BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  ACR 119
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 30, 2014

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                  Mike Gatto, Chair

                ACR 119 (Muratsuchi) - As Introduced:  March 6, 2014 

          Policy Committee:                              Higher  
          EducationVote:12-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This measure encourages the Chancellor of the California  
          Community Colleges (CCC), in consultation with affected  
          stakeholders, to develop at least three options to address  
          long-term funding of career technical education (CTE) and other  
          workforce training programs at the CCC, in a manner that  
          adequately funds the programs, and to submit those options to  
          the Legislature by June 1, 2015.

          The measure also expresses legislative intent to address  
          long-term funding needs for CTE in the 2015-16 Session.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          If the Chancellor's Officer were to comply with resolution, it  
          would incur minor absorbable costs to facilitate the  
          consultation program and provide the three funding options to  
          the Legislature.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose  . The author argues that with many CTE courses being  
            more expensive on a per-student basis, there is a constraint  
            on maintaining and increasing program offerings that meet the  
            needs of regional economies.  The author states, "Funding for  
            these [CTE] programs are often allocated through a competitive  
            grant process.  As colleges chase specialized grant  
            opportunities, the mission of CTE and workforce development  
            gets shaped by these grants, and prevents the development of a  
            coherent, system wide vision and strategy."









                                                                  ACR 119
                                                                  Page  2

            The Institute for Higher Education Leadership Policy (IHELP)  
            released a report in August 2013 entitled, "Workforce  
            Investments:  State Strategies to Preserve Higher-Cost Career  
            Education Programs in Community and Technical Colleges", which  
            found that California's current funding structure creates a  
            fiscal disincentive to support high-cost programs.  IHELP  
            studied the CTE funding practices of 20 states, which could  
            potentially be adapted to California.

           2)Prior Legislation  . AB 977 (Salas), which required the CCC  
            Chancellor to convene a group of CTE experts to research ways  
            to address issues related to implementing differential funding  
            for credit-bearing high-cost, high-demand courses and  
            programs, was held on this committee's Suspense file.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081