BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 1050
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|Author: |De León |
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|Version: |April 7, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: April 20, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Kathleen Chavira |
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Subject: Postsecondary education: college readiness
SUMMARY
This bill, in order to increase the number of California
students that meet college eligibility requirements to earn a
bachelor's degree:
1) Establishes the K-12 College Readiness Block Grant,
contingent upon funding via statute or the annual budget
act, to provide one-time funding to K-12 districts to
prepare high school pupils, particularly those
traditionally underrepresented at the University of
California (UC) and the California State University (CSU),
for admission into a postsecondary education institution.
2) Requires, as a condition of annual budget act funding,
as specified, that the UC develop and implement a plan and
timeline for increasing the enrollment of students from
high schools with a 75 percent or greater "unduplicated
pupil count", pursuant to Local Control Funding Formula
(LCFF) calculations.
3) Requests that the UC establish a California subject
matter project (CSMP) to provide administrators, counselors
and teachers with strategies for improving college
readiness, as specified.
BACKGROUND
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Existing law implements the LCFF which, among other things,
provides for a calculation of the amount of funding to be
provided for an "unduplicated pupil." An "unduplicated pupil"
is defined for this purpose as a student enrolled in a school
district or a charter school who is either classified as an
English learner, eligible for a free or reduced-price meal, or
is a foster youth. A pupil is only counted once for purposes of
this calculation even if a single pupil is classified as an
English learner, is eligible for a free or reduced-price meal
and is a foster youth. A school district or charter school is
required to annually report records for enrolled students in
these categories to the Superintendent of Public Instruction
using the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System
(CALPADS). (Education Code § 42238.02)
Existing law authorizes the UC to establish and maintain Subject
Matter Projects for the purpose of developing and enhancing
teachers' subject matter knowledge in the following six
specified areas: writing, reading and literature, mathematics,
science, history-social science, and world history and
international studies. The Regents of the UC with the approval
of an intersegmental Concurrence Committee to establish and
maintain the projects with funds appropriated in the Budget Act.
Current law authorizes the UC to establish other subject matter
projects (CSMP) and prohibits funds allocated in the Budget Act
from being used for subject matter projects not specified in
law. Current law makes the CSMP inoperative on June 30, 2107
and repeals the CSMP on January 1, 2018. Current law requires a
report on the CSMP to the Governor, Legislature, and appropriate
policy and fiscal committees by January 1, 2016.
(Education Code § 99200 - 99206)
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Establishes the K-12 Readiness Block Grant, contingent upon
funding via statute or the annual Budget Act, for purposes
of preparing California's high school pupils to be eligible
for admission into a postsecondary institution and increase
their four-year-college-going rates. It:
a) Provides that the particular focus of
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the program is on students traditionally
underrepresented in the University of California (UC)
and the California State University (CSU).
b) Includes in its focus, unduplicated
pupils as defined under specified Local Control
Funding Formula (LCFF) provisions.
c) Requires that a school district or
charter school expend funds for any of the following:
i) Providing teachers,
administrators, and counselors with professional
development opportunities to improve A-G
completion rates, pupil college-going rates, and
college readiness of pupils, including the
provision of honors and Advanced Placement
courses.
ii) Provision of counseling services to
students regarding college admission requirements
and financial aid programs.
iii) Developing or purchasing materials that
support college readiness, including those that
support high performance on admissions
assessments.
iv) Developing comprehensive advising
plants to support student completion of A-G
requirements.
v) Implementing and
strengthening collaborative partnerships between
high schools and postsecondary institutions,
including, but not limited to, existing early
academic outreach partnerships with the UC and
the CSU.
vi) Providing subsidies to pay fees for
advanced placement exams for unduplicated pupils,
as defined under specified LCFF provisions.
d) Requires, as a condition for receiving
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funds, that a school district or charter school
develop a plan describing how funds will be spent.
Further it:
i) Requires that the plan
include information about its alignment with the
school district's or charter school's Local
Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP).
ii) Requires that the plan be discussed at
a regularly scheduled governing board meeting and
adopted at a subsequent regularly scheduled
meeting.
e) Requires, as a condition of receiving
funds, that school districts and charter schools
report to the California Department of Education (CDE)
the number of students served under the grant and the
number of students admitted to the University of
California (UC) and the California State University
(CSU).
f) Requires the CDE to compile the
information received from districts and charter
schools and submit a report to the appropriate
Legislative policy and fiscal committees, by April 30,
2017.
g) Declares the Legislature's intent that
this funding be allocated to school districts and
charter schools with students who are traditionally
underrepresented at four year universities and
students who are unduplicated pupils, as defined under
specified Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF)
provisions.
