BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1143
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Date of Hearing: August 4, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 1143 (Liu) - As Amended: August 2, 2010
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:5-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Board of Governors (BOG) of the
California Community Colleges (CCC) to adopt a plan for
promoting and improving student success within the CCC.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the board, prior to adopting the plan, to convene a
stakeholder task force to examine best practices, in the CCC
and nationwide, for accomplishing student success.
2)Requires the task force to present recommendations to the BOG,
for incorporation into the board's plan, that focus on:
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;
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.
3)Requires the BOG, prior to implementing the adopted plan, to
report on the plan and the task force recommendations to a
joint hearing of the Assembly Committee on Higher Education
and the Senate Committee on Education by March 1, 2012.
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FISCAL EFFECT
1)The Chancellor's Office indicates that costs to support the
task force and the BOG in preparing and adopting a plan will
be absorbable within the scope of ongoing CCC activities
related to shared governance, MIS/research, academic affairs,
and policy development related to basic skills.
2)Implementation of any plan adopted by the BOG could initially
create significant Proposition 98 cost pressure. Absent any
specifics about the plan, such costs are unknown, but could
easily be several million dollars per year or more. To the
extent implementing any plan leads to improvements in overall
student success, including course completion, the offsetting
savings to the system would greatly exceed any costs.
COMMENTS
1)Background and Purpose . The Institute for Higher Education
Leadership & Policy (IHELP) has issued several recent reports
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, largely due to state
policies.
IHELP identifies the current financing system, which funds CCC
based on enrollment reported 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. IHELP recommends
funding course completion along with enrollment, with bonus
funding for completion by disadvantaged and under-prepared
students.
The prior version of this bill altered the calculation of
full-time equivalent student enrollment for purposes of
revenue apportionment within CCC. These provisions were
opposed by numerous CCC stakeholders, including CCC district
board members, faculty organizations, the CCC Chancellor's
Office, and by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and
Universities as having potentially detrimental affects on
underrepresented students and inequitably shifting resources
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among CCC districts. The bill was subsequently amended to
instead require the stakeholder task force and adoption and
implementation of a plan to improve student success, as
described above.
2)Opposition . Faculty groups remain opposed to the bill. The
Faculty Association of the CCC believes funding should not be
set aside to implement a student success plan until the
colleges first receive funding for other priorities, including
growth, cost of living adjustments, restoration of categorical
funding for student services and part-time faculty support,
and increasing the full-time/part-time faculty ratio. The
California Teachers Association similarly is concerned about
earmarking funding for such an approach at a time when the
colleges are underfunded.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081