BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2521
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 12, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Jose Medina, Chair
AB 2521
(Cooley) - As Amended March 17, 2016
SUBJECT: Los Rios Community College Pilot Program to Support
Special Needs Students.
SUMMARY: Authorizes the Los Rios Community College District to
establish the Los Rios Community College Pilot Program to
Support Special Needs Students (Pilot). Specifically, this
bill:
1)Finds and declares the following of the Legislature:
a) Providing comprehensive support services to special
needs students empowers them to advocate for themselves,
master the skills needed to live independently, and make
daily life decisions. In doing so, these students also
develop rewarding and appropriate relationships with peers
and adults; and,
b) With coaching from an independent living skills
instructor, special needs students can learn to use public
transportation, manage their money, pay bills, shop for
groceries, prepare meals, clean their apartments, and do
their laundry. These individualized supports complement
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these students' higher education goals and prepares them to
transition confidently to independent living, employment,
and adulthood.
2)Creates the Pilot and specifies that the Los Rios Community
College District may provide access to learning supports for
students with special needs, such as autism spectrum disorders
(ASDs), including Asperger Syndrome, social and emotional
maturation issues, and other related disabilities.
3)Specifies that as part of the Pilot program, the district may
contract with public or private programs that provide a
network of comprehensive services, including the support of
resident advisors, tutors, mentors, psychologists, academic
liaisons, site directors, and others to help special needs
students become more self-sufficient, independent, confident,
and successful in their academic endeavors.
4)Requires the Pilot program to provide special needs students
with all of the following:
a) Comprehensive academic support that includes helping
them apply to community college and register and enroll in
community college classes;
b) An independent living skills instructor and
encouragement and support in seeking apartments near campus
with one or more roommates; and
c) An individually assigned mentor, ideally a graduate
student in psychology, to provide additional academic and
personal support; and,
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d) Additional support provided by a dedicated team that
includes the program's director, a psychologist, additional
tutors and mentors, and a resident assistant, as
appropriate.
5)Specifies that individuals who provide support, as specified,
shall submit progress reports for their special needs students
participating in the Pilot program to the Los Rios Community
College District; and requires the district to compile the
information in these reports and post it on the district's
Internet Web site for parents and teachers to access.
6)Requires the Pilot program to allow special needs students who
have not completed high school to simultaneously earn a high
school diploma, or its equivalent, and college credits at
community colleges within the district.
7)Specifies that funding for the Pilot program may be derived
from any source, including, but not limited to, state and
nonstate funding sources.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Authorizes the California Community Colleges (CCC) Board of
Governors (BOG), the California state University Trustees, and
the University of California Regents to do the following: a)
work with the Department of Finance to develop formulas or
procedures for allocating funds as specified; b) adopt rules
and regulations necessary to the operation of programs funded;
c) maintain present intersegmental efforts to coordinate the
planning and development of programs for students with
disabilities; and, e) develop and implement as system for
evaluating state-funded programs and services for disabled
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students on each campus at least every five years. Requires,
commencing January 1990, and every two years thereafter, the
BOG to submit a report to the Governor and the education
policy committees of the Legislature describing its efforts to
serve students with disabilities (Education Code (EC) 67312).
2)Specifies that a student with disabilities shall not be
coerced toward a particular program or service and not denied
an education because he/she chooses not to receive state
funded disabled student programs and services (DSPS) (EC
67313).
3)Requires the BOG to adopt rules and regulations for the
administration and funding of educational programs and support
services to be provided to disabled students by community
college districts, as specified. Defines "disabled students"
as persons with exceptional needs enrolled at a community
college who, because of a verified disability, cannot fully
benefit from classes, activities, and services regularly
provided by the college without specific additional
specialized services or educational programs (EC 84850).
4)Establishes the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services
Act, which declares California's responsibility for providing
an array of services and supports to meet the needs of each
person with developmental disabilities in the least
restrictive environment, regardless of age or degree of
disability, and to support their integration into the
mainstream life of the community (Welfare and Institutions
Code (WIC) 4500, et seq.).
