BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 835
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 29, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Marty Block, Chair
AB 835 (Mitchell) - As Amended: March 21, 2011
SUBJECT : Community colleges: Economic and Workforce
Development Program.
SUMMARY : Authorizes several specified practices for programs
developed under the Career Technical Education (CTE) Pathways
Initiative (SB 70, Scott, Chapter 352, Statutes of 2005), as
follows:
1)Authorizes a CCC district to enroll a high school pupil who is
not a resident of that CCC district and provides that the CCC
district shall not be subject to any other geographic
limitations for the program.
2)Authorizes a CCC to grant academic credit to a high school
pupil if the program meets the criteria of existing courses
and is conducted as a part of contract education or similar
process.
3)Establishes that the Dean of the Economic and Workforce
Development Program of the CCC shall have authority over
fiscal management for programs that serve students in multiple
CCC districts.
4)Requires a school district or CCC that participates in a
program to accept fingerprint verification, as required under
existing law for specified persons providing services in
school districts, by another district participating in the
program.
5)Establishes that programs are deemed to meet criteria for dual
enrollment of a high school pupil in a CCC as established in
existing law.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the CTE Pathways Initiative, requiring the Board
of Governors (BOG) of the CCC to assist economic and workforce
regional development centers and consortia to improve CTE
education pathways between high schools and CCC and requiring
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the CCC Chancellor to develop, implement and report on a
strategy for CTE Pathway Initiative program objectives and
outcomes.
2)Establishes several requirements and parameters for high
school students wishing to enroll in CCC courses
(concurrent/dual enrollment), including requiring principal
recommendation and parental consent, establishing limitations
on the number of students enrolled during summer school and in
physical education courses, providing that in order for CCCs
to receive state funding courses must be open to the public,
and requiring reporting on concurrent/dual enrollment students
from the CCC Chancellor's Office.
3)Establishes, through state law and implementing regulations,
the CCC BOG as the entity responsible for approval of CCC
academic programs and setting minimum standards for credit and
noncredit courses.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Double-Referral : This bill has been double-referred
to the Assembly Education Committee.
CTE Pathways Initiative : The CTE Pathways Initiative,
established by SB 70 in 2005, provided funding to be dispersed
by the CCC Chancellor's Office and the California Department of
Education (CDE) to CCC and K-12 districts to support programs
that strengthen students' academic and career readiness. As of
July 30, 2010, CTE Pathways Initiative funding totaled
approximately $188 million. All regions of the state have
received grant support. Based on available data, this funding
has helped created or enhance at least 5,134 CTE partner
organizations, 342,957 skills training or upgrades to students,
and 16,806 teachers, counselors and staff have participated in
trainings or externships.
Over the past five years, grants have been awarded in two broad
categories:
1)Coordinated regional or local implementation grants that
support linkages as well as capacity building between and
among middle schools, high schools, Regional Occupational
Center Programs, CCCs, industry and other organizations to
develop coordinated programs serving students, faculty and/or
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other stakeholders.
2)Statewide infrastructure grants that strengthen California's
CTE infrastructure and support capacity building, including
research and development.
California Partnership Academies (CPAs) : Among the various
programs supported by the CTE Pathways Initiative funding are
CPAs, the state's longstanding pathways model to provide
students in grades 10-12 with integrated academic and career
technical instruction, including mentoring and internships, by
way of school district/business partnerships. Under existing
law, at least half of the students in a CPA must be at-risk
youth. CPAs are structured as a school within a school, each
CPA creates a close, family-like atmosphere with an emphasis on
student achievement and goals of postsecondary education and
refined career plans. Students must apply, be interviewed and
selected on the basis of need and interest. CTE Pathways
Initiative Grants have supported the continuation and expansion
of existing CPAs as well as the creation of new CPAs. Currently
there are close to 500 CPAs throughout the state.
