BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 1557
AUTHOR: Holden
AMENDED: March 24, 2014
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 11, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Daniel Alvarez
SUBJECT : Board of Governors of the California Community
Colleges: veteran
voting members.
SUMMARY
This bill requires two voting members of the California
Community Colleges Board of Governors (CCC BOG) be current or
former members of the United States Armed Forces by (1)
requiring one of the 12 public BOG members appointed by the
Governor be a current or former member of the Armed Forces of
the United States, and (2) adding another voting student
member who is a current or former member of the Armed Forces
of the United States.
In addition, the bill expands the number of non-voting members
of the CCC BOG from one to two, and requires this additional
member be a current or former member of the Armed Forces of
the United States.
BACKGROUND
Current law establishes the membership of the CCC BOG to
consist of a total of 17 members, appointed by the Governor,
of which 16 are voting members and one non-voting member
(Education Code � 71000).
1) Twelve (12) public members appointed by the Governor
with the advice and consent of two-thirds of the
membership of the Senate. These members serve for
six-year (staggered) terms. Two of the 12 members shall
be current or former elected members of local CCC
district governing boards.
2) One (1) voting student member and one non-voting
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student member, as specified, to be appointed from a list
of names of at least three persons submitted to the
Governor by the California Student Association of
Community Colleges.
3) Two (2) tenured faculty members, for two-year terms,
appointed from a list of names of at least three persons
furnished by the Academic Senate of the CCCs.
4) One (1) classified employee, for a two-year term,
appointed from a list of at least three persons furnished
by the exclusive representatives of classified employees
of the CCCs.
Current law also specifies that the qualifications of Board of
Governor members be selected from outstanding lay citizens of
California who have a strong interest in the further
development and improvement of the public community colleges.
(EC � 71002)
Specifies that except for student members, the faculty
members, and the classified employee member appointed by the
Governor, any vacancy in an appointed position on the board
shall be filled by appointment by the Governor, subject to
confirmation by two-thirds of the membership of the Senate;
and, that a vacancy in the office of a student member, a
faculty member, or the classified employee member shall be
filled by appointment by the Governor
(EC � 71003).
ANALYSIS
This bill requires two voting members of the California
Community Colleges Board of Governors (CCC BOG) be former
members of the United States Armed Forces by (a) requiring one
of the 12 board members appointed by the Governor be a current
or former member of the Armed Forces of the United States, and
(b) adding another voting student member who is a current or
former member of the Armed Forces of the United States.
In addition, the bill expands the number of non-voting members
of the CCC BOG from one to two, and requires this additional
member be a current or former member of the Armed Forces of
the United States. More specifically, this bill:
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1) Expands the number of voting members of the CCC BOG from
16 to 17.
2) Requires at least one of the 12 BOG members appointed by
the Governor and subject to confirmation by the Senate be
a current or former member of the Armed Forces of the
United States with demonstrated expertise and leadership
in veterans' affairs. The bill requires the next
non-student vacancy to be filled with a member or former
member of the Armed Forces of the United States, as
specified.
3) Adds a voting and non-voting student member each of who
are current or former members of the Armed Forces to the
CCC BOG.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author, these voting
veterans would advocate for the unique educational and
emotional / social needs of veterans seeking higher
education in the California Community Colleges. There
are approximately 44,300 students who identified as
veterans in the California Community Colleges for the
2011-12 fiscal year. According to the California
Department of Veteran Affairs, the number will likely
increase, since California is expected to absorb
approximately 40,000 veterans each year for the next
several years due to drawdown of troops. Veterans on the
board will provide first-hand insight as the Board
develops veteran-specific educational policies.
2) According the California Community College Chancellor's
Office , the CCCs are providing more services to a growing
population of student veterans; the CCCCO recognizes the
need for continued support of student veterans and as
such has been the lead on several statewide projects,
including, but not limited to:
a) Veterans Resource Center Project: At Veterans
Resource Centers (VRCs) student veterans can interact
with one another and obtain information and services.
