BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1950
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Date of Hearing: April 30, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
AB 1950 (Campos) - As Amended: April 1, 2014
SUBJECT : Career technical education: Career Education
Incentive Program
SUMMARY : Establishes the Career Education Incentive Program
which would provide one-to-one matching grant funds to school
districts, charter schools, county offices of education, and
community college districts for the purpose of regional career
technical education (CTE) programs. Specifically, this bill :
1) Expresses the intent of the Legislature to create
incentives for school districts, charter schools, county
offices of education, and community college districts to
establish regional career education consortia (consortia)
for the purpose of coordinating, delivering, and
implementing high-quality and cost-efficient career and
college preparation programs in kindergarten (K) and grades
1 - 14, inclusive.
2) Expresses the intent of the Legislature to promote and
integrate career education infrastructure that builds on
the broad range of proven career education approaches that
have shown to improve pupil achievement, reduce dropout
rates, increase attendance rates, and result in higher
rates of college enrollment.
3) Expresses the intent of the Legislature to establish
fiscal incentives for school agencies to offer high quality
career and college-ready programs.
4) Provides one-to-one matching grant funding to eligible
consortia.
5) Requires, for the purpose of participating in the Career
Education Incentive Program, a consortium to enter into an
agreement among the participating local educational
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agencies (LEAs) for the purpose of developing and
maintaining career education programs aligned with
California CTE Standards and Common Core State Standards
(CCSS).
6) Specifies a consortium may be composed of school
districts, county offices of education, charter schools,
and community college districts and specifies consortia may
be organized as a joint powers authority (JPA).
7) Specifies the programs to which Career Education
Incentive Program funds may be made available. Those
programs are as follows:
a) Career academies in any of the grades K - 5,
inclusive, or K - 7, inclusive, with the purpose of
increasing career awareness via curriculum activities
and projects that center on exposing pupils to career
opportunities;
b) Career exploration activities in grades 7 and
8 including summer and winter camps, afterschool
pre-career preparation, career mentoring, and
exploration of career pathway trust programs at local
community colleges;
c) Career preparation activities in any of the
grades 9 - 12, inclusive, or in community colleges,
including study in career pathways, career counseling
and mentoring programs, and career portfolios; and
d) Ongoing professional development opportunities
to assist faculty and staff in achieving greater
program integration that improves pupil outcomes
aligned with the California CTE Standards.
8) Permits consortia to use revenues from state, local, or
private funding sources for the purpose of its funding
match.
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9) Restricts the use of the funds pursuant to the Career
Education Incentive Program to be expended only to ensure
the development and maintenance of a high-quality career
education program.
10) Imposes the following conditions as a receipt of funds
pursuant to the Career Education Incentive Program:
a) Requires each consortium to develop a plan for
establishing a sequence of courses. It then requires
the consortium to certify to the California Department
of Education (CDE) that the courses in this plan have
been developed and that each course is aligned to the
California CTE Standards for grades 7 - 12, inclusive,
and, as appropriate, to the CCSS;
b) Requires each consortium to report to the CDE,
each fiscal year, any new sequence of courses and each
modification to existing sequences, as appropriate;
and
c) Requires each consortium to collect and report
data to the CDE pursuant to the LEA's locally
developed local control and accountability plan
(LCAP).
11) Requires the State Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI), for the purpose of determining the quality and
effectiveness of a career education course of study or
sequence of career education courses, to incorporate a
metric into appropriate state adopted accountability
measures. This bill requires the metric to be based on
California's career ready standards and include quality
indicators as set forth in the California State Plan for
Career Technical Education submitted as a part of the
Vocational Education Basic Grant Award from the U.S.
Department of Education under the Perkins Act.
