BILL ANALYSIS
AB 555
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Date of Hearing: April 21, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Anthony Portantino, Chair
AB 555 (Furutani) - As Amended: April 13, 2009
SUBJECT : Community colleges: attendance by secondary school
pupils: partnerships.
SUMMARY : Authorizes three California Community College (CCC)
districts to enter into partnerships with school districts to
provide high school students the opportunity to benefit from
concurrent enrollment at a CCC campus. Specifically, this bill :
1)Generally finds and declares that limits on concurrent
enrollment in existing law inhibit maximum use of CCC
facilities and opportunities and that expanding concurrent
enrollment could provide numerous benefits to students and the
state.
2)Establishes a pilot program for partnerships between CCC
districts and school districts within the immediate service
area, and provides that Kern, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Los
Rios, and San Jose-Evergreen CCC districts may participate in
the partnerships as follows:
a) Requires a participating CCC district to adopt a
partnership agreement with each school district partner and
requires that the partnership agreement be approved by the
governing board of the CCC district and the governing board
of the school district, provides that the partnership
agreement shall outline the terms and scope of the
partnership, and requires the partnership agreement to be
filed with the State Department of Education and the CCC
Chancellor's Office (CCCCO).
b) Provides that any open course and facilities
requirements in existing law or statute are waived for any
CCC district participating in a partnership agreement
offering a course for high school students on a campus of
the partner school district.
c) Prohibits a CCC district from providing physical
education (PE) course opportunities to high school students
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pursuant to this bill.
d) Provides that a high school student shall receive credit
for CCC courses that he or she completes at the level
determined appropriate by the school district and the CCC
district's governing boards.
3)Provides that, for purposes of state apportionments, a CCC
district shall be credited additional full-time equivalent
students attributable to the attendance of high school
students in CCC courses as special part-time students.
4)Provides that, for purposes of state apportionments, a school
district shall be credited for attendance by those high school
students computed in the manner prescribed by law and that a
student's attendance at school for the minimum school day
shall be deemed a day of attendance for purposes of making
that computation.
5)Provides that a CCC district shall not receive a state
allowance or apportionment for an instructional activity for
which a school district has been, or shall be, paid. Provides
that attendance of a high school student at a CCC district
pursuant to this bill is authorized attendance for which the
CCC shall be credited or reimbursed provided that no school
district has received reimbursement for the same instructional
activity.
6)Provides that a special part-time student may enroll in up to,
and including, 11 units per semester, or the equivalent
thereof at the CCC he or she attends.
7)Provides that the governing board of a CCC district shall not
assign a high- priority for registration or enrollment to a
special part-time or full-time student attending CCC pursuant
to this bill in order to ensure that special students do not
displace regularly admitted students.
8)Requires each CCC district and school district that
participates in a partnership established by this bill to
report annually to the CCCCO specified information regarding
the partnership and provides that the annual report shall be
submitted to the Legislature, the Department of Finance, the
Superintendent, and the governing boards of the participating
CCC districts.
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9)Sunsets the provisions of this bill on January 1, 2015.
EXISTING LAW provides for limited concurrent enrollment of
elementary and secondary school students in CCC coursework.
CCCs are allowed to admit a limited number of K-12 students as
"special admits," primarily in order to give these students
advanced education at the college level.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Dual Referral : This bill is dual referred to the
Assembly Education Committee. This analysis focuses on the
higher education policy. Policy issues relative to the role of
school districts in the partnerships created by this bill fall
within the jurisdiction of the Assembly Education Committee and
are not addressed in this analysis.
Purpose of this bill: According to the author, CCCs provide a
unique benefit to high school students when the school district
cannot offer college level or career technical courses. In many
cases, CCCs have the facilities and instructors to teach high
schools students who are prepared for training for technical
careers. Exposure to college classes and the college
environment while in high school improves college participation
rates. The author argues that the current restrictions inhibit
local ability to make maximum use of CCC facilities and
opportunities and this bill will help enable individual CCC
districts to develop their own unique agreement to meet the
needs of the respective school district and region.
Which districts will be included in the pilot program? The
pilot program established by this bill will apply to Kern, Long
Beach, Los Angeles, Los Rios, and San Jose-Evergreen CCC
districts. The author indicates that the CCC districts
identified in this bill were selected to provide a diverse
geographical representation of California's community college
districts.
Past abuse of concurrent enrollment : In December 2002, the
Orange County Register reported on abuses of concurrent
enrollment in the CCC. That story and several follow-up
articles alleged pupils were enrolled in courses without their
knowledge, instructors were paid twice for the same courses,
state apportionments were paid to both K-12 and the CCC for the
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same courses, and CCC districts were using summer sports camps
to inflate their enrollments for significant monetary gain.
