BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2364
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|Author: |Holden |
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|Version: |April 7, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: June 29, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Kathleen Chavira |
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Subject: Public postsecondary education: community colleges:
exemption from nonresident tuition
SUMMARY
This bill deletes the requirement that a community college
district participating in a College and Career Access Pathways
(CCAP) partnership with the governing board of a school district
waive the nonresident tuition fee for special part-time
students, deletes the authority of a community college governing
board to waive nonresident fees for special part-time students
and instead requires that a community college district exempt
any special part-time student admitted, as specified, from
nonresident fees.
BACKGROUND
Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school
district, upon recommendation of the principal of a pupil's
school and with parental consent, to authorize a student to
concurrently enroll in a community college during any session or
term to undertake one or more courses of instruction. Existing
law prohibits a principal from recommending, more than 5% of the
total number of students in the same grade level for community
college summer session attendance. A community college district
governing board is authorized to admit these students and
requires that they be assigned a low enrollment priority in
order to ensure that they do not displace regularly admitted
community college students. An exemption to this requirement is
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extended to Middle College High School (MCHS) students.
(Education Code § 48800, et seq.) (EC § 76001)
Existing law requires a community college to charge a tuition
fee to nonresident students and also authorizes a community
college district to exempt a special admit student from all or
part of a nonresident student tuition fee. A district is
prohibited from reporting nonresident students as full-time
equivalent students (FTES) for state apportionment purposes
except as provided by statute in which case a nonresident
tuition fee may not be charged. (EC § 76140)
Existing law authorizes the governing board of a community
college district to enter into a College and Career Access
Pathways (CCAP) partnership with the governing board of a school
district for the purpose of offering or expanding dual
enrollment opportunities for students who may not already be
college bound or who are underrepresented in higher education,
with the goal of developing seamless pathways from high school
to community college for career technical education or
preparation for transfer, improving high school graduation
rates, or helping high school pupils achieve college and career
readiness. Districts that participate in the program are
required to exempt participating special part-time students from
various fee requirements including student representation fees,
nonresident fees, enrollment fees, apprenticeship course fees,
and child development center fees. (EC § 76004)
Existing law also establishes the College Promise Partnership
Act until June 30, 2017, and provides for the crediting of
additional units of full-time equivalent students (FTES)
attributable to the attendance of partnership students at the
community college, as specified. These special part-time and
special full-time students may be admitted in any session or
term of the partnership and the Long Beach Community College
District is authorized to include these students for purposes of
receiving state apportionment (FTES) provided that no school
district has received reimbursement for the same instructional
activity. An evaluation of the program is due to the
Legislature, by December 30, 2016. These provisions are sunset
in June 2017.
(EC § 48810 - 48814, § 76003)
ANALYSIS
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This bill:
1) Deletes the requirement that a community college district
participating in a College and Career Access Pathways
(CCAP) partnership waive the nonresident tuition fee for
special part-time students that enroll at a community
college as part of their participation in a CCAP
partnership agreement.
2) Deletes the authority of a California Community College
(CCC) district to waive nonresident fees for special
part-time students.
3) Requires that a CCC district to waive nonresident fees for
all special part time students (other than a nonimmigrant
student, as defined by specified federal law).
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author, this bill was
prompted by the efforts of the Compton Unified School
District to enter into a partnership agreement with the El
Camino College Compton Center under the newly established
dual enrollment option implemented by AB 288 (Holden,
Chapter 618, Statutes of 2015), the College and Career
Access Pathways (CCAP) partnership. Current law
specifically requires the waiver of nonresident fees for
part-time special students as a condition of the CCAP
partnerships. However, according to the Chancellor's
Office, these provisions do not provide explicit authority
for the CCC to claim FTES for these students. ReportedIy,
an element of the proposed agreement in Compton was that
the school district agrees to pay the average daily
attendance it receives for these students to the community
college. While this appears to be a provision in other
similar partnership agreements (the Long Beach Promise
program, for example), the large number of nonresident
students within the Compton School District appears to
create a barrier to a partnership agreement that is
fiscally viable for the partnering districts, jeopardizing
the ability of this student community to benefit from the
new CCAP provisions.
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This bill responds to this situation by requiring the
waiver of nonresident fees of any nonresident special
part-time student that enrolls at any community college.
2) Current policy. In 2013, SB 150 (Lara, Chapter 575,
Statutes of 2013) was enacted to authorize a California
Community College (CCC) to exempt special part-time
students from any nonresident tuition fees. The bill was
enacted in response to varying district interpretations of
their authority to serve California high school students
who are nonresidents in concurrent enrollment programs.
Some districts had been advised by their legal counsel that
because current law allows a district to waive fees for
special part-time students that they may also waive
nonresident fees, while others had been advised that they
have no authority to waive a nonresident fee for special
part-time students. Still other districts had made the
decision not to waive any fees for special part-time
students, given the economic climate and severe budget cuts
at the time. SB 150 clarified that CCC districts have the
authority to waive these fees if they so choose.
In February 2014, the Chancellor's Office issued guidance
on the implementation of these provisions. The guidance
clarifies that CCC districts are permitted to exempt
nonresident special part-time students from nonresident
tuition, the exemption does not apply to special full-time
students, and the exemption is not intended to apply to
students who would be precluded from qualifying for the AB
540 exemption (distance education enrollees or students on
nonimmigrant visas). In addition the exemption does not
authorize districts to claim apportionment for these
students.
