BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                      SB 62


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          SENATE THIRD READING


          SB  
          62 (Pavley, et al.)


          As Amended  February 1, 2016


          Majority vote


          SENATE VOTE:  40-0


           ------------------------------------------------------------------ 
          |Committee       |Votes|Ayes                  |Noes                |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
          |Higher          |12-0 |Medina, Baker, Bloom, |                    |
          |Education       |     |Chávez, Harper,       |                    |
          |                |     |Irwin, Jones-Sawyer,  |                    |
          |                |     |Levine, Linder,       |                    |
          |                |     |Santiago, Weber,      |                    |
          |                |     |Williams              |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
          |Appropriations  |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow,    |                    |
          |                |     |Bloom, Bonilla,       |                    |
          |                |     |Bonta, Calderon,      |                    |
          |                |     |Chang, Daly, Eggman,  |                    |
          |                |     |Gallagher, Eduardo    |                    |
          |                |     |Garcia, Holden,       |                    |
          |                |     |Jones, Obernolte,     |                    |
          |                |     |Quirk, Santiago,      |                    |
          |                |     |Wagner, Weber, Wood,  |                    |








                                                                      SB 62


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          |                |     |Chau                  |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
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          SUMMARY:  Makes various programmatic changes to the Assumption  
          Program of Loans for Education (APLE).  Specifically, this bill:  
           


          1)Amends the definition of "eligible school" to mean one that  
            serves a percentage of an unduplicated count of students  
            classified as an English learner, eligible for a free or  
            reduced-price meal, or is a foster youth, as determined by the  
            Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI).


          2)Eliminates the requirement that an eligible school must rank  
            in the lowest two deciles on the Academic Performance Index  
            (API).


          3)Eliminates the requirement that an applicant has received or  
            is approved to receive a loan under the Federal Family  
            Education Loan Program and replaces it with the requirement  
            that an applicant has demonstrated financial need.


          4)Requires that an applicant will teach in a shortage area, as  
            determined by the SPI.


          5)Removes the provision allowing up to 400 APLE loan assumption  
            agreements to go to credentialed teachers, as specified, each  
            year.


          6)Modifies the list of schools (that serve a large population of  








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            pupils from low-income families) that the SPI is required to  
            provide to the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) each  
            year.


          7)Eliminates the prohibition for teachers in self-contained  
            classrooms and multi-subject credential holders from  
            participating in the APLE; and allows the list of teaching  
            shortage areas that the SPI must develop each year to include  
            teaching in a self-contained classroom and multi-subject  
            credentials.


          8)Amends the provision allowing loan forgiveness of $1,000 per  
            year for those who teach math, science or special education by  
            eliminating the requirement that the school is in the lowest  
            60 percentile of the API.


          9)Modifies the annual report that CSAC is required to submit to  
            the Legislature, as specified.


          10)Authorizes CSAC to continue to implement APLE as it read on  
            January 1, 2015, for the allocation of funds for loan  
            agreements made before that date and for the purpose of  
            collecting payments from former program participants.


          EXISTING LAW:   


          1)Establishes CSAC as the primary state agency to administer  
            state-authorized student financial aid programs available to  
            eligible students attending all eligible segments of  
            postsecondary education (Education Code (EC) Section 69510, et  
            seq.).
          2)Establishes the APLE program, administered by the CSAC, to  
            provide loan assumption benefits to credentialed teachers;  








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            specifies that qualifying schools include those with high  
            proportions of low-income youth or emergency permit teachers  
            and those located in rural areas; and, requires the subject  
            area shortages to annually be determined by the SPI (EC  
            Section 69612, et seq.).


          3)Forgives up to $11,000 of college loan debt for a person who  
            teaches for four consecutive years in a qualifying school or  
            subject area (paying $2,000 for the first year of teaching  
            service and $3,000 for each of the next three years of  
            teaching); and, provides additional loan forgiveness of $1,000  
            per year for up to four years for those who teach math,  
            science or special education (for a total of $15,000) and an  
            additional $1,000 for those who teach math, science or special  
            education in schools with an API of one or two (for a total of  
            $19,000) (EC Sections 69613.4 and 69613.8).


          4)Prohibits CSAC from awarding a greater number of agreements  
            than is authorized in the annual Budget Act (EC Section  
            69615.8).


          FISCAL EFFECT:  According to the Assembly Appropriations  
          Committee, Administrative costs for the SPI and CSAC to adopt  
          the program modifications of this bill should be minor and  
          absorbable.  There have been no authorizations for new APLE  
          warrants for several years.  Since current law already requires  
          new warrants to be authorized through the Budget Act, this bill  
          does not impose any new cost pressures.


          COMMENTS:  Background.  According to the California Commission  
          on Teacher Credentialing (CTC), enrollment in teacher  
          preparation programs has fallen from almost 78,000 a decade ago,  
          to 19,933 in 2013, a decrease of 74%.  Additionally, the number  
          of CTC newly issued credentials for teachers has fallen every  
          year for the past decade.  The California Teachers Association  








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          contends that one-third of California's teachers are at or near  
          retirement age.  


          According to information provided by the author, over a decade  
          ago the state spent over $80 million on statewide teacher  
          recruitment efforts; however, if APLE is fully phased out over  
          the course of the next few years, the state will eventually  
          spend zero dollars on efforts to increase the number of teachers  
          in the state.


          Need for the measure.  According to the author, many reasons  
          exist as to why the state has a shortage of teachers; from the  
          costs of obtaining a college degree, to the low salaries  
          teachers make.  The author contends, "Eliminating California's  
          teacher recruitment and financial aid programs over the past  
          decade has not helped matters."   


          Assumption Program of Loans for Education (APLE).  The APLE  
          warrants are given to credential candidates; the warrants are  
          then redeemed for the loan assumption benefit once the candidate  
          has earned a credential and completed a year of eligible  
          teaching.  The program "forgives" up to $11,000 of college loan  
          debt for a person who teaches for four consecutive years in a  
          qualifying school or subject area (paying $2,000 for the first  
          year of teaching service and $3,000 for each of the next three  
          years of teaching).  Qualifying schools include those with high  
          proportions of low-income youth or emergency permit teachers and  
          those located in rural areas. 


          To note, no new APLE warrants have been authorized for several  
          years.  Additionally, the 2015 Budget Act (AB 93, (Weber)  
          Chapter 10, Statutes of 2015), as enacted by the Legislature on  
          June 15, authorized 1,000 new warrants.  However, SB 97  
          (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 11, Statutes of  
          2015, which provided subsequent amendments to AB 93, deleted  








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          this authorization.  The 2016 Budget Act similarly does not  
          authorize any new APLE warrants.


          Previous legislation.  SB 1264 (Pavley) of 2014, which was held  
          in the Senate Appropriations Committee, proposed to establish  
          the Educator Excellence Program, an assumption loan program for  
          up to 6,500 teachers who satisfied specified criteria.  


          SB 212 (Pavley) of 2013, which was held in the Senate  
          Appropriations Committee, sought to appropriate $5 million, from  
          an unspecified funding source, for 7,200 new warrants for the  
          assumption of school loans for teachers in areas with identified  
          teacher shortages.  




          Analysis Prepared by:                                             
          Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916) 319-3960  FN: 0003982