2) Requires the CDE to annually develop and post on its
website a list of high schools with 75 percent or greater
enrollment of unduplicated pupils, as defined under
specified LCFF provisions (LCFF Plus Students).
3) Requires, as a condition of receiving funding for enrolling
more California resident students in the annual Budget Act
than that required under the 2015 Budget Act, that the UC
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develop an implementation plan and timeline to
significantly increase the admission of LCFF Plus students
enrolled at the high schools identified by the CDE.
Specifically it:
a) Requires that each UC campus ensure
that it increases the admission of California resident
undergraduate students above those admitted in the
2015-16 academic year.
b) Requires that each UC campus also
ensure that it significantly increases the number of
students admitted from LCFF Plus high schools.
c) Requires that the UC identify a Local
Control Funding Formula Plus Student's status as such
in the student's application file and that this
information be provided to admissions personnel.
d) Requires that the University of
California (UC) identify as a high priority group
within the "Entitled to Review" pool of applicants
Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) Plus student
applicants who have fulfilled minimum admission
requirements but do not meet the criteria for
guaranteed admission through Statewide Admission or
through Eligibility in the Local Context.
e) Requires that the UC examine the
costs/benefits of:
i) Extending an application
fee waiver to graduates of LCFF Plus high
schools.
ii) Increasing the total number of campuses
covered under the fee waiver policy for this
group of applicants.
f) Requires that the UC expand targeted
support and retention services for disadvantaged or
underprepared students, including LCFF Plus students
who graduated from the California Department of
Education (CDE) identified LCFF Plus schools and
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requires that these services include but not be
limited to:
i) Counseling on course planning and
scheduling.
ii) Tutoring.
iii) Financial assistance that supplements
but does not supplant existing institutional,
federal or state financial aid programs.
iv) Any other services that facilitate
these students' successful completion of an
undergraduate degree within four years.
g) Requires, as a condition of budget
funding, as specified, that the UC report, by
September 1, 2018 and annually thereafter to the
appropriate Legislative Policy and Fiscal Committees
and the Department of Finance:
i) The number and percentage of LCFF Plus
students, as specified.
ii) The percentage of LCFF Plus students
disaggregated as specified.
iii) The percentage of LCFF Plus students
enrolled systemwide and at each campus earning
enough credits in their first year to indicate
they are on track to complete a degree in four
years.
h) Defines various terms for the purpose of these
provisions.
4) Requests that the UC establish the California College
Readiness Project within the existing California Subject
Matter Projects (CSMPs). It also:
a) Makes conforming changes to the
objectives and goals of the CSMPs to include:
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i) Provision of strategies for
improving A-G course completion rates, college
going rates, and college readiness of students
who attend schools in local educational agencies
eligible for supplemental and concentration grant
funding under Local Control Funding Formula
(LCFF), as specified.
ii) Provision of support in the
implementation of these strategies to appropriate
school personnel to ensure that all students are
afforded an opportunity to successfully meet the
requirements for admission to the University of
California (UC) and the California State
University (CSU).
b) Requires that school personnel employed
by local educational agencies eligible for
supplemental or concentration grant funding under LCFF
receive priority for admission to programs offered by
the California College Readiness Project.
c) Deletes the sunset and repeal of the
CSMPs.
5) Makes a number of related declarations and findings.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author, strategies to
increase the number of college graduates requires
strengthening of the relationship between the K-12 system
and the state's public universities. This bill attempts to
incentivize the two systems to work together to create a
pipeline from high school to our four-year university
system and ensure that all California high school students,
regardless of family income, have access to rigorous
coursework, quality counseling services, and exposure to
college through partnerships between high schools and
higher education institutions.
This bill does three things in an effort to achieve the
author's goals. It creates a one-time block grant to
provide college readiness funding to K-12 districts, it
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requires the UC to establish a College Readiness project to
provide strategies for college readiness to K-12 staff and
it requires that the UC increase admission of
underrepresented students, particularly students from high
schools with high proportions of unduplicated pupils.
2) Why is it important? According to a 2015 report by the
Public Policy Institute of California (Will California Run
Out of College Graduates?) if current trends continue, by
2030, the state will experience a shortage of 1.1 million
workers for jobs that require a bachelor's degree. While
the state is expected to experience declines in the share
of high school dropouts and increases in the share of
college graduates, these improvements will not make up for
the large numbers of
highly educated baby boomers retiring from the labor force
and even the number of highly educated workers from
elsewhere is unlikely to be large enough to bridge this
workforce skills gap.
The Public Policy Institute of California report finds that
the most promising approach to closing the workforce skills
gap is to concentrate on improving the educational
attainment of California residents. It outlines four key
strategies for the state and its colleges and universities
to pursue, including increased access, improved college
completion rates, expanded transfer pathways from community
colleges, and being smart about financial aid programs.