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12) Requires consortia to collect and report, annually, to
the governing boards of the member LEAs and member
community college districts, as applicable, the following
data:
a) The number of industry-recognized
certifications offered and the number of
industry-recognized certifications that pupils
complete;
b) The number of pupils that advance to a
community college, state or private university, trade
school, apprenticeship, or military;
c) The number of pupils that receive paid or
unpaid internships or work opportunities in the
pupil's area of certification;
d) The number of career technical education
classes a pupil completes that meet the "A-G"
admission requirements of the University of
California;
e) The number of pupils that are enrolled and
participate in one or more CTE classes;
f) The number of pupils completing CTE courses
and programs of study that include a sequence of two
or more CTE courses;
g) The number of pupils who gain employment and
the types of businesses in which those pupils are
employed; and
h) The number of pupils who participate in a CTE
pathway during grade 8 and the number of pupils
continuing in the same or another CTE pathway in grade
9.
13) Encourages collaboration and articulation among LEAs,
community colleges, and private industry to develop a
system of integrated and comprehensive programs.
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14) Makes consortia eligible to receive grant funds equal to
the prior school year's actual expenditures made for the
purposes and programs that support college and career
readiness as described in the school district's LCAP.
15) Requires the governing body of the consortium to
annually adopt a plan that includes the purpose and
programs in place to support the career and college
programs, and limits state matching funds to expended only
in accordance with this plan.
16) Requires the fiscal agent of the consortia, as defined,
to report, no later than October 1 of each school year in
which state matching funds were expended, the amount
expended for each purpose and program in the prior school
year.
EXISTING LAW
1) Establishes various CTE programs for public schools
including but not limited to regional occupational centers
and programs (ROC/Ps), partnership academies, adult
education programs, and CTE programs in high schools and
community colleges.
2) Requires each school district maintaining any of grades
7 - 12, inclusive, to offer to all otherwise qualified
pupils courses of study that provide pupils an opportunity
to attain entry-level employment skills in business or
industry upon graduation from high school and permits
school districts to fulfill this responsibility by adopting
a required curriculum that meets or exceeds the model CTE
standards adopted by the State Board of Education (SBE).
3) Requires school districts to spend no less in 2013-14
and 2014-15 than they did in 2012-13 on ROC/Ps. If
districts received funding for ROCPs through a JPA, they
must continue to pass through those funds to the JPA in
2013-14 and 2014-15.
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4) Establishes the California Career Pathways Trust which
appropriated $250 million in one-time funds in the form of
a competitive grant for expenditure in the 2013-14 fiscal
year through the 2015-16 fiscal year, inclusive.
5) Makes grants available under the California Career
Pathways Trust for programs that accomplish any of the
following:
a) Fund specialists in work-based learning that
connects school districts, county offices of education,
charter schools, and community colleges with business
entities;
b) Establish regional collaborative relationships and
partnerships with business entities, community
organizations, and local institutions of postsecondary
education;
c) Develop and integrate standards-based academics with
a career-relevant, sequenced curriculum following
industry-themed pathways that are aligned to high-need,
high-growth, or emerging regional economic sectors;
d) Provide articulated pathways to postsecondary
education aligned with regional economies; or
e) Build on existing structures, requirements, and
resources of the Carl D. Perkins, California Partnership
Academies, and ROC/Ps, including staff knowledge,
community relationships, and course development.
5) Requires recipients of the California Career Pathways
Trust and the SPI to report to the Department of Finance,
and to relevant policy and fiscal committees of the
Legislature, outcome measures, which shall include, but are
not necessarily be limited to, pupil and student academic
performance indicators, the number and rate of school or
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program graduates, attainment of certificates, transfer
readiness, postsecondary enrollment, and transitions to
appropriate employment, apprenticeships, or job training.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Career Technical Education
With the dramatic changes in business and industry processes and
procedures, as well as expectations from employers for those
preparing to enter the 21st century workforce, the SBE adopted
revised CTE Model Curriculum Standards in January, 2013. These
CTE standards, although common to all, are customized to better
reflect the specific conditions and expectations of each
industry sector. Standards for Career Ready Practices, within
the CCSS, are intended for all students and are in response to
the expectation of career and college readiness upon completion
of the high school experience.
Under current law, districts are required to adopt alternative
means for pupils to complete the prescribed course of study
which may include practical demonstration of skills and
competencies, supervised work experience or other outside school
experience, CTE classes, courses offered by ROC/Ps,
interdisciplinary study, independent study, and credit earned at
a postsecondary institution. Districts also have the option of
adopting alternatives for pupils to complete high school
graduation requirements.
