BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1456|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1456
Author: Lowenthal (D), et al.
Amended: 4/26/12
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 9-0, 4/18/12
AYES: Lowenthal, Alquist, Blakeslee, Hancock, Huff, Liu,
Price, Simitian, Vargas
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner, Vacancy
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 5/24/12
AYES: Kehoe, Walters, Alquist, Dutton, Lieu, Price,
Steinberg
SUBJECT : Student Success Act of 2012
SOURCE : Board of Governors, California Community
Colleges
California Community Colleges Chancellors
Office
DIGEST : This bill establishes new requirements to be met
by low-income students in order to receive a Board of
Governor's fee waiver at the California Community Colleges
(CCC), revises and recasts the Seymour-Campbell
Matriculation Act of 1986 as the Seymour-Campbell Success
Act of 2012, and establishes new requirements to be met in
order for community college districts to receive
matriculation funds.
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ANALYSIS : Existing law requires the Board of Governors
(BOG) to charge each student a $46 per unit per semester
fee effective with the summer term of 2012. Existing law
exempts certain students from the fee requirement including
students enrolled in noncredit courses, California State
University, and University of California students enrolled
in remedial courses offered by the CCC, and students
enrolled in credit contract education courses where the
full cost of the course is paid by the contracting entity.
Current law also authorizes an exemption from these fees
for special part-time students.
Existing law also requires a waiver of these fees for
students meeting specified criteria which include;
Students who meet specified income requirements.
Students who are the dependent or surviving spouse of a
National Guard member who die or was disabled as a result
of their service.
The surviving spouse or child of a deceased law
enforcement or fire suppression personnel, as specified.
The dependent of an individual killed on September 11,
2001, as specified.
Existing law requires that the colleges make available a
variety of "matriculation services" to students in order to
ensure that students receive educational services necessary
to optimize their opportunities for success. Matriculation
requirements are only operative if funds are specifically
appropriated for these purposes.
This bill:
1.Establishes new requirements to be met by students in
order to be eligible for a waiver of the community
college per unit fee BOG fee waiver. Specifically this
bill:
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A. Requires a student to:
(1) Meet academic and progress standards as
defined by the BOG.
(2) Demonstrate financial need, as specified.
A. Requires the BOG, in consultation with students,
faculty, and other key stakeholders to develop
policies for determination of the conditions outlined
in #1 and specifically directs that the BOG consider:
(1) Minimum uniform academic performance and
progress.
(2) Criteria for reviewing extenuating
circumstances and granting appeals.
(3) A process for reestablishing fee waiver
eligibility.
A. Requires the BOG to establish a reasonable phased
in implementation period for the policies outlined in
(b) to:
(1) Ensure that students are not unfairly
impacted by the new requirements.
(2) Provide students with adequate notification
of requirements and information about support
services.
A. Deletes obsolete fee waiver requirements relative
to students affected by Hurricane Katrina.
1.Renames and revises the Seymour-Campbell Matriculation
Act of 1986 as the Seymour-Campbell Student Success Act
of 2012 and changes the requirements to be met in order
to receive matriculation funds. Specifically this bill:
A. Revises the declaration of the Legislature's intent
to provide students with resources and support to
establish informed educational goals, optimize
student's success in completing their goals/studies,
recognize the shared responsibility of the institution
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and student for success, and target state resources to
provide critical student services and identify
delivery mechanisms to reach a greater number of
students.
B. Redefines matriculation services and the purposes
of the Act to be:
(1) Increased student access and success by
providing orientation, assessment and placement,
counseling and education planning and academic
intervention services.
(2) Focus on entering students' transition into
college with a priority toward serving students who
enroll to earn degrees, career technical
certificates, or transfer.
(3) Target state resources on core matriculation
services critical to increasing student ability to
reach their educational goals.
(4) Focus funding on core areas and leverage
technology to more efficiently and effectively
serve and provide a greater number of students with
a solid foundation and opportunity for success in
the community colleges.
A. Expands the responsibilities to be met by students
to include, but not be limited to:
(1) Declaration of a program of study within a
reasonable period, as defined by the BOG.
(2) Maintenance of academic progress toward an
educational goal and program of study as identified
in the student's education plan.
A. Establishes the institution's responsibility to
include the provision of student services to support
their academic success and ability to achieve their
educational goals and to include, but not be limited
to:
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(1) Orientation services, as specified.
(2) Administration of assessments that determine
student competency in computational and language
skills and readiness for college.
(3) Counseling and education planning services
A. Requires that funding for the Student Success and
Support program to be targeted to fully implement
orientation, assessment, counseling and advising, and
education planning services, and to assist students in
making informed decisions about educational goals,
programs of study and the development of an education
plan.
B. Requires that districts and colleges use a system
of common assessment, once adopted by the BOG, and
authorizes districts and colleges to use supplemental
measures for course placement.
C. Using accountability metrics, as specified,
requires participating districts to evaluate the
effectiveness of their programs and services in
helping students:
(1) Define goals and declare programs of study.
(2) Assess student needs and valid course
placement.
(3) Support successful completion of degree
certificate or transfer objectives.
A. Requires the BOG, in consultation with students,
faculty, student services administrators, and other
key stakeholders, to establish policies and processes
(to be phased in over a reasonable period of time as
determined by the BOG and in consideration of the
resources available to provide core services to ensure
students are not unfairly impacted by these
requirements) for:
(1) Requiring all nonexempt students to complete
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orientation and assessment and to develop education
plans.
