 United States Code § 11434a(2))
AB 1995 (Williams) Page 2
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Current law established the Student Success Act, which applies
to all community college students, for the purpose of increasing
student access and success by providing effective core
matriculation services, including orientation, assessment and
placement, counseling and other education planning services and
academic interventions. Community colleges have the
responsibility to provide student services and support,
including orientation, assessment, counseling and education
planning, referral to specialized support services, and
evaluation of each student's progress and referral to
appropriate interventions. Students have the responsibility to
identify an academic and career goal, declare a specific course
of study, be diligent in class attendance and completion of
assigned coursework, and complete courses and maintain academic
progress toward an educational goal. (Education Code §
78210-78219; 5 California Code of Regulations § 55500-55534)
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Requires the governing board of the community college
district that has a campus with shower facilities for
student use to grant access to those facilities to any
homeless student. It:
a) Requires that access be granted to a
homeless student enrolled in coursework, who has paid
enrollment fees, and is in good standing with the
community college district.
b) Prohibits any requirement that the
student enroll in additional courses to gain this
access.
2) Requires the governing board to determine an implementation
plan of action for this purpose that includes, but is not
limited to, all of the following:
a) Hours of operation for the shower
AB 1995 (Williams) Page 3
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facilities that are:
i) Consistent with campus hours of
instruction.
ii) Do not conflict with the campus'
intercollegiate athletic program.
b) The minimum number of units a student
must be enrolled in to use the facilities.
c) A plan of action if hours of operation
conflict with an intercollegiate athletic program.
d) A definition of homeless student that
is both:
i) Based on the definition of
homeless youth and the McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act. (42 U.S.C. § 11434a(2))
ii) Reflects the age of the campus'
homeless student population.
3) Authorizes the use of Student Success Support Program funds
for purposes of administering a program to implement these
provisions.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author, new data from
the 2015 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
indicate that 58,000 college students are homeless
nationwide, up from 47,200 in 2009. California has the
highest rate of homeless youth in the nation and twice the
national average rate of homeless students. Students
without permanent housing may go without showers, basic
hygienic products, and other essential services. Students
are also less likely to attend class when they do not
shower and feel insecure about
their physical appearance. According to the author, this
bill will increase the likelihood of educational goal
completion for students facing a housing or financial
crisis.
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2) Student Success at the Community Colleges. Pursuant to
Senate Bill 1143 (Liu, Chapter 409, Statutes of 2010), the
Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges
created the Student Success Task Force (SSTF); 20
individuals (community college chief executive officers,
faculty, students, researchers, staff and external stake
holders) who spent a year researching, studying and
debating the best methods to improve student outcomes at
the community colleges.
According to the SSTF report, which was unanimously adopted
by the Board of Governors in January 2012, it was their
goal to identify best practices for promoting student
success and to develop statewide strategies to take these
approaches to scale while ensuring that educational
opportunity for historically underrepresented students
would not just be maintained, but bolstered.
The Student Success Task Force (SSTF efforts resulted in 22
specific recommendations focused on the following eight
areas:
a) Increasing college and career readiness.
b) Strengthening support for entering students.
c) Incentivizing successful student behaviors.
d) Aligning course offerings to meet student needs.
e) Improving education of basic skills students.
f) Revitalizing and re-envisioning professional
development.
g) Enabling efficient statewide leadership and
increase coordination among colleges.
h) Aligning resources with student success
recommendations.
Implementation of these recommendations is being
accomplished by the Chancellor's Office of the California
Community Colleges via the "Student Success Initiative"
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through regulatory changes, system-wide administrative
policies, local best practices and legislation. These
implementation efforts include the following:
a) SB 1456 (Lowenthal, Chapter 624, Statutes of
2013) recast the Seymour-Campbell Matriculation Act of
1986 in order to target funding to services such as
orientation, assessment, and counseling and advising
to assist students with the development of education
plans. It also required that students define goals,
required that students declare a course of study and
mandated student participation in assessment,
orientation and education planning.
b) At a regulatory level, the Board of Governors
approved regulations that provide enrollment priority
to students who have participated in assessment,
orientation, and who have developed an education plan.
In addition, statutory priority enrollment extended
to veterans, foster youth, Extended Opportunity
Program & Services students, and disabled students
requires participation in these Student Success
Services and programs. Students are now required to
complete core services as well as to declare a course
of study. In addition, districts are now required to
notify students that accumulating 100 degree
applicable units or being on academic or progress
probation for two consecutive terms will result in the
loss of enrollment priority.
c) Since 2012, the State has increased ongoing
funding for community college student success and
support by nearly $600 Million. These funds have been
designated to support the Student Services Support
Program (SSSP) established by SB 1456 (Lowenthal) to
provide targeted services such as orientation,
assessment, and counseling and advising to assist
students with the development of education plans. In
addition these funds support the creation of Student
Equity Plans to improve access and outcomes for
disadvantaged groups, as well as a number of
Chancellor's Office Initiatives to provide related
support to districts.
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In February 2016, this Committee held an informational hearing,
California's Community Colleges: Implementation of Student
Success where the committee received an update on the use of
these funds, the progress made in implementing student success
strategies both systemwide and at the campus level, and heard
preliminary reports on student outcomes.
3) Related report expected. SB 1456 (Lowenthal, Chapter 624,
Statutes of 2012), in addition to establishing the Student
Success Act of 2012, required the Legislative Analyst (LAO)
to submit a report to the Legislature evaluating progress
on implementation of the Act and impacts on student
completion, by July 1, 2016. According to the LAO, this
report should be available in mid-September 2016.
According to the LAO, the report will focus on
implementation of the Student Success and Support Program
and Student Equity Program. The LAO report will evaluate
how the system and individual colleges and districts have
implemented student success initiatives, including how they
have used state categorical funding for these programs. The
LAO will also examine the extent to which colleges have
hired additional counselors, and the extent to which
colleges are providing mandatory services to entering
students. In addition, the LAO will attempt to determine
the early effects of these programs on student success
rates and student equity.
Should any expansion of the use of these funds be
authorized prior to the LAO evaluation of the use/need for
these funds for their original purpose?
4) Dilution of SSSP efforts. As noted in staff comment #2,
the State has allocated substantial funding to provide
direct matriculation services to students through the
Student Success and Support Program (SSSP). This bill
authorizes the use of SSSP funds to pay for any
administrative costs related to the use of shower
facilities.
Should this committee authorize the use of SSSP funds for
purposes unrelated to the 6-year effort to implement
strategies to incentivize successful student behaviors and
improve completion at the community colleges? Would this
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bill set a precedent that dilutes SSSP funds intended for
critical academic support services for the provision of
nonacademic services? Are there other more appropriate
funding sources for this purpose?
Staff recommends the bill be amended to delete the
authorization to use SSSP funds for this purpose.
5) Less disruption. As currently drafted, the bill requires
that hours of operation be consistent with campus hours of
instruction and prohibit any conflict with the campus
intercollegiate athletic program. Campus hours of
instruction may not be consistent with gym hours of
operation. Consistent with the request of the author, staff
recommends the bill be amended on page 3 in subdivision (c)
to require consistency with gym hours of operation rather
than campus hours of instruction.
6) Similar legislation. AB 2822 (Chiu), also on the
Committee's agenda today, authorizes the use of up to 3
percent of SSSP funding received by a community college
campus or district for the provision of emergency student
financial assistance.
SUPPORT
California Coalition for Youth
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
North Orange County Community College District
OPPOSITION
None received on this version.
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