BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 851
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Date of Hearing: May 4, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 851 (Nestande) - As Amended: April 25, 2011
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:8-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill establishes a common definition of "distance learning
course" and requires data gathering and reporting on such
courses offered by the state public postsecondary institutions.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Defines "distance learning course" as a course conducted with
a majority of the instructional content delivered when faculty
and students are in different locations and instruction is
delivered through technology.
2)Requires the California State University (CSU) and the
California Community Colleges (CCC), and requests the
University of California (UC), by January 1, 2014 and every
two years thereafter, to report specified workload and
performance data to the Legislature, including program
completion rates for degree programs that include exclusively
distance learning courses.
3)Requires the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), by February
1, 2012, to convene a task force to identify steps needed to
establish a virtual Western Governors University (WGU),
California, and requires the task force to report its findings
by February 1, 2013.
4)States legislative intent that the task force evaluate
establishing a WGU as a degree-granting institution that is
self-supporting but does not preclude WGU students from
qualifying for the state's student financial aid programs.
FISCAL EFFECT
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1)Community colleges currently report all the information
required in this bill except distance education program
completion rates. Assuming all districts incurred costs
averaging a few thousand dollars for programming, total
General Fund (Prop. 98) reimbursable costs would be $140,000
to $210,000. The Chancellor's Office of the CCC will incur
General Fund one-time costs of $24,000 to update its
curriculum inventory.
2)CSU will incur one-time General Fund costs of $60,000 to
$100,000 to implement the reporting requirements. UC indicates
that any costs would be absorbable.
COMMENTS
1)Background . Distance learning generally refers to instruction
where faculty and students are in separate locations and
communicating using technology-usually over the internet or
with television. The main providers of distance learning in
California are private for-profit colleges and CCC. The CSU
offers some instruction using distance education, but UC's use
of this method is limited. Approximately 4.6 million
postsecondary education students (about one-quarter of total
nationwide enrollment) took at least one course online in the
fall of 2008. According to the LAO in 1999-00, about 115,000
students of the 2.5 million students in the CCC system at that
time took at least one class via distance education. By
2009-10, over 600,000 of the CCC's 2.8 million students were
taking distance education courses.
2)Purpose . According to the author, this bill seeks to
increase college access to those that are unable to
participate in traditional classroom college instruction
and/or who find distance learning to be a better option. The
bill's provisions based on the recommendations contained in
the recent LAO report, "Using Distance Education to Increase
College Access and Efficiency."
3)WGU . The WGU is an accredited, nonprofit, online private
university based in Utah that was founded by the governors in
19 western states in the 1990's. Indiana has formed a
AB 851
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partnership under which WGU operates a virtual branch in
Indiana, and the state allows residents to apply for
financial-aid toward attendance at WGU. This bill would
require the LAO to convene a task force to identify steps
toward the establishment of a WGU, California, and to report
recommendations by February 1, 2012.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081