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 18, 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
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Forces of the United States. More specifically, this bill:
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
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and services. The CCCCO partnered with the High Tech
Center Training 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
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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 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
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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, 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
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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 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
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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 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.
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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, attempts to provide for a
diverse BOG that is representative of as many of the
unique demographic groups of persons found in
California, including but not limited to: disabled
persons, veterans, racial and gender. In addition,
include language clarifying that all 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 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