BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2860
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Date of Hearing: April 12, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Jose Medina, Chair
AB 2860
(Brown) - As Amended March 28, 2016
[Note: This bill is doubled referred to the Assembly Education
Committee and will be heard as it relates to issues under its
jurisdiction.]
SUBJECT: Adult education: Adult Education Block Grant Program:
appeals board.
SUMMARY: Creates the Adult Education Block Grant (AEBG) Appeals
Board. Specifically, this bill:
1)Creates the AEBG Appeals Board; and, specifies that the
Appeals Board shall consist of the following:
a) The California Community Colleges (CCC) Chancellor;
b) The State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI);
and,
c) The Executive Director of the State Board of Education
(SBE).
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2)Authorizes a consortium member to submit an appeal to the AEBG
Appeals Board.
3)Specifies that a consortium member or members may submit an
appeal, in writing, for either of the following reasons:
a) The consortium has been unable to obtain the approval of
its rules and procedures, as specified; and,
b) The consortium has failed to distribute funds, as
specified.
4)Requires that when an appeal is submitted, the AEBG Appeals
Board shall first determine if the appeal satisfies the
requirements for an appeal; and, stipulates that the appeals
board shall make this determination within 30 calendar days
after receipt of the appeal.
5)Requires that if the AEBG Appeals Board finds that an appeal
meets the requirements for an appeal, the AEBG Appeals Board
shall schedule a meeting in order to hear the appeal; and,
stipulates that the hearing shall be scheduled within 60
calendar days of determining an appeal is approved, in
accordance with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, as
specified.
6)Authorizes the AEBG Appeals Board to request additional
information from the appealing consortium member or from the
affected consortium, as necessary, in order to assist while
the AEBG Appeals Board is hearing the appeal.
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7)Requires the AEBG Appeals Board to post its decision of an
appeal on the Internet Web site of the CCC Chancellor within
30 calendar days of the hearing.
8)Stipulates that the decision of the appeals board on an appeal
shall be final.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Authorizes both the CCC and K-12 systems to offer and receive
state funding for adult education courses (EC Sections 41976
and 84757).
2)Authorizes the following classes and courses to be offered by
the school districts and county superintendent of schools for
apportionment purposes from the adult education fund and
prohibits state apportionment to be made for any course or
class not specified in law:
a) Adult programs in parenting, including parent
cooperative preschools, and classes in child growth and
development, parent-child relationships, and parenting;
b) Adult programs in elementary and secondary basic skills
and other courses and classes required for the high school
diploma;
c) Adult education programs in English as a second
language;
d) Adult education programs for immigrant eligible for
educational services in citizenship, English as a second
language, and workforce preparation classes in the basic
skills of speaking, listening, reading, writing,
mathematics, decisionmaking and problem solving skills, and
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other classes required for preparation to participate in
job specific technical training;
e) Adult education programs for adults with disabilities;
f) Adult short-term career technical education programs
with high employment potential;
g) Adult programs for older adults;
h) Programs offering pre-apprenticeship training activities
conducted in coordination with one or more apprenticeship
programs approved by the Division of Apprenticeship
Standards for the occupation and geographic area;
i) Adult programs in home economics; and,
j) Adult programs in health and safety education (EC
Section 41976).
3)Authorizes a school district governing board to require a fee
of an adult enrolled in a class for adults and prohibits the
total of the fees required and revenues derived from average
daily attendance from exceeding the estimated cost of
maintaining such classes. Current law also prohibits the
imposition of a charge of any kind for a class in English and
citizenship or a class in an elementary subject, nor for any
class which is designated as granting high school credit when
the class is taken by a person who does not hold a high school
diploma. To note: for a class in English and citizenship, a
fee may be charged only until July 1, 2015 (EC Section 52612).
4)Prohibits the local governing board of a community college
district (CCD) maintaining a noncredit course from requiring
an adult enrolled in such a course to pay nonresident tuition
or any fee or charge of any kind for a class in English and
citizenship for foreigners, a class in an elementary subject,
a class designated as granting high school credit to an
individual without a high school diploma or other adult basic
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education programs and courses, as specified (EC Section
76380).
5)Charges the CCC Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) and the CDE to
jointly implement an adult education planning process;
authorizes the CCCCO and the CDE to distribute $25 million to
regional consortia to develop plans with the shared goal of
better serving the educational needs of California's adult
learners; and, specifies that the following five areas are to
be addressed in the plans:
a) Elementary and secondary basic skills, including classes
required for a high school diploma;
b) Classes and courses for immigrants in English as a
second language, citizenship, and workforce preparations;
c) Education programs for adults with disabilities;
d) Short-term career technical education programs with high
employment potential; and,
e) Programs for pre-apprenticeship training activities. (EC
Section 84830).
