BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2655
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 17, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Marty Block, Chair
AB 2655 (Swanson) - As Amended: March 29, 2012
SUBJECT : Community colleges: inmate education programs:
computation of apportionments.
SUMMARY : Allows California Community Colleges (CCC) to receive
full funding for courses offered in correctional institutions.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Waives open course provisions for CCC courses offered in state
correctional facilities.
2)Provides that attendance hours generated by CCC credit
instruction in state, city, county or federal correctional
facilities shall be funded at the credit rate, hours generated
by non-credit instruction be funded at the non-credit rate,
and hours generated by instruction in career development and
college preparation funded at the established rate.
3)Prohibits CCC from receiving state funding for attendance
hours generated in any inmate education class for which the
CCC receives full compensation from another agency or private
source, and requires the offset of state aid for partial
compensation received from any such source.
4)Prohibits use of state funding for CCC inmate education to
supplant costs incurred by the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).
EXISTING LAW Authorizes a CCC district to claim state
apportionment for classes it provides to inmates of any city,
county, or city and county jail, road camp, farm for adults, or
federal correctional facility (prohibits funding for inmates in
state correctional facilities), attendance hours generated by
these classes, whether credit or noncredit, are counted as
noncredit attendance hours for apportionment purposes.
(Education Code � 84810.5)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. However, according to the Senate
Appropriations Committee analysis of identical legislation
authored in 2010, the General Fund cost of conversion to the
AB 2655
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full credit rate would be $329,000 annually. Additionally,
costs could arise depending on the number of full-time
equivalent students (FTES) that would take classes at a state
correctional facility. For every 100 credit FTES authorized
under this provision, state costs would increase by $456,000.
However, the author notes that the goal of this bill is to,
through education, reduce recidivism rates. The author argues
that General Fund savings results from reduced recidivism rates,
noting that, in 1997 the Correctional Education Association
conducted a study that showed that "simply attending school
behind bars reduces the likelihood of re-incarceration by 29%.
Translated into savings, every dollar spent on education
returned more than two dollars to the citizens in reduced prison
costs."
COMMENTS : Purpose of this bill . According to the author, this
bill seeks to address the extraordinary difficulty that the
formerly incarcerated face upon release, due to a lack of
education and job skills. The author argues that existing law
creates disincentives for CCCs to offer credit courses and
career development courses in state prisons by not reimbursing
them at the rate appropriate with the type of course offered.
The author argues that the research is clear that inmates who
receive educational opportunities are much less likely to
recidivate, saving the state millions of dollars per year.
Background . Credit funding per FTES is currently $4,565, and
non-credit funding per FTES is $2,745 per FTES. CDCP course
funding per FTES is currently set at $3,232. According to the
CCC Chancellor's Office, CCC districts provided credit courses
for 1,769 FTES in local and federal correctional facilities in
2006-07. The majority (1,588 FTES) already receive full credit
funding as distance education courses that are open to the
public. Under this bill, the remainder would now receive full
credit apportionment.
The Inmate Education Program . CDCR is funded to provide inmate
education in state correctional facilities. Previous
legislation similar to this bill raised issues surrounding the
possible supplanting of CDCR's inmate education effort. This
bill contains language specifying these provisions shall not be
construed as providing a source of funds to shift, supplant or
reduce the current CDCR efforts. However, CDCR has sustained
substantial budget reductions in recent years and has, in turn,
reduced many of its programs including inmate education and
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training programs.
Prior legislation . There have been a number of similar bills
heard by this committee in recent years. AB 216 (Swanson, 2011)
and AB 1702 (Swanson, 2010) were virtually identical to this
bill, and were held under submission in the Senate
Appropriations Committee. SB 574 (Hancock, 2009) was also held
under submission in the Senate Appropriations Committee. SB 413
(Scott, 2008) and SB 672 (Cox, 2005) were both vetoed by
Governor Schwarzenegger, who noted in his message that courses
offered at correctional facilities should be not funded at full
credit rates since these offerings did not incur costs for
facilities or student services.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on File
Opposition
None on File
Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960