BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1143
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 22, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Marty Block, Chair
SB 1143 (Liu) - As Amended: June 21, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 22-10 (vote does not reflect the current version
of the bill)
SUBJECT : Community college funding.
SUMMARY : Requires the California Community Colleges (CCC)
Board of Governors (BOG) to adopt a plan for promoting and
improving CCC student success after convening a taskforce to
examine best practices within the colleges and effective models
throughout the nation that accomplish this objective.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the CCC BOG to adopt a plan for promoting and
improving CCC student success after convening a taskforce to
examine best practices within the colleges and effective
models throughout the nation that accomplish this objective
and requires the focus of the task force to include, but not
be limited to:
a) Multiple measures for assessing completion and success;
b) Effective programs for ensuring student completion and
success;
c) Statutory and regulatory barriers to student success;
d) Best practices for promoting student success and
completion, including, but not limited to, basic skills;
e) Alternative funding options for promoting best practices
in student completion and providing necessary services to
students;
f) Alternative funding options instituted in other states;
and
g) The effective use of technology for CCC colleges and
districts to promote, evaluate and improve student success.
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2)Specifies that the task force shall include a broad
representation of stakeholders, including but not limited to
faculty.
3)Requires the task force and the CCC BOG, prior to presenting
its recommendations, as specified, to facilitate discussions
with key community college stakeholders and others to provide
input on the findings and recommendations of the task force.
4)Requires the CCC BOG, prior to implementation of this plan, to
report its recommendations to the Senate Education Committee
and the Assembly Higher Education Committee at a joint hearing
to be convened no later than June 1, 2012.
EXISTING LAW establishes CCC districts, administered by a
governing board, and requires CCC districts to adhere to
numerous statutes and regulations (Title 5 of the California
Code of Regulations), including regulation that CCC funding is
based, in part, on a calculation using the enrollment as of the
Monday of the week nearest to one-fifth of the length of the
term (generally the third week).
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Background : The Institute for Higher Education
Leadership & Policy (IHELP) has issued several reports in the
last few years calling on California to make CCC student
completion, as well as access, a state priority, particularly in
light of the need for a more highly skilled workforce.
According to IHELP, less than one-fourth of the students who
enroll in CCC intending to complete a college program do so, and
much of the reason lies with the state's policies.
IHELP identifies the current financing system, which funds CCC
based on the number of FTES it reports at a date set early in
the term, as a policy that disproportionately emphasizes the
front end of the student's college pathway and does not
encourage support or reward for the student's success. Thus,
IHELP recommends funding completions along with enrollments,
with bonus funding for completions by disadvantaged and
under-prepared students.
Other barriers to student success : In addition to funding
changes, IHELP recommends the following policy changes, among
others:
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1)Increase flexibility in hiring in order to meet student
demand;
2)Provide CCC more flexibility in the use of its funds;
3)Allow CCC to keep fee revenues;
4)Remove restrictions on campus-based fees;
5)Develop an affordability policy based on the total cost of
college attendance;
6)Revise assessment and placement policies; and,
7)Revise campus matriculation policies to provide clear guidance
that students can follow to progress quickly toward completion
of their selected programs.
Need for this bill : According to the author, "Only about 10 to
12 percent of a community college entering class transfer to a
four-year college or university (Sengupta and Jepsen, 2006).
Increasing the transfer rates from community college is one of
several strategies that can help boost the college-educated
ranks in the workforce over time. According to PPIC, transfer
students have higher graduation rates than the entering class as
a whole once they reach UC or CSU."
Previous version of this bill : The June 1, 2010, version of
this bill altered the calculation of full-time equivalent
student enrollment for purposes of revenue apportionment within
CCC to the average enrollment in a course at the one-fifth point
and at course completion, as specified, and prohibited any
reduction in revenues as a result of the changed calculation
until the 2013-14 fiscal year. This version was opposed by
numerous CCC stakeholders, including CCC district board members,
faculty, the CCC Chancellor's Office, and the Hispanic
Association of Colleges and Universities as having potentially
detrimental affects on underrepresented students and inequitably
shifting resources among CCC districts. The author worked with
stakeholders and Committee staff to craft the June 21, 2010,
amendments to initiate adoption of a plan to increase CCC
student success based upon a comprehensive study. Not all
stakeholders were able to formally respond to the amendments
before this analysis was sent to print.
Related legislation : AB 2542 (Conway) of 2010, which failed
passage in this Committee on April 20, 2010, would have created
a pilot program to provide relief from specified statutes and
regulations, and funded the pilot programs based on student
completion rather than third week enrollment, in return for
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meeting specified student success goals.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None for the current version of the bill.
Opposition
None for the current version of the bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Sandra Fried / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960