BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 2482
AUTHOR: Furutani
INTRODUCED: February 19, 2010
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 23, 2010
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira
SUBJECT : Consultation Council of the California Community
Colleges
KEY POLICY ISSUES
Should membership on an internal advisory council be
statutorily required to include specified representation
for a single group of community college employees when
neither the Council or its membership are currently defined
in state law?
Should the discretion of the Board of Governor's and the
Chancellor's Office to determine membership of an advisory
body created and convened to assist in the development of
community college policy that serves the best interests of
the students, the system, and the state be limited?
SUMMARY
This bill requires that the Board of Governors (BOG) of the
California Community Colleges (CCC) include two classified
employees among the membership of the Consultation Council
established pursuant to current law requirements that the
BOG consult with institutional representatives in the
development and review of policy.
BACKGROUND
Current law requires the Board of Governors (BOG) of the
California Community
Colleges (CCC) to provide leadership and direction in the
continuing development of the CCC and to provide general
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supervision over community college districts and that, in
performing these functions, the BOG establish and carry out
a process for consultation with institutional
representatives of the districts to ensure their
participation in the development and review of policy
proposals. The consultation process is required to afford
community college organizations, as well as interested
individuals and parties, an opportunity to review and
comment on proposed policy before it is adopted by the BOG.
(Education Code 70901)
ANALYSIS
This bill requires the inclusion of two classified
employees of the community colleges, each representing one
of two different statewide collective bargaining
organizations representing community college classified
employees, among the membership of the consultation council
established to ensure participation of institutional
representatives of community college districts in the
development and review of policy proposals.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, the
Consultation Council established to allow
participation in the review and development of policy
proposals for the California Community College system
disproportionately represents institutional and
organizational faculty and administrators. Currently
one member of the Council exclusively represents
classified employees. The author asserts that this
bill is an important step for achieving parity for
classified school employees in terms of their
representation on the Council relative to the
classified employee workforce within the California
Community Colleges.
2) Consultation Council . Current law makes the BOG
responsible for establishing a consultation process
for the development and review of policy proposals.
The Consultation Council was established as part of
the community college shared governance process under
the authority of the BOG Standing Orders 342. Under
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the Standing Orders, the Chancellor is required to
adopt such Executive Orders as necessary to implement
the BOG policy on consultation. These Executive
Orders establish the membership, roles of the members,
participation by organizations and interested parties
who are not members of the council, and meetings and
other procedural matters. The Council is led by the
Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and is
currently comprised of the following 18 members,
appointed administratively by the Chancellor:
Institutional Representatives:
2 chief executive officers of community
college districts, selected by the Chief
Executive Officers of the California Community
Colleges.
2 community college faculty members,
selected by The Academic Senate.
2 students selected by the Student
Senate.
1 chief business officer, selected by the
Association of Chief Business Officers.
1 chief student services officer,
selected by the California Community Colleges
Chief Student Services Administrators
Association.
1 chief instructional officer selected by
the Chief Instructional Officers of the
California Community Colleges.
1 chief human resources officer selected
by Chief Human Resources Officer/Affirmative
Action Officer.
Organizational Representatives:
1 representative of the Association of
California Community College Administrators.
1 representative of the California
Student Association of Community Colleges.
1 representative of the Community
Colleges Association/California Teachers
Association.
1 representative of the California
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Community Colleges/California Federation of
Teachers.
1 representative of the California
Community Colleges Independents.
1 representative of the Community College
League of California.
1 representative of the California School
Employees Association.
1 representative of the Faculty
Association of California Community Colleges.
The Chancellor is authorized to invite other
organizations, individuals, and staff to participate
in selected discussions of the Council. The Chancellor
is also required to provide for a review and
evaluation of the consultation process at least once
every three years.
1) The Council's purpose . According to the Community
College Chancellor's Office, the purpose of the
Consultation Council is to facilitate the
participation of community college districts in the
development of community college policy in order to
insure that the best interests of the students, the
system, and the state are served. The Council meets
once per month to review and evaluate new policy
proposals necessitated either by legal requirements or
local need, appoint task groups to develop new policy
proposals, review and provide advice on policy issues
currently in development, and review and provide
advice on the work of standing committees developing
annual system proposals, such as the budget and
legislative programs. This formal consultation
process allows the entire community college system to
advise the Chancellor who makes recommendations to the
BOG on matters of policy. The stated purpose of the
consultation process is to strengthen a system of
communications, policy development, and review to
ensure the quality and effectiveness of college
operations and programs.
2) Related administrative activity . According to the
Chancellor's Office, on May 20, 2010, the Consultation
Council discussed the provisions of this bill and
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noted that the California Federation of Teachers (CFT)
was requesting that two classified representatives be
appointed to the Council. Currently, the single
classified representative on the Council is from CSEA,
the rationale being that it represents the largest
classified organization. The Chancellor has made a
commitment to review the CFT request to add more
classified representatives to the Consultation
Council, but noted that he would have to weigh many
factors, including the fact that many other groups
have made similar requests. The Chancellor has not
yet issued a decision around this request but is
expected to respond at the next meeting of the
Consultation Council.
3) CCC employees and the Consultation Council . Staff has
been informed that at least four different groups
represent classified employees throughout the system.
These include Service Employees International, the
Classified Senate, the CFT and the CSEA. Of these,
both CSEA and CFT currently have a member designated
on the Council (although CFT characterizes theirs as
representing faculty). Based on Chancellor's Office
data, classified employees represented 33 percent of
community college employees in 2008 (approximately
23,600). In 2008, just over 67% of employees were
faculty and educational administrators (over 75,000).
4) If it's not broken... ? As noted, the Consultation
Council's duties and membership are not explicitly
described in statute, but are described in the
Chancellor's Executive Orders. This allows the
Chancellor and the BOG the discretion to modify
membership and process as necessary to best serve the
needs of the system (the last change to the Council
occurred in September 2007 when a Trustee member of
the Council was established).
The Committee may wish to consider the following:
Why should the state school employees'
representative be the lone representative on the
Council prescribed in statute?
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Have the perspectives of classified
employees been ignored or undermined on the
Council?
Is there evidence that the administrative
process for entertaining and responding to a
request to modify the Council membership has
failed? If not, should the Legislature insert
itself into an administrative process which
appears to be working?
Should the Chancellor's and BOG's
autonomy and discretion to create and modify its
own advisory body be restricted?
SUPPORT
California Federation of Teachers
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
OPPOSITION
California Community College League