6)Establishes the AEBG Program under the administration of the
CCC Chancellor and the SPI and delineates the responsibilities
of the CCC Chancellor and SPI in overseeing the Program.
Tasks the CCC Chancellor and the SPI, with the advice of the
Executive Director of the SBE to divide the state into regions
that will best address the educational needs of adults in all
regions of the state, specifying that there shall be only one
adult education consortium in each region. Requires the CCC
Chancellor and the SPI to approve, with the advice of the
Executive Director of the SBE, for each consortium, rules and
procedures, as specified (EC Section 84900, et seq.).
7)Requires a consortium, as a condition of receipt of an
apportionment form the program, to approve a distribution
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schedule that includes: a) the amount of funds to be
distributed to each member of the consortium for that fiscal
year; and, 2) a narrative justifying how the planned
allocations are consistent with the adult education plan (EC
84914).
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: Need for the measure. According to the author, "The
70 state-wide consortia consist of at minimum one community
college and one school district. The leader of each adult
education delivery system, the Chancellor of the Community
Colleges and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction,
certified additional consortium funding for each region,
according to demand for services in each community college
district."
The author contends that, "current law does not include a
process for mediation of disputes within each consortium.
Furthermore, there is no third-party to intervene and mediate
disputes, provide clarity around the interpretation of the
legislation, or to swiftly move a consortium toward measurable
progress. It is now March 2016, and very few of the consortia
have distributed funding to the institutions who consider this
funding as base funding."
Adult Education and Community College Noncredit. Adult
education instruction is offered primarily at adult schools and
community colleges. Some programs are also offered at community
based organizations, libraries, correctional facilities, and the
California Conservation Corps.
Adult Education Block Grant (AEBG) Framework. The California
Community College Chancellor's Office and the California
Department of Education are working in partnership to implement
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the AEBG. The 2015-2016 budget appropriated funding for adult
education through the block grant. The AEBG appropriates these
funds through regional consortia consisting of community college
districts, school districts and county offices of education to
implement regional plans to better serve the needs of adults.
Formal membership in consortia is limited to school and
community college districts, county offices of education, and
joint power agencies. Each formal member is represented by a
designee of its governing board and each consortium determines
its governance structure and submits its plan to the CCCCO and
CDE for approval.
Policy implications. The purpose of the AEBG Program and
regional consortia is to have adult education providers work
collaboratively; coming to consensus on their own, meeting the
needs of their region. This measure sets up a state appeals
process for adult education consortia members who are not able
to come to a consensus. Community college districts throughout
the regions have come together with their K-12 partners in order
to develop their collective plans.
Committee staff understands that most of the consortia have been
able to work out their differences as they seek to plan and
provide education for adults. Furthermore, Committee staff
understands that San Bernardino may be the only region unable to
reach a consensus.
Should this measure move forward, the Committee may wish to
consider whether or not it is sound policy to enact a measure
that appears to run counter to the collaborative spirit of AB 86
and AEBG Program.
The AEBG program has been operational for less than one year,
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should the Legislature intervene to create a state appeals
process so early in the implementation phase of the AEBG
Program? Should an appeals process be created, it would appear
that further delays to providing adults with education would
result. To note, it is unclear as to how an appeals board would
be funded. Would funds be taken from the AEBG to pay for the
process?
Should this measure move forward, the Committee may wish to ask
the author to determine how the appeals process will be funded.
Additionally, this measure specifies that the appeals board
shall consist of the CCC Chancellor, the SPI and the Executive
Director of the SBE. With two of the three members of the
appeals board having a focus on the school district side of
adult education, would there be parity for the community college
side of adult education, should the three not agree when
determining the outcome of an appeal?
If the concern of the author is that there is a need for a
third-party to be able to break a tie in a regional consortium
dispute, the creation of a state appeals process and board may
not be the best policy solution, especially if the goal is to
ensuring a faster delivery of necessary AEBG dollars to the
participating adult education providers within a region.
Should this measure move forward, the Committee may wish to
examine the feasibility of adding an unbiased and unaffiliated
with the CCCCO or CDE third party representative to each
regional consortium.
Alternative approach. As an alternative to the proposal
contained in this bill, the Committee and author may wish to
task the CCCCO and the CDE to develop and provide guidelines to
the consortia when they are not able to reach a consensus; and,
task the CCCCO and CDE to conduct a study in order to determine
if a widespread issue exists among the consortia, being sure to
study the issues currently faced by San Bernardino.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Adult Education Administrators Association
California Council for Adult Education
San Bernardino City Unified School District
Opposition
San Bernardino Community College District
Analysis Prepared by:Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960
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