5)Establishes a system of nonprofit regional centers to provide
fixed points of contact in the community for all persons with
developmental disabilities and their families, to coordinate
services and supports best suited to them throughout their
lifetime (WIC 4620).
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
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COMMENTS: Background. The DSPS program provides support
services, specialized instruction, and educational
accommodations to students with disabilities so that they can
participate as fully and benefit as equitably from the college
experience as their non-disabled peers. A Student Educational
Contract is developed for each student which links student's
goals, curriculum program, and academic accommodations to
his/her specific disability related educational limitation. The
specific disability must be verified, and there must be an
educational limitation that precludes the student from fully
participating in general education without additional
specialized services.
Examples of services available through DSPS include test-taking
facilitation, assessment for learning disabilities, specialized
counseling, interpreter services for hearing-impaired or deaf
students, mobility assistance, note taker services, reader
services, speech services, transcription services,
transportation, specialized tutoring, access to adaptive
equipment, job development/placement, registration assistance,
special parking and specialized instruction.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASDs). The developmental disorders
known as ASDs include autism, Asperger's syndrome, Rett's
syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive
developmental disorder not otherwise specified. ASDs are
characterized by three distinctive types of behavior, which can
range from mild to disabling. The main features of ASDs are
impaired social interaction and communication, an inability to
empathize, and failure to understand social cues. Other
characteristics include repetitive behaviors, such as rocking,
twirling, and head banging; and narrow, obsessive interests.
Persons with ASDs also often have numerous co-occurring
conditions, including behavioral disorders and particular
health problems, such as sleep disorders, gastrointestinal
problems, and immune system deficiencies.
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The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) estimates that,
between two and six per 1,000 children have ASDs and males are
three to four times more likely to have ASDs than females.
NIMH states that ASDs can often be reliably detected at three
years of age and in some cases as early as 18 months. Early
diagnosis is crucial because, although there is no cure for
ASDs, evidence indicates that intensive early intervention in
optimal educational settings for at least two years during the
preschool years results in improved outcomes in most young
children with ASDs. While there is no single best treatment
package for individuals with ASDs, most respond best to highly
structured, specialized programs.
Need for this measure. According to the author, students with
disabilities face unique challenges as they endeavor to further
their education. The author states, "While some CCC students
who have disabilities may not request services from Disabled
Student Programs and Services (DSPS), this alone is not likely
to account for the significant degree of underrepresentation in
the CCC system. Outreach to students with special needs have
decreased as the CCC struggles to serve students with reduced
state funding. As a result, Community College Districts are
looking for ways to better serve students on their own."
This measure authorizes the Los Rios Community College District
to establish a pilot program to support students with special
needs-including, but not limited to, ASDs, specific learning
disabilities or social and emotional maturation issues, and
other related disabilities. Additionally, this measure allows
for the district to partner with public or private programs
which offer various comprehensive services, including tutors,
psychologists, and independent living skills instructors.
Current practices of the CCC. Taft Community College is
presently the only college in California with an occupational
and living skills residential program specifically for students
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with ASDs; however, eight other CCC campuses have similar
programs but do not provide for on-campus living. According to
Taft Community College, in the last five years, 116 students
have matriculated through the program. A wait list exists; if
the student is age 18 and above, the average wait time is one
year. Presently, three individuals are on the wait list.
According to the CCC Chancellor's Office, Taft Community
College utilizes the Kern Regional Center as a sponsoring
agency. To note, Kern Regional Center funds the program.
Policy consideration. As presently drafted, this measure is
silent as to when the Pilot program will begin and end.
Committee staff recommends, and the author has accepted, the
following amendment: Specify that on or by July 1, 2017, the
district shall have the Pilot program fully implemented; and,
that the program will sunset on June 30, 2022, unless
legislation extends the pilot prior to the repeal date.
Related legislation. AB 2383 (Medina), which is pending a
hearing in this Committee, would, among others, establish the
Autism Employment and Education Program and Fund.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
College Living Experience (sponsor)
Los Rios Community College District
AB 2521
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Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960