(2) Exempting students from participation in
orientation, assessment testing, or required
education planning services.
(3) Requiring districts to adopt a student appeal
process.
A. Requires the BOG to develop a formula for
allocating Student Success Act funds that considers,
among other things, the number of students who receive
orientation assessment, counseling and advising, and
education planning services.
B. Requires that a district that receives
matriculation funds agree to implement these
provisions, common assessment and the accountability
scorecard.
C. Authorizes the BOG to identify other
non-instructional support services that can be funded
under matriculation, if a district is able to fully
implement in person or technology strategies for
orientation, assessment, and education planning
services.
D. Requires the BOG to require participating colleges
to develop a Student Success and Support Program plan
that reflects, among other things:
(1) A description of the college's process to
identify students at risk for academic or progress
probation and the plan for student interventions or
services.
(2) Coordination with college student equity plan
to ensure identification of strategies to monitor
and address equity issues and mitigate any
disproportional impacts on student access and
achievement.
A. Makes the matriculation provisions of the bill
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operative, beginning in 2012-13, contingent upon the
specific appropriation of funds for these purposes.
B. Repeals the requirements that the CCC maintain
career resource and placement centers, programs to
instruct staff/faculty on performance of matriculation
services, orientation programs, as specified, and
publicity programs.
C. Requires the LAO to review and report to the
Legislature by July 1, 2014.
Comments
Pursuant to SB 1143 (Liu), Chapter 409, Statutes of 2010,
the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges
created the Student Success Task Force (SSTF); 20
individuals (community college chief executive officers,
faculty, students, researchers, staff and external stake
holders) who spent a year researching, studying and
debating the best methods to improve student outcomes at
the community colleges.
According to the SSTF report, which was unanimously adopted
by the Board of Governors in January 2012, it was their
goal to identify best practices for promoting student
success and to develop statewide strategies to take these
approaches to scale while ensuring that educational
opportunity for historically underrepresented students
would not just be maintained, but bolstered. The report
noted that while a number of disturbing statistics around
student completion reflect the challenges faced by the
students they serve, they also clearly demonstrate the need
for the system to recommit to finding new and better ways
to serve its students.
The SSTF efforts resulted in 22 specific recommendations
and the report, per the requirements of the legislation,
was presented to the Legislature at a joint informational
hearing of the Assembly Higher Education Committee and the
Senate Education Committee in February 2012. Implementation
of these recommendations will be accomplished through
regulatory changes, system-wide administrative policies,
local best practices and legislation.
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This bill contains statutory changes necessary for
implementation of some of the recommendations of the SSTF.
Similar study/findings . In February 2012, the Little
Hoover Commission issued a report Serving Students, Serving
California: Updating the California Community Colleges to
Meet Evolving Demands. The report noted that the findings
and conclusions of this study were consistent with many of
the findings of the Student Success Task Force. Similar to
this bill, the report called for, among other things, the
implementation of a student success scorecard, establishing
additional criteria for BOG fee waivers, and strengthening
of support for entering students.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/24/12)
Board of Governors, California Community Colleges
(co-source)
California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office
(co-source)
Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges
Advancement Project
Alliance for a Better Community
Association of California Community College Administrators
AVID
Barrio Logan College Institute
Bay Area Council
California Communities United Institute
California Competes
California State Student Association
California State University
Chancellor, San Diego Community College District
College Opportunity
College Options
Families in Schools
Girls, Inc. of Orange County
Greater Sacramento Urban League
Hispanas Organized for Political Equality
Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley
Kern Community College Districts
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Little Hoover Commission
Long Beach Community College District
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Los Angeles Community College District
Los Rios Community College District
MALDEF
North Bay Leadership Council
Orange County Business Council
Parent Institute for Quality Education
Progressive Christians Uniting
Project Grad, Los Angeles
Regional Economic Association Leaders Coalition
Sacramento Urban League
San Bernardino Community College District
San Diego Chamber of Commerce
San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation
San Francisco Chamber of Commerce
San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership
San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
Southern California College Access Network
State Center Community College District
The Education Trust-West
The Women's Foundation of California
Valley Industry and Commerce Association
Youth Policy Institute
OPPOSITION : (Verified 5/24/12)
California Federation of Teachers
President, Gavilan College Faculty Association
California Teachers Association
California Community College Independents
San Jose - Evergreen Community College District Board of
Trustees
Faculty Association of the California Community Colleges
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "The
California Community College system is an accessible and
affordable gateway to educational advancement for the 2.6
million students it serves. However, budget reductions
over the years have led to many first-time students being
turned away, existing students not getting the classes they
need, and student support services, such as counseling,
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assessment and orientation to be drastically cut. The
result has been too many students not getting the guidance
and courses they need to reach their goals of a degree,
certificate, transfer or career advancement."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : Opponents believe that without
mandated enforcement mechanisms to leverage available
resources, SB 1456 will create a two-tier system of
students: those with life, family and educational
experiences that foster their movement through the existing
cumbersome community college system vs. students who lack
the necessary language, computer and mathematical skills
necessary for college success. While the goal of the bill
on the surface might free up the time of counselors and
advisors to assist the student that is unprepared for
college work, history tells us that this does not occur.
Data from the Chancellor's office aptly demonstrates that
even with additional funding (Partnership for Excellence),
many local districts failed to hire additional counseling
faculty.
PQ:nl 5/25/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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