BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2548
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2548 (Ting)
As Amended August 18, 2014
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |76-0 |(May 28, 2014) |SENATE: |35-0 |(August 20, |
| | | | | |2014) |
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Original Committee Reference: ED.
SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
to periodically conduct studies of the percentages of California
public high school graduates estimated to be eligible for
admission into the University of California (UC) and the
California State University (CSU). Specifically this bill :
1)Makes the following legislative findings and declarations:
a) University eligibility studies are an important planning
tool for the UC and the CSU systems and help determine if
the systems are drawing from their eligibility pools set by
the state's Master Plan for Higher Education.
b) University eligibility studies were previously conducted
periodically by the California Postsecondary Education
Commission (CPEC), until the commission ceased operations
in 2011, and a study has not been conducted since 2007.
c) Despite the absence of the CPEC, it is still important
for the state to have measures in place to determine
whether the UC and the CSU are carrying out their goals to
ensure student access and success.
2)Requires the CDE to work collaboratively with the UC and the
CSU to determine the specific role of each entity in
conducting the study, ensure that the work is not duplicated,
and utilize existing vendors familiar with the scope of
previous studies, and conduct the study as efficiently as
possible.
3)Specifies the study shall be conducted no more frequently than
every four years and requires this study to be completed
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within 18 months from when state or non-state funds are made
available for this purpose.
The Senate amendments :
1)Specify that in conducting the study, the CDE, UC, and CSU
shall determine the specific role of each entity in conducting
the study to ensure that the work is not duplicated.
2)Specifies that the existing vendor must be familiar with the
scope of previous studies.
3)Requires the study to be completed within 18 months from when
state or non-state funds are made available for this purpose.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, the total cost for one eligibility study will likely
be approximately $1.5 to $2 million.
COMMENTS : AB 770 (Vasconcellos), Chapter 1187, Statutes of
1973, created the CPEC and made it responsible for the planning
and coordination of postsecondary education. CPEC was charged
with providing analysis, advice, and recommendations to the
Legislature and the Governor on statewide policy and funding
priorities. As part of his 2011-12 budget, Governor Edmund G.
Brown proposed eliminating CPEC. Both houses rejected this
proposal, but the Governor exercised his line item veto to
remove all General Fund support for CPEC, describing the
commission as "ineffective." One of the former obligations of
the CPEC was to periodically conduct a freshman eligibility
study in order to determine if UCs and CSUs were drawing from
their eligibility pools set by the state's Master Plan for
Higher Education. This Master Plan of Higher Education
specified that UC and CSU are required to admit freshman
students from among the top 12.5% and 33%, respectively, of the
state's high school graduates. On November 18, 2011, CPEC
closed its office and ceased operations.
The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) in their January 2012
report, Improving Higher Education Oversight, contended the
state needs higher education oversight that enables policymakers
and others to monitor how efficiently and effectively the
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postsecondary system is serving the state's needs, and make
changes to improve its performance. The LAO recommended this new
entity have independence from the public higher education
segments, have a more unified governing board appointment
process, and be assigned limited and clear responsibilities. A
related measure, AB 1348 (John A. P�rez) of the current
legislative session, establishes, the California Higher
Education Authority, its governing board, and its
responsibilities.
In the absence of this new oversight authority, in its February
2014 report, A Review of State Budgetary Practices for UC and
CSU, the LAO recommended that the Legislature authorize an
updated freshman eligibility study. According to the author, an
updated freshman eligibility study, would be a valuable tool
that will measure whether the state's public university systems
are accessible to the students they are supposed to serve, and
will help determine whether UC and CSU are properly budgeted to
guarantee student success. Previously, CPEC conducted the
eligibility study in cooperation with the UC, CSU, and the CDE.
The study collected transcripts from a sample of high schools
throughout the state, which were analyzed by university staff to
determine if the pattern of courses, grades, and test scores
would make the student eligible for admission to the two
systems. Again according to the author, in addition to simply
determining the percentage of high school graduates eligible for
UC or CSU, the study also revealed important trends about
California's college-ready high school populations that can help
inform K-12 and higher education policy. For example, the last
eligibility study conducted in 2007 found that the UC
eligibility rate had slightly fallen since the prior study in
2003, but the CSU eligibility had sharply increased by nearly
20%. The 2007 study also found that the gap in university
eligibility between racial/ethnic groups had narrowed slightly,
but that eligibility rates for Black and Latino graduates were
still far below the eligibility rates for Asian and White
graduates. Results from the eligibility study may be used to
inform adjustments in system eligibility requirements and ensure
the state's Master Plan goals are being met. This bill would
designate CDE to periodically conduct the eligibility study in
light of CPEC's elimination, as CDE had helped CPEC implement
the study in previous years.
In Governor Edmund G. Brown's veto message of the budget line
item for CPEC, he acknowledged the need for coordinating and
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guiding state higher education policy and requested that
stakeholders explore alternative ways these functions could be
fulfilled. Thus, the Assembly may wish to consider whether this
bill's approach of assigning solitary tasks lacks the
coordinated effort sought by Governor Edmund G. Brown and
recommended by the LAO. A coordinated approach can help
policymakers consider the higher education system as a whole and
develop policies and budgets that maximize the system's value to
the state, which becomes increasingly critical in times of
limited resources. Additionally, the Assembly may wish to
consider whether such an isolated look at eligibility may yield
little usable data or results and therefore, whether such a
report should also include the profile of the average student
who is actually admitted to the UCs or CSUs in an effort to
identify whether there is a gap between the minimum standards
set forth in the state's Master Plan for Higher Education and
the actual coursework, academic achievement, and other criteria
necessary to be admitted to the UCs and CSUs.
Analysis Prepared by : Jill Rice / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0005050