Sequences of courses and multiple pathway programs
Research shows that pupils who complete both an academic and a
CTE sequence of courses in high school have the greatest
likelihood of being employed in professional, managerial, or
skilled jobs and have the greatest likelihood of being enrolled
in postsecondary education.<1> Furthermore, the California
Career Technical Education 2010 Longitudinal Study shows that
---------------------------
<1> Combining Academic and Career-Technical Courses To Make
College an Option for More Students: Evidence and Challenges.
By David Stern, Graduate School of Education, UC Berkeley Roman
Stearns, ConnectEd: The California Center for College and
Career. November 28, 2006.
( http://www.connectedcalifornia.org/downloads/Stearns.pdf )
Accessed on April 11, 2014.
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CTE students generally had better grades in their CTE courses if
they took more courses within a single industry sector, that
students with only one course in a sector had the lowest CTE
grades, and that salaries increased post-high school by the
number of courses taken in a sequence up to the point of four
courses, where there occurred a drop off in average wages
earned. Proven and promising programs like the California
Partnership Academies and multiple pathway programs promote CTE
course sequences with academic coursework as integral components
to prepare pupils for college and careers.
This bill builds on this research by promoting well planned,
rigorous, and measureable courses of study or course sequences
in CTE. Recognizing the institutional barriers to
collaboration, this bill creates a financial incentive to
regionalize CTE programs while still allowing LEAs the
flexibility in determining which CTE programs work best for them
and their student population.
Committee Considerations
While few question the inherent value of rigorous and high
quality CTE programs, the committee may wish to consider whether
this bill is necessary. This bill duplicates much of the
current pilot program authorized as the California Career
Pathways Trust. The existing program, like this bill, requires
a grant recipient to establish a sequence of CTE courses and
report outcome measures that reflect the quality and
effectiveness of the program. While this bill requires
additional considerations by the career education consortium,
including alignment of the course sequences to the SBE adopted
CTE standards and the CCSS, and provides immediate funding for
high quality programs, the committee may wish to consider
whether another grant program is wise until the results of the
California Career Pathways Trust program have been reported and
a more informed approach to CTE can be taken.
The committee may also wish to consider whether the requirements
for accountability in this bill are duplicative of the
provisions in the LCFF and the existing requirement that LEAs
address CTE in their LCAP. The LCAP already requires an LEA's
career tech program to focus on high-wage occupations and
regional needs, lead to industry-recognized certifications, and
offer courses needed for entry into apprenticeship or
postsecondary vocational certificate or degree programs. The
purpose of the LCAP, as indicated by the "local control" portion
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of the name, is to place primary responsibility for program
planning, monitoring, and accountability on local districts and
county offices of education. This bill goes beyond that by
requiring school districts and county offices of education to
collect, certify, and report specific data to the CDE regarding
its career technical course offerings. This bill also requires
a consortium to collect and report significant amounts of data
that far exceed the requirements of the LCAP. It is important
to note that while this bill applies to K - 14 programs, the
funds to which the grant monies are matched are those funds
documented as CTE services within the LCAP. This allows LEAs to
identify only those community college CTE funds that are used
for K - 12 services. So while matching funds include actual
dollars spent by community colleges, the funds must have been
used to support K - 12 goals for college and career readiness as
described in the district's LCAP. For these reasons, should the
committee vote to pass this bill, staff recommends an amendment
that restructures this language to include all data reporting
requirements to instead be requirements the SPI must take into
consideration when developing this grant administration program.
As written, the reporting requirement set forth in this bill
are simply too onerous. The committee may also wish to consider
that this bill will reduce the amount of Prop 98/ GF money that
is available to other educational priorities including LCFF,
Transitional Kindergarten, all day Kindergarten, school
transportation, and development of standards and curriculum.
Finally, should the committee vote to pass this bill, staff
recommends the following amendments:
Remove the requirement that a consortium certify to the
CTE that each course within a sequence is aligned to the
California CTE Standards and, as applicable, to the CCSS
and instead require each consortium, as a condition of
funding, to develop a plan for establishing a sequence of
course in participating LEAs that are aligned to these
standards. This amendment is consistent with the amendment
that instead requires the SPI to consider incorporating
data reporting requirements rather than mandating ant such
reporting.