Some districts eventually admitted their illegal actions and
repaid funds. In the months following that scandal, the
Legislature responded with budget reductions and statutory
restrictions that remain in place today.
Concurrent enrollment restrictions removed by this bill: For
the CCC districts authorized to participate in the pilot program
created by this bill the following specific concurrent
enrollment restrictions are removed:
1)Existing law provides that in order for a CCC district to
receive state apportionments for a high school student
attending a CCC the class must be open to the general public.
If the class is held on a high school campus the class may not
be held during a time that the campus is closed to the general
public. This bill waives this requirement for any CCC
district participating in a partnership agreement pursuant to
this bill offering a course for high school students on a
campus of the partner school district. The author argues this
is necessary so that the CCC districts and the partnering high
school districts should have the flexibility to offer courses
at the time that best fits the participating student needs and
availability of facilities.
2)Existing law requires CCC to assign a low priority to the
enrollment of special-admit students. This bill amends the
statute to prohibit CCC districts from assigning a high
priority. According to the author, the CCC districts have
requested this change because the current enrollment system
permits students to add classes through the 3rd week of the
term. If a special-admit student cannot be enrolled until all
other students have had an opportunity, then he or she cannot
be registered until the very end of this time period, creating
uncertainty and delays for high school students. The
prohibition against a high priority, on the other hand,
ensures that special-admit students are not given special
treatment but may enroll at the beginning of a term.
Concurrent enrollment restrictions continued in this bill: Some
concurrent enrollment restrictions in existing laws are
specifically restated and continued in this bill, including:
1)Providing that a special part-time student may enroll in up
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to, and including, 11 units per semester or the equivalent
thereof, at the CCC.
2)Providing that this bill does not allow for the enrollment of
high school students in CCC PE courses. Under existing law,
no more than 10% of enrollment in a CCC PE course may be
comprised of special-admit students, and the CCC district may
not receive state apportionment for special-admit students
enrolled in PE classes in excess of 5% of the CCC district's
total apportionment related to the attendance of special-admit
students.
Additional concurrent enrollment restrictions in existing law :
There are several concurrent enrollment guidelines and
restrictions in existing law that are not removed or addressed
by this bill. Based on committee staff conversations with the
author and sponsor it remains unclear if the author intends for
participating CCC districts to continue to comply with these
provisions. These provisions include:
1)Restricting high school principals to only approving summer
concurrent enrollment for 5% of the students who just
completed any year in that high school. In recent years, the
Legislature has nibbled away on this restriction by approving
exemptions to this barrier and extending the sunset date for
those exemptions.
2)Requiring high school students seeking to enroll in CCC
courses to obtain parental permission and the recommendation
of their high school principal.
3)Allowing the governing board of a CCC to restrict the
admission or enrollment of a special-admit student based upon
age, completion of a specified grade level, or lack of
demonstrated eligibility for the instruction based upon
recognized assessment methods.
CCCCO Task Force on concurrent enrollment : Committee staff
understands that the CCCCO has established a Task Force on
Concurrent Enrollment which has been meeting regularly
throughout the past year. The Task Force is compiling a list of
recommendations for a statewide comprehensive concurrent
enrollment policy. Committee staff understands that the author
and sponsor are in ongoing conversations with the CCCCO.
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Related Legislation : AB 78 (Portantino), which removes several
barriers to concurrent enrollment found in existing law, was
approved unanimously by this committee on March 3, 2009 and is
currently pending in the Assembly Education Committee.
AB 1409 (Portantino) of 2008, which was substantially similar to
AB 78, passed out of this committee unanimously on March 27,
2007, but was subsequently held in the Senate Appropriations
Committee.
SB 1473 (Padilla), Chapter 718, Statutes of 2008, extended the
exemptions to the 5% summer school enrollment cap to January 1,
2014.
SB 218 (Steinberg) of 2007, which was not heard in a policy
committee, would have expressed legislative intent to enable
greater concurrent enrollment opportunities.
SB 1303 (Runner), Chapter 648, Statutes of 2006, added
exemptions to the 5% summer-enrollment rule.
AB 2050 (Canciamilla) of 2006, which was held in the Senate
Appropriations Committee, would have provided full apportionment
to school districts for pupils enrolled in minimum day and
attending a CCC.
AB 967 (Canciamilla), Chapter 399, Statutes of 2005, added a
requirement for low enrollment priority.
SB 338 (Scott), Chapter 786, Statutes of 2003, reformed
concurrent enrollment rules in response to abuses in PE courses.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Los Angeles Unified School District
Long Beach City College District
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960
AB 555
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