BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 1713
AUTHOR: Furutani
AMENDED: March 18, 2010
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 16, 2010
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira
SUBJECT : Community College Reporting Requirements
KEY POLICY ISSUE
Should the California Community College Chancellor's Office be
relieved of the specified statutorily established reporting
requirements?
SUMMARY
This bill deletes, consolidates, and modifies six reports
which are currently statutorily required to be produced by the
California Community College Chancellor's Office (CCCCO).
BACKGROUND
Current law and the annual budget act, via supplemental or
provisional reporting language adopted therein, requires the
public postsecondary education segments to report to the
Legislature a large number of reports per year. AB 1182
(Brownley, Chapter 386, Statutes of 2009) eliminated some, and
restructured and reorganized other, higher education reporting
requirements of the state's public universities and colleges
to provide for more effective, manageable, and transparent
reporting to the Legislature.
AB 1585 (Committee on Accountability and Administrative
Review, Chapter 7, Statutes of 2010) modified the list of
state agency reports maintained by the Legislative Counsel.
ANALYSIS
This bill :
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1) Repeals a requirement that the CCCCO and the
Superintendent of Public Instruction convene a working
group of adult education and data experts to review and
report on the feasibility, design, and cost of a common
data set in adult education by July 1, 2007. (Education
Code 10701)
2) Authorizes the CCCCO to consolidate annual reports on
concurrent enrollment and special admits into a single
report and changes the due date from November 1 to March
1. (EC 48800)
3) Deletes a requirement that the governing bodies of the
three public segments report to the Legislature on the
status and plans of their respective segments'
implementation of a common course numbering system. (EC
66725.3(b))
4) Changes the due date from May 1 to July 1 for an annual
report on the amount of full-time equivalent students
(FTES) claimed by each community college district for
career development and college preparation courses.
5) Deletes a requirement that the California State
University (CSU) and California Community Colleges (CCC)
evaluate the extent to which their current programs are
meeting the needs of foster youth and how those outreach
and retention services can be improved. (EC 89343)
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, statute
and budget act provisions require the California
Community College Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) to submit
dozens of reports to the Governor and the Legislature,
some of which are burdensome, inconsistent, obsolete
and/or duplicative, some of which can be consolidated or
moved to a more efficient timeline, and some of which are
no longer needed. According to the author, the CCCCO is
required to produce a total of 43 legislatively mandated
reports. This bill will modify six of these reports in
the Education Code.
2) Common course numbering . SB 1415 (Brulte, Chapter
307, Statutes of 2004) required (and requested, as
appropriate) the public postsecondary education
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institutions to adopt a common course numbering system by
January 1, 2006 in order to facilitate the transfer
process. Additionally, it required the Board of
Governors (BOG) of the CCC to report on the status of
activities related to the adoption of this system for the
20 highest demand majors and its plans for implementation
of this system for all other majors.
In 2007, the BOG reported that it had awarded a two-year
grant to a specific district to develop and implement a
common course numbering system. However, it does not
appear that the Legislature ever received the report
summarizing the progress/achievement of the statutorily
prescribed goals. Rather than being obsolete, it appears
that the required activities have yet to be completed and
reported upon. It may be more appropriate to update
rather than delete the statute, in order to ensure
compliance with the prescribed goals.
Staff recommends the bill be amended to retain the
reporting requirement and to reset the due dates in EC
66725.3 to 2011.
3) Foster Youth . AB 2463 (Chapter 1129, Statutes of
1996) required that the CSU and CCC evaluate the
effectiveness of their programs in recruiting and
retaining foster youth and required a 1998 report on the
current and expanded services/efforts around these youth.
The obsolete reporting requirement was deleted in 2004.
The CSU reports that, through a grant from the Stuart
Foundation, it has created the CSU Foster Youth in Higher
Education project which supports the recruitment and
identification of colleges interested in increased
retention and graduation of foster youth. The Foundation
requires tracking of specific outcome measures around the
enrollment, completion, support programs, and financial
aid for these youth. Additionally, foster youth who
self-identify are tracked at the campus level and, the
CSU reports that a new initiative with Cal-Pass that
allows the ability to identify former foster youth should
help to further improve outreach efforts and student
retention services.
The CCCCO, in addition to its voluntary Foster Youth
Success Initiative which is funded through limited
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foundation support at some colleges, has developed a
number of resources/tools for campuses to use as they
work with foster youth. The CCCCO is also in the process
of establishing a data element in its statewide
Management Information System which can be used to track
educational outcomes for students who self-identify as
being foster youth.
In spite of these laudable efforts within the CSU and
CCC, it may be premature to suggest that a focus on
foster youth services is no longer necessary. Would
deletion of statute that requires the ongoing evaluation
of programs that serve foster youth be interpreted as an
indication that the Legislature no longer feels these
activities are necessary?
Staff recommends the bill be amended to retain current
law.
4) Special Admits/Concurrent Enrollment . This bill
authorizes the consolidation of information required in
EC 48800 with a report required in EC 76002. Staff
recommends the bill be amended to make a conforming
change in 76002 that authorizes the CCCO to include the
information required in ED 48800(d)(4) in its report.
SUPPORT
California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office
Community College League of California
OPPOSITION
None received.