Amended in Assembly April 1, 2014

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 amended, 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 begin delete 12, end delete begin insert 14, end insert 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. begin insert The bill would authorize these consortia to be organized as joint powers agencies. end insert begin insert The bill would specify information to be collected and reported annually by the consortia to the governing boards of the member local educational agencies, including member community college districts. end insert The bill would specify criteria for the receipt and expenditure of the state funding to be allocated to these consortia.

begin delete

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.

end delete

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 begin delete 12, end delete begin insert 14, end insert inclusive.

(b) Promote an integrated career education infrastructure that
builds on the broad range of proven career education approaches begin insert , end insert
including, but not limited to, regional occupational centers and
programs, linked learning partnerships, begin insert apprenticeship programs, end insert
California Partnership Academies, agricultural vocational
education, specialized secondary programs, and career pathways
begin insert trust end insert 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, begin delete high quality end delete begin insert high-quality end insert 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)  begin delete 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 end delete begin insert Provide end insert 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. begin insert A career education consortium
may be organized as a joint powers agency pursuant to Article 1
(commencing with Section 6500) of Chapter 5 of Division 7 of
Title 1 of the Government Code. end insert

(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, begin insert or in community colleges, end insert
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.

begin insert

(4) Ongoing professional development opportunities to assist
faculty and other staff in achieving greater program integration
that improves pupil outcomes, aligned with the California Career
Technical Education Standards.

end insert

(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 begin delete education end delete
begin insert educational end insert 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 begin insert California end insert career-ready
standards begin delete adopted pursuant to the federal Elementary and
Secondary Education Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.) end delete and
program quality indicators contained in the California State Plan
for Career Technical Education.

begin delete

(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.

end delete begin insert

(e) A career education consortium shall collect and report
annually to the governing boards of the member local educational
agencies, including member community college districts, all of the
following information:

end insert begin insert

(1) The number of industry-recognized certifications offered
and the number of industry-recognized certifications that pupils
complete.

end insert begin insert

(2) The number of pupils that advance to a community college,
state or private university, trade school, apprenticeship, or military.

end insert begin insert

(3) The number of pupils that receive paid or unpaid internships
or work opportunities in the pupil’s area of certification.

end insert begin insert

(4) The number of career technical education classes a pupil
completes that meet the “A-G” admission requirements of the
University of California.

end insert begin insert

(5) The number of pupils that are enrolled and participate in
one or more career technical education classes.

end insert begin insert

(6) The number of pupils completing career technical education
courses and programs of study that include a sequence of two or
more career technical education courses.

end insert begin insert

(7) The number of pupils who gain employment and the types
of businesses in which those pupils are employed.

end insert begin insert

(8) The number of pupils who participate in a career technical
education pathway during grade 8 and the number of pupils
continuing in the same or another career technical education
pathway in grade 9.

end insert

begin delete

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.

end delete begin insert

begin insert 52362. end insert   

(a) A career education consortium may receive state
matching grants intended to leverage the impact of state resources
in support of career technical education to the greatest extent
possible by encouraging collaboration and articulation among
local educational agencies, community colleges, and private
industry to develop a system of integrated and comprehensive
programs that give elementary and secondary pupils and adults
the opportunity to be fully prepared for college or career.

(b) (1) Of the funds appropriated for that purpose, the
Superintendent shall apportion to the school district, county office
of education, charter school, community college district, or joint
powers agency designated as the fiscal agent for a career education
consortium established pursuant to Section 52360 state matching
grants in accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3).

(2) A career education consortium is eligible to receive a state
matching grant equal to the prior school year actual expenditures
made for the purposes and programs of a participating school
district, county office of education, charter school, or community
college district that support achieving goals for college and career
readiness as described in a school district’s local control and
accountability plan pursuant to subparagraph (C) of paragraph
(4) of subdivision (d) of Section 52060, a county office of
education’s local control and accountability plan pursuant to
subparagraph (C) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (d) of Section
52066, or a charter school’s plan pursuant to Section 47605,
47605.6, or 47606.5, as applicable.

(3) The matching grant that a career education consortium
receives pursuant to paragraph (1) shall not exceed the sum of the
amount calculated pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (d)
of Section 42238.02 and the amounts received for apprenticeship
programs by of each of the local educational agencies that is a
member of the career education consortium in the prior school
year.

(c) State matching funds may only be expended to further the
purposes of this article in accordance with a plan annually adopted
by the governing body of the career education consortium. The
fiscal agent of the career education consortium shall provide to
the governing body of the career education consortium no later
than October 1 of each school year a report of the purposes and
programs for which state matching funds were expended in the
prior school year, and the amount expended for each purpose and
program.

end insert