The report also indicates that research shows students are
much more likely to earn a bachelor's degree if they first
enroll in a four-year college, rather than community
college-even when accounting for differences in academic
preparation. Increasing the share of high school graduates
eligible for the University of California (UC) and the
California State University (CSU) would be an important
step toward increasing the number of college graduates. It
would also improve access for students from low-income
families and other underrepresented groups. The report
concludes that a state plan for higher education should
ensure that enough high school graduates are ready for
college and enough slots are available for new college
students.
Consistent with the recommendations of the report, this
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bill provides resources and tools to K-12 districts to
ensure students are prepared for college and conditions
budget funding for the UC on the increased admission of
California resident undergraduate students, including those
from school districts with large populations of low income,
English learner, and foster youth students.
3) Related budget activity. The 2015 Budget Act provided $25
million to the UC contingent on increasing California
resident enrollment by 5,000 students, holding resident
tuition flat in 2015-16 and 2016-17, and redirecting
non-resident institutional aid to support resident
students. It also provided for an increase in the
enrollment of 10,400 additional California residents at the
CSU.
This bill requires the UC, as a condition of receiving any
enrollment funding in the annual Budget Act, to increase
the admission of California resident undergraduate students
and to significantly increase admission of students from
Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) Plus high schools (as
defined) and to provide targeted support and retention
services to disadvantaged or underprepared students,
including students who graduated from LCFF Plus high
schools.
K-12 College Readiness Block Grant
4) Need for clarification of eligibility and use of funds?
This bill provides that a particular focus of the College
Readiness Block Grant is on students traditionally
underrepresented in higher education, particularly
unduplicated pupils as defined under LCFF, and declares the
Legislature's intent that funding be allocated to districts
and charter schools that enroll these pupils. However, as
currently drafted, the bill sets no threshold for
determining eligibility or priority for funding,
potentially making this funding available to any district
or charter school that enrolls any number of unduplicated
pupils. Should the bill be amended to prioritize funding
for districts with the highest proportions of unduplicated
pupils? Could/should the bill be amended to require that
funds received by districts that have smaller populations
of unduplicated students must ensure that funds are
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targeted to serve the unduplicated students?
In addition, current law requires that the Local Control
and Accountability Plan (LCAP) include annual goals in each
of eight state priority areas, including student
achievement, as measured by the share of students who are
college and career ready and the share of students
completing AP exams with a score of 3 or higher. This bill
currently requires submission of a plan describing the use
of these funds and how this aligns with the school
district's/charter's LCAP.
In order to ensure that these funds are used to enhance,
and not subsidize existing efforts, staff recommends the
bill be amended on page 5, line 17 after "spent" to insert,
" and shall describe how funds will supplement and not
supplant funding for existing programs and services to
ensure college readiness."
5) Strengthened requirements? This bill requires that
districts and charter schools develop a plan describing how
funds will be spent in order to receive funding from the
new block grant. In light of the fact that the objective
of the grant is to increase the 4-year college going rates
of high school students, the block grant requirements could
be strengthened to ensure that students will be provided
with an opportunity to complete the A-G requirements
necessary for admission.
Staff recommends the bill be amended on Page 5 line 15 to
require expansion of A-G course offerings as an additional
allowable use of the funds and to insert:
"(g) Expanding the offerings of A-G courses approved by the
University of California and establishing or expanding
partnerships with other secondary or postsecondary
institutions to ensure that all students enrolled in
schools identified by the department pursuant to Section
33318.8 have access to coursework or other opportunities to
satisfy A-G requirements."
Staff further recommends the bill be amended on Page 5 line
21 after the period to insert:
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"The plan shall also include detailed information on the
extent to which all pupils within the district or charter
school, particularly unduplicated pupils, will have access
to A-G courses approved by the University of California."
UC Admissions
6) LCFF Plus schools. This bill creates a category of high
schools, LCFF Plus schools, defined as having 75 percent or
greater enrollment of unduplicated pupils, and requires the
California Department of Education (CDE) to annually post a
list of these high schools on its website. The bill
requires that as a condition of budget funding, the UC
significantly increase the admission of students from these
high schools. In addition to considering application fee
waivers for this group of applicants, the bill requires
that UC expand targeted support and retention services for
these students. According to the CDE, in 2013-14, about
500 schools throughout California met this definition.
These schools had a total enrollment of about 590,000
students, with 85 percent of these students representing
unduplicated pupil categories.
7) Eligibility for UC admission. According to the University
of California (UC), its Comprehensive Review Policy governs
the admission and selection of undergraduates at its nine
campuses. Freshmen applications are assessed using
multiple measures of achievement (high school course
completion, GPA, and standardized test scores) and promise
while considering applicants' educational context.