The CCCCO partnered with the High Tech Center Training
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Unit at De Anza College (in Cupertino, CA) to offer
free hardware, software and onsite training in
assistive technology to colleges that promb)ote
academics, camaraderie, and wellness, provide a
dedicated space for student veterans, and offer
coordinated services such as financial aid and
counseling to veterans. As a result, 24 additional
colleges have established a VRC on their campus.
c) Zellerbach Family Foundation Project:
"Welcome Home: Creating a Campus Community of Wellness
for Returning Veterans." In March 2010, the CCCCO
received a $75,000 grant from the Zellerbach Family
Foundation to support the development and
implementation of a training program for faculty and
staff to increase awareness on military culture,
posttraumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury,
and depression in order that faculty and staff can
better understand the challenges faced by many
community college studed)nt veterans. The training
has been provided at 13 colleges and six statewide
conferences since its inception and is scheduled to be
delivered at an additional eight colleges in 2014.
e) Veterans Summit: In December 2013, the CCCCO
co-hosted the third Veterans Summit held in Newport
Beach, CA. Topics at the summit included: VA
Benefits and education plans, creating VRCs, women
veterans, academic counseling, best practices in
serving student veterans, mental health issues
confronting veterans, and accessing federal, state and
local resources. For the first time in the three year
history of this event, veteran service professionals
from the UC and CSU systems participated.
f) Regional Representation Structure: The CCCCO
has organized a Veteran Services Regional Advisory
Committee (Committee) and hosts regular meetings of
this group to better identify student veteran needs
across the system and encourage the exchange of
innovative ideas and effective practices for serving
them. The Committee met twice in 2012, three times in
2013 and is scheduled to meet four times in 2014. In
addition to meeting in person quarterly, the Committee
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now holds recurring monthly conference calls.
1) Veterans and related issues seem to be well represented
on the Board of Governors (BOG) of the California
Community Colleges . The BOG sets policy and provides
guidance for the 72 districts and 112 colleges which
constitute the system. The 17-member board is appointed
by the governor and formally interacts with state and
federal officials and other state organizations. The
Board of Governors selects a chancellor for the system.
The chancellor, through a formal process of consultation,
brings recommendations to the board, which has the
legislatively granted authority to develop and implement
policy for the colleges.
Additionally, each of the 72 community college districts
in the state has a locally-elected Board of Trustees,
responsive to local community needs and charged with the
operations of the local colleges. The governance system
of the California Community Colleges is one which uses
processes of shared governance.
According to information on the CCC Chancellor's Office
website, as of 2014, there are approximately four sitting
members of the BOG with a background or arguably a
perspective that is based on either direct military
experience or a depth of understanding issues related to
veterans. Multiple members of the BOG have extensive
experience either by way of direct military service or
relative to issues of veterans. For example, the current
Board President is a veteran of the US Armed Forces; the
current Vice-President was personnel to the Army, Navy,
and Air Force Times, publications geared toward current
and former members of the Armed Forces which likely
provided a unique base of understanding veteran related
issues. In addition, there is a board member who is a
president of the advisory board for the U.S. Army's
Sacramento Recruiting Battalion and serves on the
executive committee of the advisory board for the U.S.
Army's Los Angeles Recruiting Battalion. Finally,
another BOG member has served in multiple positions in
the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard from 1981 to
2012, including colonel and staff sergeant and is
actively engaged in assisting the veteran population,
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assisting with resume writing and resolving gaps in
service such as access to education.
2) Current selection process seems to be working . As
addressed above a good portion of the BOG members have
experiences related to veteran issues. Arguing for a
specific BOG members based on a specific demographic
grouping, as this measure does, infers that there is a
deficiency in the current appointment and approval
process that then translates into harmful or negligent
policies, practices, or approaches related to veteran
issues or a blatant discriminatory approach that
precludes active and meaningful engagement of veteran
students and accompanying issues.
First, is there a deficiency in the current appointment
and approval process? Current law, broadly states the
general qualifications for members of the BOG is that
they are outstanding lay citizens of California who have
a strong interest in the further development and
improvement of the public community colleges, leaving it
to the discretion of the Governor to select, and the
State Senate to confirm such individuals. As specified
above, and within the construct of the current
qualifications of appointees, there are many current and
former BOG members that have either direct or strongly
related military experience. Have veteran advocacy groups
requested or submitted for, gubernatorial appointment
consideration, individuals meeting the primary criteria
of military experience? In addition, have these same
advocacy groups provided clear and compelling testimony
in Senate Rules Committee that indicates Governor
appointees to the BOG lack necessary sensitivity or
experience in dealing with veteran issues in a community
college setting? Based on information available to the
committee, there does not seem to be an issue with the
current process.