The Chancellor's Office reports that the authorization
granted by SB 150 and their statutory guidance appear to
have addressed this issue and that districts are generally
waiving these fees for nonresident special part-time
students. The outstanding issue appears to be districts'
ability to claim FTES for these students, not whether these
fees are being waived.
Staff recommends the bill be amended to delete sections 2
and 3 from the bill.
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3) College and Career Access Pathways Act. Community college
districts have several statutorily authorized means by
which apportionment can be claimed for minors enrolled by
the district. However, a variety of conditions must be met
by CCC districts that admit special part-time students
either through principal recommendation or via Early
College and Middle College high school programs.
In an effort to expand the availability of dual enrollment
programs to a broader range of students, AB 288 (Holden,
Chapter 618, Statutes of 2015) created another category of
special admit options, the College and Career Access
Pathways Act. The intent of this new pathway was to serve
lower achieving students in an effort to reduce
remediation, increase degree completion, decrease time to
degree, and stimulate interest in higher education among
high school students for students who may not already be
college bound or who are underrepresented in higher
education. According to the sponsors of AB 288, the program
was structured to authorize a model more like the Long
Beach Promise that offers dual enrollment as a pathway,
rather than a series of disconnected individual courses,
and provide greater flexibility in the delivery of courses
at the high school campus. Unlike other concurrent
enrollment options, AB 288 authorized community colleges to
offer courses that are closed to the general public if
offered on a high school campus, to grant special admit
students higher enrollment priority than currently
possible, and to exceed the current 11 unit cap per
semester if the student is receiving both a high school
diploma and an associate's degree. In exchange for the
greater flexibility, College and Career Access Pathways
(CCAP) program districts must meet a variety of
requirements relative to instructors, job displacement,
preserving access for adult students, and allowances and
apportionments.
While districts that operate a dual enrollment partnership
through an early college high school, middle college high
school, or a California Career Pathways Trust may continue
to operate as they have previously, they are prohibited
from operating as a CCAP partnership unless they comply
with the provisions established by AB 288.
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4) ADA/ FTES within the CCAP program. The CCAP program
established various requirements relative to state
allowances and apportionments. Among these, it required
the crediting of full-time equivalent students (FTES) for
eligible high school students attributable to a California
Community College (CCC) district conducting a closed course
on a high school campus. It also authorized the crediting
of FTES for high school students attending courses at the
CCC. In both instances, however, districts are prohibited
from receiving FTES or average daily attendance for the
same instructional activity. This was, in part, to limit
"double-dipping", i.e. paying both the community colleges
and the K-12 districts for educating the same high school
student, an ongoing concern regarding dual enrollment
programs generally.
In order to ensure that CCAP programs would serve a broad
range of students, AB 288 required that a participating CCC
district exempt special part-time students from the
nonresident fee. However, the statute does not explicitly
authorize the CCC district to report these students for
state apportionment. As a result, it appears that, for a
few CCC districts that want to partner with K-12 districts
with large numbers of nonresident students, it may be
economically unfeasible to do so.
However, should this issue be addressed by endorsing a
policy that could expand the potential for "double
dipping"?
Staff recommends the bill be amended to reinstate the
requirement that the nonresident tuition/fees be waived for
a special part student participating in a CCAP program, and
clarify that, subject to the conditions outlined in
76004(r) and (s), a nonresident special admit student
participating in a CCAP program may be reported as FTES for
state apportionment purposes.
5) Long Beach Promise Program. The Long Beach Promise Program
was established in 2008 as a collaborative partnership
between the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD), the
Long Beach City College (LBCC) and the California State
University at Long Beach (CSULB) with the general goals of
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increasing college preparation, college access, and
ultimately college success. 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 as well as authorizing the crediting of
FTES for these students. The statutory authority for this
partnership sunsets on January 1, 2018. As previously
noted, the College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP)
program was based upon the Long Beach Promise Program.
Reportedly, the partnership agreement between the K-12 and
community college district ensures access for all students of
the K-12 district that choose to participate. In addition,
given that the elements of the CCAP were based upon the Long
Beach Promise Program, it is unclear whether any specific
statute is necessary as it appears that the Promise Program
could continue to operate as a CCAP program once its statutory
authorization sunsets, if it so chooses.
lt does not appear that the application of this bill's
provisions to the Long Beach Promise program are necessary.
SUPPORT
Adelante Youth Alliance
Association of California Community College Administrators
California Coalition of Early and Middle Colleges
California Immigrant Policy Center
California State Conference of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People
Chaffey Community College District
Children's Defense Fud - CA
Compton Community College District
Compton Unified School District
Compton Unified School District
Dream Outreach Center, CSU Fresno
El Camino Community College District
Firebaugh-Las Deltas Unified School District
Foothill-DeAnza Community College District
Gateway to College, Contra Costa College
High School at Moorpark College
Los Angeles Community College District
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Los Rios Community College District
MALDEF
Middle College High School at San Bernardino Valley College
North Orange County Community College District
Peralta Community College District
Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
San Diego Community College District
San Francisco Community College District
San Jose Evergreen Community College District
West Sacramento Early College Prep
Yuba Community College District
OPPOSITION
None received.
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