Comprehensive review involves consideration of 14 factors,
utilized by all campuses, but the specific evaluation
process and weight given to each factor differ from campus
to campus, and year to year, based on campus-specific goals
and needs.
UC's admission guarantee policy, applicable to all
California resident high school graduates, includes
Statewide Eligibility (SE), Eligibility in the Local
Context (ELC), and Entitled to Review (ETR). The UC
guarantees admission to the system (though not necessarily
to the first-choice campus) to all California applicants
who are in the top 9 percent of California high school
graduates (SE), or in the top 9 percent of their respective
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high school class (ELC). The top 9 percent is determined
by a formula based on grade point average (GPA) and
standardized test scores.
In 2012, the UC implemented a new freshman admissions
policy, Entitled to Review (ETR). Under this policy
students are not guaranteed admission, but are guaranteed a
comprehensive review of their application if they have
completed 11 of 15 required a-g courses with a weighted GPA
of at least 3.0 by the end of their junior year. The
intent was to confer the right to a full application review
to a broader pool of college-going California students
while ending the practice of excluding many high-achieving
students solely on the basis of UC's extensive standardized
testing requirements.
8) Net effect? This bill, as a condition of budget act
funding, requires each UC campus to increase the admission
of California resident undergraduates and to significantly
increase the number of admitted students from Local Control
Funding Formula (LCFF) Plus high schools. It makes no
changes to the UC's admissions policy or to the eligibility
requirements for admission. Rather, it requires that
supplemental consideration be given to LCFF Plus students,
consistent with UC admissions policy, and that these
student applicants be identified as a high-priority group
within the Entitled to Review pool.
The bill also requires reporting on the number and
percentage of LCFF Plus students admitted systemwide and by
campus, disaggregated by admission policy, as well as
reporting on the support and retention services offered and
progress toward 4-year degree completion for admitted LCFF
Plus students.
9) AB 540 students? This bill requires that each UC campus
increase the admission of California resident undergraduate
students admitted each year as a condition of receiving
funding in the annual budget act. Staff recommends the
bill be amended on page 6 line 18 to insert "and
undergraduate students meeting the requirements set forth
in Section 68130.5" to ensure that these admission
increases include AB 540 students.
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College Readiness Project
10) Participation requirements. This bill establishes a
College Readiness Project within the California Subject
Matter Projects (CSMPs) and requires that school personnel
employed by local educational agencies (LEAs) that are
eligible for supplemental or concentration grant funding
under Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) receive priority
for admission to these programs. Presumably the intent of
these provisions is to ensure that less well-resourced
schools with large populations of low-income and
underrepresented students have the opportunity to secure
staff professional development opportunities currently
unavailable to them. However, as currently drafted, the
bill sets no threshold for determining eligibility or
priority for participation, potentially making this
professional development available to any LEA that applies.
Should the bill be amended to prioritize admission for
school personnel from LEA's with the highest proportions of
unduplicated pupils?
11) CSMPs report. The CSMPs deliver intensive,
discipline-based professional development in six content
areas authorized by law to teachers and administrators.
Current law required a report on the CSMPs, by January
2016. In its December 2015 report, the UC notes that from
2011-15, the CSMP serviced 102,412 participants (teachers)
from 8,215 K-12 schools with service extending as far north
as Del Norte County and as far south as Imperial County,
and serving teachers in all 58 California counties. The
top ten cities with the most schools served were Los
Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, San Jose, San Francisco,
Oakland, Fresno, Bakersfield, Stockton, and Santa Ana.
About 48 percent of the schools served by CSMP were
designated as "low-performing," as defined by the State's
Academic Performance Index (API of 1-5).
This bill creates a new effort, the College Readiness
Project, within the CSMPs. A similar report would be
helpful in evaluating the effectiveness of the new project.
Staff recommends the bill be amended on page 10 lines 11-15
to require a report on the CSMPs, by January 1, 2020, and
require that it specifically include information on the
College Readiness project.
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SUPPORT
Advancement Project
Asian Americans Advancing Justice - California
Asian Law Alliance
California Association of Latino Superintendents and
Administrators (CALSA)
Campaign for College Opportunity
Central American Resource Center (CARECEN)
Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE)
Community Coalition
Council of Mexican Federations
Courage Campaign
Education Trust-West
Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC)
Garvey School District
InnerCity Struggle
Khmer Girls in Action
Los Angeles Unified School District
Los Angeles Urban League
Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance
(OCAPICA)
PICO California
Policy Link
Riverside County Superintendent of Schools and the 23 school
district superintendents
of Riverside County, San Bernardino City Unified School
District
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
The Latino and Latina Roundtable of the San Gabriel Valley and
Pomona Valley
OPPOSITION
None received.
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