BILL ANALYSIS
SB 147
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Date of Hearing: August 19, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
SB 147 (DeSaulnier) - As Amended: June 29, 2009
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the California State University (CSU) to
implement a process whereby high school career technical
education (CTE) courses meeting criteria established by the
State Board of Education (SBE) would satisfy a general elective
course requirement for purposes of CSU admission. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Requires the CSU Board of Trustees, by January 1, 2014, to
develop and implement a process whereby high school CTE
courses would satisfy CSU's admission requirement for general
elective courses by meeting either of the following criteria:
a) The model uniform academic standards already adopted by
CSU for CTE courses.
b) The model curriculum standards established by SBE and
any additional criteria CSU faculty identify as necessary
to prepare students for success in coursework unique to a
specific major or educational program.
2)Requires that the additional criteria per (1) (b) be developed
by CSU faculty, subject to the approval of the Academic Senate
and subsequent recommendation to the trustees for adoption.
3)Requires the trustees to adopt regulations identifying majors
and educational programs for which completion of a CTE course
satisfies a general elective course requirement, and requires
the Academic Senate to ensure that the criteria adopted by the
Trustees per (2) is implemented consistently among CSU
campuses.
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4)Requires the trustees to recognize courses that meet the SBE
CTE model curriculum standards as satisfying the general
elective course admission requirement if, by January 1, 2014,
CSU has not complied with the above requirements.
5)States that, to the extent possible, costs associated with
these activities shall be covered by the Carl D. Perkins
Career and Technical Education Improvement Act or by other
nonstate funds available for the purposes of this section.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)CSU . Total one-time General Fund costs of $650,000 to $1.2
million over four years. This amount assumes CSU would
contract with UC to perform the required course evaluations.
There are about 19,000 CTE courses offered in California high
schools that do not meet UC and CSU admissions requirements.
The cost estimate includes $360,000 to $650,000 for evaluation
staff, assuming 50% to 90% of CTE courses are submitted for
approval under CSU's new criteria. The other major cost
element would be $250,000 to $500,000 to modify CSU's Mentor
online admissions portal to account for the new and differing
admissions requirements with UC.
2)UC . One-time costs of $290,000 to $540,000 to modify UC's
Doorways online admissions portal to account for differing
admissions requirements with CSU.
3)There would be minor ongoing costs to both segments as
additional CTE courses are submitted from approval.
COMMENTS
1)Background . The State Board of Education (SBE) adopted model
curriculum standards for CTE in May 2005 and adopted the
curriculum frameworks for those standards in January 2007.
The standards are organized in 15 industry sectors of
interrelated occupations and identify 58 different career
pathways and the academic and technical courses required for
each pathway.
CSU and the University of California (UC) have established
common high school coursework requirements for undergraduate
admissions. Students who take courses meeting these minimum
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subject area requirements (termed "a through g") and meeting
other specified criteria are eligible for admission to
campuses within the respective segments. These course
requirements currently are established by UC.
Current law (SB 1543, Alarcon/Chapter 669 of 2006) requires
the CSU and requests the UC to adopt model uniform academic
standards for CTE that satisfy the completion of general
elective course requirements for admissions purposes. SB
1543 specified if the model academic standards were not
adopted by July 1, 2008, the CSU trustees would have been
required and the UC regents would have been requested to
recognize the completion of all high school courses that
meeting CTE standards adopted by the SBE as satisfying the
completion of the general elective course requirement. CSU
and UC satisfied this requirement of SB 1543 in spring 2008.
2)Purpose . According to the author, the CTE system in
California is in a steady decline. A 20-year period of
changing educational funding priorities, various reform
movements and cultural pressures regarding the necessity of
curriculum to prepare all students for non-career focused
baccalaureate degrees has reduced the number of CTE teachers,
classes and student enrollment to a historic low in
California. In 2008, only 29.4% of students enrolled in high
school were enrolled in a CTE course-a decline of 73.8% since
1987. Also, the state has seen a 30% loss of CTE teachers
since 1987.
Though there are about 7,000 UC-approved CTE courses offered
statewide, the author indicates that only a small number of
"industrial arts" CTE courses have been approved. The author
argues that, while the overwhelming amount of CTE courses in
the industrial arts will not qualify for the UC, these courses
should qualify for CSU as this institution offers industrial
arts degrees.
This bill bifurcates the current standards for admission to
CSU and UC by requiring CSU to adopt its own standards for
admission in regard to CTE courses, based on model curriculum
standards adopted by the State Board of Education. SB 147
allows CSU to modify these standards as recommended by its
Academic Senate.
3)Opposition . CSU opposes the bifurcation of admission
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standards from those of UC, and believes this will "confuse
students, parents, and high school counselors regarding
college admissions." The California Postsecondary Education
Commission is opposed for the same reason.
4)Prior Legislation . AB 1586 (DeSaulnier) of 2008, which was
held in the Senate Education Committee, would have required
CSU to adopt SBE model CTE curriculum standards.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081