Amended in Assembly January 16, 2014

Amended in Assembly January 6, 2014

Amended in Assembly September 11, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 646

Introduced by Assembly Member Cooley

February 21, 2013

An act to add begin delete and repeal end delete Chapter 1.3 (commencing with Section 10050) begin delete of end delete begin insert to end insert Part 7 of Division 1 of Title 1 of begin insert , and to add and repeal Section 10051 of, end insert the Education Code, relating to public education governance.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 646, as amended, Cooley. Public education governance: regional P-20 councils: advisory committee.

Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state, and authorizes local educational agencies throughout the state to operate schools and provide instruction to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive (K-12). Existing law also establishes a system of public postsecondary education in the state that consists of 3 segments: the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges.

This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to affirm the employer-education partnership model of a regional P-20 council, as defined, as a desired structure in California to help align preschool, K-12, community college, 4-year college, and graduate and professional education programs and funding to advance strategic educational and economic outcomes.

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The

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begin insert Contingent upon the enactment of an appropriation for this purpose in the annual Budget Act or another statute, this end insert bill would require the State Department of Education, in consultation with specified entities, including, but not limited to, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, to study best practices of state and regional P-20 councils in California and across the nation to identify key statewide policies and goals that P-20 councils may seek to further, and to report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature on or before July 1, 2015. begin insert These provisions would be repealed on July 1, 2020. end insert

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The provisions of the bill would be repealed on January 1, 2020.

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Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Chapter 1.3 (commencing with Section 10050)
is added to Part 7 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code,
to read:

 

Chapter  1.3. Regional P-20 Councils

 

10050.  

(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(1) The Federal Reserve has stated on its Internet Web site that
“[m]ost policymakers estimate the longer-run normal rate of
unemployment is between 5.2 and 6 percent.” The current rate of
unemployment in the United States is 7.4 percent. The
unemployment rates in both the County of Sacramento and
California are higher than the national unemployment rate.
According to a September 2013 brief by the California Budget
Project, “[i]f California’s job market continues to grow as it has
over the past year, the state will not recover the jobs lost due to
the Great Recession until January 2016,” but that this also
“understates how long it will actually take for the job market to
reach pre-recession strength” due to California’s increased
working-age population since 2007.

(2) P-16 councils were first established in several states in the
1990s to convene state leaders representing early learning (the “P”
stands for preschool) through the first four years of college (the
“16”). More recently, some states have extended the scope of these
councils to include doctoral and professional schools (the “20”).

(3) According to a 2008 report of the Education Commission
of the States, 38 states had established a P-16 or P-20 council and
11 states had regional P-16 or P-20 councils.

(4) It is increasingly recognized that regions are the units of
economic competition and an essential ingredient of economic
competitiveness is for regions to align educational assets to prepare
students for critical careers within key economic clusters. The
Sacramento region’s Next Economy initiative is one example of
a regional economic development strategy advancing these
objectives.

(5) Recent research affirms that aligning regional assets is a key
to advancing economic competitiveness; a Brookings Institution
Metropolitan Policy Program study has noted that “[r]egional
economies are differentiated, complex, and dynamic; improving
their performance entails customized and integrated strategies.”
An educated and suitably prepared workforce is a key element in
private sector job creation and job-related capital investment.

(6) Several examples of effective P-20 councils can be found
in California, including the Alliance for Education in San
Bernardino County, which is the Inland Empire’s premier
partnership between the business and education communities. Its
objective is “to achieve the goal of producing an educated and
skilled workforce that ensures the economic well-being for San
Bernardino County.”

(7) Recent state policy and funding priorities are intended to
promote the development and sustainability of pathways preparing
students across the P-20 spectrum for critical careers in the 21st
century economy.

(8) During hearings of the Assembly Select Committee on
Community and Neighborhood Development in July 2013,
witnesses stated that California’s future economic growth would
benefit from a concentrated effort aimed at establishing the
preconditions that support growth in jobs and private sector
investment in California communities. Such an approach would
be analogous to the high degree of regional coordination that is
typical for prioritizing and funding transportation improvements.
State and federal governments already require regional coordination
among local governments to prioritize transportation funding.

(9) California will benefit from a system of regional P-20
councils, composed of both employers and educational leaders of
educational entities that provide instruction for all levels from
early childhood learning to doctoral and professional programs,
to help align educational programs, policies, and funding to meet
strategic educational and economic objectives.

(b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to affirm the
employer-education partnership model of a regional P-20 council
as a desired structure in California to help align preschool, K-12,
community college, four-year college, and graduate and
professional education programs and funding to advance strategic
educational and economic outcomes.

10051.  

(a)  begin delete The end delete begin insert Contingent upon the enactment of an
appropriation for this purpose in the annual Budget Act or another
statute, the end insert department shall study best practices of state and
regional P-20 councils in California and across the nation to
identify key statewide policies and goals that P-20 councils may
seek to further, and shall report its findings and recommendations
to the Legislature on or before July 1, 2015. The department shall
work in consultation with the Governor’s Office of Business and
Economic Development, the office of the President of the
University of California, the office of the Chancellor of the
California State University, the office of the Chancellor of the
California Community Colleges, the Employment Development
Department, and the California Workforce Investment Board, as
well as related state and regional interests.

(b) (1) The report submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall
be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government
Code.

(2) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this
section is repealed on July 1, 2020.