BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1889
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Date of Hearing: April 28, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1889 (Portantino) - As Amended: March 17, 2010
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:6-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill enacts several changes to the Private Postsecondary
Education Act of 2009, including:
1)Prohibiting an unaccredited institution from offering doctoral
degrees.
2)Eliminating from the definition of "graduates employed in the
field"-for purposes of institutional reports-the inclusion of
graduates employed in positions where the training they
received provided a significant advantage in obtaining the
position.
3)Clarifying that the education specialist and senior specialist
positions established within the re-established Bureau for
Private Postsecondary Education are full-time, permanent
positions based in the Sacramento office of the Bureau.
FISCAL EFFECT
Ongoing special fund costs of around $200,000 in travel expenses
for the Sacramento-based specialist positions. (The Department
of Consumer Affairs (DCA) indicates that, because most of the
schools to be regulated by the new bureau are located in
southern California, four of the five specialist positions would
spend the majority of their time in that region. Therefore,
mandating these positions be based in Sacramento will result in
weekly travel-related costs.)
COMMENTS
AB 1889
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1)Background . AB 48 (Portantino)/ Chapter 310 of 2009
re-established state regulation of private postsecondary
educational institutions in California by a bureau within DCA.
This bill enacts several changes to the Act, including the
following significant changes:
a) Requires institutions offering doctoral degrees to be
accredited. Accreditation is a voluntary, non-governmental
peer review process utilized for the purpose of determining
academic quality of higher education institutions and
programs. The author notes that, while often cheaper for
the student, unaccredited degrees can limit a student's
career options. Some career fields and employers require
degrees from accredited colleges, especially in professions
like education and health care, where certification or
licensure is a pre-requisite for employment. The author
believes that requiring doctoral degree programs to be
accredited will ensure an adequate level of educational
quality of doctoral degrees issued by private postsecondary
institutions operating in California.
In opposition to this provision, the California Association
of Private Postsecondary Schools (CAPPS) argues that
prohibiting unaccredited schools from offering doctoral
level degrees would negatively impact California
unaccredited schools and their students.
CAPPS believes this provision will put a number of schools
out of business and destroy many students' efforts to
graduate and practice in their chosen profession. CAPPS
argues that, while accreditation is an excellent option for
schools, there are a number of areas of study such as
oriental medicine, energy medicine, psychology and other
areas where the only available accreditation option would
not allow for accreditation of smaller schools.
b) Alters the definition of "graduates employed in the
field ." The Act requires that institutions report the
number of graduates gainfully employed in the field within
six months of graduation and allows for the inclusion of
graduates who are employed in positions where the training
they received from the institution provided a "significant
advantage" to the graduate in obtaining the position.
According to the author, concerns were raised by
legislative colleagues, during the vote to Concur in Senate
AB 1889
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Amendments on AB 48, that this latter provision might allow
institutions to inappropriately inflate job placements. The
author agreed at the time to delete this provision in
clean-up legislation, thus the Act would require that the
skills obtained through the private postsecondary education
or training be required for the position obtained in order
for the job to be counted as a graduate placement.
In opposition to this statutory change, Kaplan Inc. argues
that it breeches the agreement made last year in AB 48 and
is unduly restrictive, as it does not allow institutions to
include graduates that start in entry-level positions.
Kaplan Inc. believes that the revised reported requirement
sets an unrealistic standard that does not accurately
reflect the nature of employment in the private sector.
c) Revises language regarding Bureau Education Specialists
positions . The Act appropriated $580,000 to the Bureau to
fund five postsecondary education specialist and senior
specialist positions and required these positions be
included in the annual budget for the Bureau. The author
contends this language was intended to ensure employees of
the former Bureau, with expertise in regulation and
oversight of private institutions, would have the
opportunity to be placed within the new Bureau. The author
indicates, however, that the Administration has established
these as limited-term positions located outside of the
Sacramento area. AB 1889 clarifies that these positions
are to be full-time, permanent positions housed in the
Sacramento office of the Bureau.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081