Purpose of this bill : The author has introduced this bill in
response to concerns raised by the sponsor, the Environmental
Academy Boosters. According to the sponsor, this bill seeks to
remove statutory and regulatory barriers in order to permit high
school students to earn CCC credit through intensive workshops
that serve and bring together diverse student populations in
geographically diverse locations for training that may not fit
the traditional concept for CTE Pathways Initiative programs.
CCC district boundaries : This bill would authorize, for
purposes of specified CTE Pathways Initiative programs, a CCC
district to enroll a high school pupil who is not a resident of
that CCC district and would exempt the CCC district from any
other geographic limitations. Committee staff understands from
the sponsor that these provisions are necessary to ensure that
CCCs can participate in CTE Pathways Initiative programs that
draw statewide students and include courses held at locations
throughout the state.
Academic credit : This bill would authorize a CCC to grant
academic credit for specified CTE Pathways Initiative programs
if the program meets the criteria of existing courses and is
conducted as a part of contract education or similar process.
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Existing law already establishes a clear process for CCCs to
follow when seeking to offer programs and courses for academic
credit. Through regulation, CCC BOG requires that any course
offered for credit be reviewed for, among other things,
curriculum standards and appropriateness to mission and approved
by the college curriculum committee, the CCC district governing
board and the Career Technical Education Regional Consortia,
when applicable. Further, CCCs are provided with processes for
alternative methods of granting credit, primarily through
examinations and articulation with high school courses. These
regulations and procedures provide uniform practices among the
112 CCCs and ensure that the awarding of academic credits is
aligned with curriculum standards. This provision of the bill
would potentially provide CCCs with broad new authority to award
credit for CTE Pathways Initiative programs, the awarding of
credit could differ greatly among CCCs. While the provision
does require programs approved for credit to meet with existing
course requirements, it is unclear how this determination would
be made. Based on the lack of clarity regarding the need of
this provision, and the existing process available to districts,
committee staff recommends that this provision of the bill be
removed.
Fiscal management : This bill would establish the Dean of the
CCC Economic and Workforce Development Program as the fiscal
manager for programs that serve students in multiple CCC
districts. According to the sponsor, it has become problematic
for programs where a single CCC becomes fiscal agent to get
funds released for activities that do not have a direct benefit
for that CCC or its service area. However, Committee staff
understands from conversations with the CCC Chancellor's Office
staff that programs seeking funding through the CTE Pathways
Initiative identify in their initial grant application the types
of projects that will be funded and the entity that will act as
the fiscal agent. Additionally, the CCC Chancellor's Office
indicates that it is unprecedented for a specific CCC Dean to be
named in statute as this bill proposes; such authority is
historically given to the CCC Chancellor or the CCC BOG.
Committee staff recommends that this provision be removed at
this time and that discussions surrounding the need for an
independent fiscal manager continue should the bill move
forward.
School district fingerprinting : This bill would require school
districts to accept fingerprint verifications performed by other
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school districts, as specified. As previously noted, this bill
is double referred to the Assembly Education Committee. This
provision falls within their jurisdiction. However, committee
staff notes that the code section cross-referenced in this
provision of the bill is incorrect. Page 4, line 9 should be
amended to read "Section 45125. 0 1".
Concurrent enrollment : This bill would establish that CTE
Pathways Initiative programs under this bill are deemed to meet
the criteria for concurrent enrollment. According to the
sponsor, this provision is necessary to ensure that CTE Pathways
Initiative program course offerings funded through full-time
equivalent students (FTES) allocations can continue to claim
funding for instructional time done within the high school
classroom. Existing law establishes numerous provisions
intended to prevent abuses of concurrent enrollment, among those
provisions is the requirement that courses be open to the public
in order for CCCs to claim FTES funding, and that courses
offered in high schools be offered during hours that ensure
access to members of the general public. If the author/sponsor
intends to exempt these specified CTE Pathways Initiative
programs from only the open course requirements of concurrent
enrollment law, then the bill should be amended to reflect that
intent.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
NORCAL Environmental Student Network
Opposition
None on File
Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960