Second, is there a history of harmful or negligent
policies, practices, or approaches that preclude
meaningful engagement of issues impacting veterans? As
identified above, there a number of activities currently
under way at a statewide level that recognizes the need
for continued support of student veterans and as such the
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BOG (via the Chancellor's Office) has been the lead on
several statewide projects. Can more be done? More can
always be done; however, this is the case for a multitude
of specific demographic populations that need enhanced
instruction or support services. At statewide level,
discretionary funding resources are limited and this must
be taken into account. At a policy level, the BOG has
clearly shown interest and support of programs and
services for veterans. The BOG continues to lead by
example, but they do not control the local funding
mechanism to mandate specific approaches, local governing
boards have great latitude and discretion on targeting
funding for programs and services.
3) Requiring additional voting and nonvoting student slots.
Under current law, one voting student member and one
non-voting student member, as specified, are appointed
from a list of names of at least three persons submitted
to the Governor by the California Student Association of
Community Colleges. This measure requires additional
voting and nonvoting student members of the BOG, however,
these individuals must be current or former members of
the Armed Forces. As with the 12 at-large gubernatorial
appointees, it is not clear that there is a problem or
issue with either the internal selection process or
overall representation of students within the BOG.
Veterans by virtue of their experience with government
may provide meaningful insight to educational and support
service needs of veteran students; however, is this
enough to warrant requiring an additional voting and
nonvoting student representative? The author's office
has argued that an additional student BOG member - as
required in this bill, whose only selection criteria
would be their military status - would be representative
of all students and that students would broadly benefit
from this representation. However, would not the
converse also be true, a non-veteran student could
appropriately and adequately represent not only veterans
but the larger student body?
4) Slippery slope of appointees advocating on behalf of a
specific demographic category of students . The general
concept is that the BOG represents broad constituencies -
the colleges, faculty, staff, instructional and support
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programs, local governing boards, and the public - the
CCC system as a whole. At present, about 44,000 veterans
are currently enrolled in the CCC; this represents only
about two percent of total CCC enrollment. Would the
designation and addition of veterans to the BOG encourage
other CCC student interest groups to likewise seek
specific BOG representation, for example disabled
students and balanced gender representation? Moreover,
is it necessary, or desirable, given the broad range of
issues for the board's consideration, to have individual
board members with a particular focus or interest?
5) An alternative approach. The author believes having an
active or former veteran member on the BOG is necessary
for consistency and continuity of the unique perspectives
that a veteran will bring to policies and direction
provided to local community college governing boards.
However, as pointed out in the above analysis there is
little evidence that veterans as a subset of the
community college student body have not been given due
consideration within the constraints of fiscal resources
or priorities of the CCC system or local community
college districts. Nonetheless, a broader issue has been
raised by this measure, the concept of diverse
representation on the BOG; with this in mind, if it is
the desire of the committee to move this measure, staff
recommends amendments that would replace the current
contents of the measure and amend the current
"qualifications" of BOG members under Education Code
Section 71002. At present, this section of law specifies
that individuals be selected from outstanding lay
citizens of California who have a strong interest in the
further development and improvement of the public
community colleges. This section of law, with the
assistance of Legislative Counsel in drafting, should be
expanded to include consideration of appointments to the
BOG that, to the greatest extent possible, attempt to
balance the wide range of demographic groups that may be
underrepresented within the current BOG, as well as
ensure appointments embrace the basic role and
responsibility of a member of the Board of Governors to
bring his or her own best thinking and personal views to
the Board's discussion, determining his or her own
positions on the issues rather than being bound to
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represent or advocate the positions of a particular
organization or constituency.
SUPPORT
American Legion, Department of California
AMVETS, Department of California
California Association of County Veterans Service Officer
Veterans of Foreign Wars, Department of California
Veterans Caucus of the California Democratic Party
OPPOSITION
Community College League of California
Faculty Association of the California Community Colleges