BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 895
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 1, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 895 (Rendon) - As Amended: April 16, 2013
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:10-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill establishes a task force to examine online education
in California's public higher education systems. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Establishes a 15-member task force, consisting of two faculty,
one nonfaculty staff, one administrative officer, and one
student each from the University of California (UC), the
California State University (CSU), and the California
Community Colleges (CCC), to be selected by March 31, 2014.
2)Establishes the duties of the task force, including:
a) Evaluating and collecting specified data regarding
online education, including both public and private
institutions and out-of-state providers offering online
education in California.
b) Identifying best-practices of online education, as
specified.
3)Requires the task force to report to the Legislature, by
January 1, 2016 and biennially thereafter, on the information
specified above and recommendations for innovative online
education methods.
FISCAL EFFECT
The bill is very prescriptive and comprehensive with respect to
data collection requirements, including quantitative and
qualitative analysis. There will be costs to each segment in
AB 895
Page 2
release time for the faculty, non-faculty, and administrator
task force members, and to support the task force by providing
data, some of which may not be currently gathered in existing
reports. General Fund costs for the initial task force report,
assuming an average of $250,000 per segment, would total
$750,000. Succeeding reports should cost significantly less.
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. According
to the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), in 2011-12, the CCC
system spent approximately $500 million serving over 100,000
FTE students through online education (about 10 % of total
instruction provided that year). Though CSU does not separate
costs by instructional type, each of the segment's 23 campuses
provide online instruction, primarily to undergraduates. UC
has historically offered very little state-supported online
instruction, yet over the past few years, has expanded its
online program-with plans to continue adding courses in the
near future. Among the three segments, the LAO estimates more
than 20,000 undergraduate courses (and more than 30,000 course
sections) were offered online in 2011-12.
The Governor has encouraged the segments to expand their
online offerings. Specifically, his 2013-14 budget proposal
earmarks $16.9 million to CCC and $10 million each to CSU and
UC for this purpose.
2)Purpose . According to the author, no working group currently
exists to study the possible outcomes for students and faculty
if offerings of online courses are increased. Information to
policymakers and the public on these outcomes at public
institutions offering online courses is limited.
The author states, "Quality of education, accessibility,
affordability, cheating, ownership and development of
curriculum, and career counseling and mentorship access, are
some of the concerns faculty members have in regard to online
education expansion." With this in mind, this bill would bring
policymakers, stakeholders and subject matter experts together
AB 895
Page 3
to evaluate and create a thoughtful approach to implementing
online education in our higher education institutions.
3)Related Legislation . The following online education bills are
pending in this committee:
a) AB 386 (Levine) requires that CSU students have an
opportunity to enroll in online courses available at other
CSU campuses, beginning in 2015-16.
b) AB 387 (Levine) requires CSU to report performance date
regarding online course.
c) AB 944 (Nestande) establishes a common definition of
distance learning course and requires data gathering and
reporting on such courses offered by the state public
postsecondary institutions.
In addition, SB 520 (Steinberg) seeks to provide a
statewide mechanism for online course providers to offer
transferable courses for credit throughout the state's
public postsecondary education, and SB 547 (Block) requires
the UC, CSU, and CCC academic senates to identify online
courses to be available for students of all three segments.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081