Delete the requirement that the SPI incorporate into the
state adopted accountability measures, a metric based on
the California career-ready standards and program quality
indicators. This amendment is consistent with the concerns
raised in this analysis that point to the duplicative
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nature of this bill with current pilot program authorized
as the California Career Pathways Trust. The existing
program, like this bill, requires a grant recipient to
establish a sequence of CTE courses and report outcome
measures that reflect the quality and effectiveness of the
program.
Delete the language that allows the use of funds to be
for the development of career academies that serve students
in K - 7. Because California's CTE Standards exist only
for instruction in grades 7 - 12, any CTE program focused
on grades K - 5 cannot be aligned to age-appropriate
standards.
Delete the language that limits a school's award amount
to the prior year's actual expenditures. Eligibility for
this program should not favor those who have not been
forced to cut CTE programs, but instead should be applied
equally to all schools seeking to establish or expand their
programs.
Make technical and non-substantive changes to these
sections.
Prior Legislation
SB 660 (Hancock) of 2013, establishes new reporting
requirements, effective for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 fiscal
years, for county offices of education and school districts that
operate or participate in ROC/Ps. This bill was set for hearing
in the Assembly Education Committee on August 14, 2013, but was
cancelled at the request of the author.
AB 1330 (Furutani), Chapter 621, Statutes of 2011, adds CTE, as
defined, as an option for pupils to fulfill the existing high
school graduation requirement to complete a course in visual or
performing arts or foreign language and sunsets these provisions
on January 1, 2017. The Assembly Education Committee passed
this bill by a vote of 8-0.
SB 253 (Wyland) of 2009, authorizes school districts and county
offices of education to offer pupils a CTE certificate upon
meeting specified requirements. The Assembly Education
Committee passed this bill by a vote of 11-0. The bill died in
the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
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SB 381 (Wright) of 2009, requires districts adopting a college
preparation curriculum for high school graduation to require
students to also complete CTE courses in order to earn a high
school diploma. The Assembly Education Committee passed this
bill by a vote of 6-3. The bill died in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
SB 515 (Hancock) (2009), requires that at least half of
sequenced CTE courses that are linked to regional or state high
priority workforce needs. The Assembly Education Committee
passed this bill by a vote of 9-0. This measure was vetoed by
Governor Schwarzenegger with the following veto message:
I am returning Senate Bill 515 without my
signature.
During my Administration, I have worked to
revitalize career technical education (CTE)
programs throughout the state by increasing
funding for programs and facilities,
streamlining the credentialing process for
teachers, and supported expansion of
existing programs. I believe that current
law provides sufficient safeguards to ensure
that the courses and programs offered to our
students lead them to opportunities in the
workforce or postsecondary education.
Placing additional restrictions on CTE
programs could prevent them from qualifying
for funding, limit expansion, or result in
termination for non-compliance.
For these reasons, I am unable to sign this
bill.
Sincerely,
Arnold Schwarzenegger
SB 725 (Hancock) of 2009, authorizes ROC/Ps to offer
apprenticeship preparation programs. This bill died in the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 2448 (Hancock), Chapter 527, Statutes of 2006, refocuses
ROC/P services to high school students and ensure the courses
are part of occupational course sequences. The Assembly
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Education Committee passed this bill by a vote of 9-0.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Burbank Unified School District
California Agricultural Teachers' Association, Inc.
California Business Education Association
Center for Advanced Research and Technology (CART)
California School Finance Reform Coalition
Clovis Unified School District
Coronado Unified School District
Dinuba Unified School District
Glendora Unified School District
Irvine Unified School District
Metropolitan Education District
Napa County Office of Education
Orcutt Union School District
Redondo Beach Unified School District
San Diego Unified School District
Santa Clara Unified School District
Small School Districts' Association
The Center for Advanced Research and Technology High School
Turlock Unified School District
An individual
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Jill Rice / ED. / (916) 319-2087