California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1950

Introduced by Assembly Member Campos

February 19, 2014

An act to add Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 52360) to Chapter 9 of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, relating to career education.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1950, as introduced, Campos. Career education: Career Education Incentive Program.

Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state, and authorizes school districts throughout the state to provide instruction to pupils. Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state, and authorizes community college districts throughout the state to provide instruction to students at the campuses they operate. Existing law establishes various career education programs involving participation by public elementary and secondary schools, community colleges, and other governmental entities.

This bill would express legislative intent to create incentives for school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and community college districts to establish regional career education consortia for the purpose of coordinating, delivering, and implementing high-quality and cost-efficient career and college preparation programs in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive.

The bill would establish the Career Education Incentive Program under the administration of the State Department of Education. The bill would authorize school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and community college districts to establish career education consortia. The bill would specify criteria for the receipt and expenditure of the state funding to be allocated to these consortia.

The bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to collaborate with specified stakeholders for the purposes of developing an evaluation instrument for the program.

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.  

It is the intent of the Legislature to accomplish
all of the following:

(a) Create incentives for school districts, county offices of
education, charter schools, and community college districts to
establish regional career education consortia for the purpose of
coordinating, delivering, and implementing high-quality and
cost-efficient career and college preparation programs in
kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive.

(b) Promote an integrated career education infrastructure that
builds on the broad range of proven career education approaches
including, but not limited to, regional occupational centers and
programs, linked learning partnerships, California Partnership
Academies, agricultural vocational education, specialized
secondary programs, and career pathways programs, each of which
has improved pupil academic achievement, reduced dropout rates,
increased attendance rates, and resulted in higher rates of college
enrollment.

(c) Establish fiscal incentives for school agencies to offer, or
continue to offer, high quality career and college-ready programs
that are vital in engaging pupils and helping them prepare for the
transition to higher education and the workforce.

(d) Appropriate two hundred fifty million dollars ($250,000,000)
in the annual Budget Act for the 2015-16 fiscal year for the Career
Education Incentive Program (Article 3.5 (commencing with
Section 52360) of Chapter 9 of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Education Code) to provide one-to-one matching grant funding
to eligible career education consortia. A career education
consortium may be composed of school districts, county offices
of education, charter schools, and community college districts.

SEC. 2.  

Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 52360) is added
to Chapter 9 of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education
Code, to read:

 

Article 3.5.  Career Education Incentive Program

 

52360.  

(a) A career education consortium may be composed
of school districts, county offices of education, charter schools,
and community college districts.

(b) For purposes of participating in the Career Education
Incentive Program established by this article, a career education
consortium shall enter into an agreement among the local
educational agencies participating in the consortium for the purpose
of developing and maintaining career education programs aligned
with California Career Technical Education and Common Core
State Standards.

(c) The funds appropriated in the annual Budget Act shall be
available to career education consortia as a matching grant to
accomplish any of the following:

(1) In any of grades kindergarten to grades 1 to 5, inclusive, or
kindergarten to grades 1 to 7, inclusive, career academies, funds
may be expended for career awareness curriculum focused
activities and projects that center on exposing pupils to career
opportunities that include, but are not necessarily limited to,
researching careers, job shadowing, visiting local industries, and
guest speakers.

(2) In grades 7 and 8, funds may be expended for career
exploration activities, including, but not necessarily limited to,
summer and winter career camps, after school precareer
preparation, career mentoring programs, and visits to a community
college campus to explore career pathway programs and career
mentoring programs.

(3) In any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive, funds may be expended
for career preparation activities, including, but not necessarily
limited to, developing programs of study in career pathways, career
counseling and mentoring programs, career portfolios, and career
days.

(d) For its funding match, a career education consortium may
use revenues from state, local, or private funding sources.

52361.  

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, funds allocated
pursuant to this article may be expended only to ensure the
development and maintenance of a high-quality career education
program.

(b) As a condition of receipt of funds pursuant to this section,
the governing board of each career education consortium shall do
all of the following:

(1) Develop a plan for establishing a sequence of courses.

(2) Certify to the department that each sequence of courses
specified in the plan required by this subdivision has been
developed.

(3) Report each new sequence of courses and each modification
to existing sequences to the department no later than September
1 of the fiscal year in which the changes are implemented.

(4) Certify to the department that each course within a sequence
is aligned to the California Career Technical Education Standards
for grades 7 to 12, inclusive.

(5) Certify to the department that each course, where
appropriate, is aligned to the Common Core State Standards.

(c) A career education consortium receiving funds pursuant to
this article shall collect and report data as required by the
department and through each participating local education agency’s
locally developed local control and accountability plan.

(d) To determine the quality and effectiveness of a career
education course of study or sequence of career education courses,
the Superintendent shall incorporate into appropriate state adopted
accountability measures a metric based on career-ready standards
adopted pursuant to the federal Elementary and Secondary
Education Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.) and program quality
indicators contained in the California State Plan for Career
Technical Education.

(e) Accountability measures under this article may include the
rates at which pupils complete a course of study or sequence of
career technical education courses that provide the skills and
knowledge necessary to attain entry-level employment in business
or industry, or to pursue postsecondary education after those pupils
graduate from high school.

(f) The Superintendent shall develop an evaluation instrument
to evaluate the programs within each career education consortium
commencing with the 2015-16 school year, and annually thereafter.

52362.  

The Superintendent shall collaborate with stakeholders,
including, but not necessarily limited to, representatives from
school districts, county offices of education, community colleges,
charter schools, career education joint powers authority consortia,
local workforce investment board members, and business and
industry advisory board members for the purposes of developing
an evaluation instrument for the program established under this
article. The completed evaluation instrument shall be reviewed by
an independent local review council composed of representatives
selected by the Superintendent.