BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 2558
AUTHOR: Williams
INTRODUCED: February 21, 2014
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: June 11, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lenin Del Castillo
NOTE : This bill has been referred to the Committees on
Education and
Appropriations. A "do pass" motion should include referral
to the Committee
on Appropriations.
SUBJECT : Community colleges: faculty and staff
development.
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the Community College Professional
Development Program and provides that if funds are provided
for this purpose, all employees, both faculty and staff,
are eligible to receive professional development
opportunities.
BACKGROUND
The California community college system is the nation's
largest system of higher education, comprised of 112
colleges that serve more than 2.3 million students per
year. Under the California Master Plan for Higher
Education, the primary mission of the community college
system is to provide low-cost post-secondary education for
any interested Californian. Its mission includes providing
lower-division academic coursework that could lead to
transfer to four-year colleges, career-technical education,
basic skills education, and enrichment courses.
Existing law establishes the Community College Faculty and
Staff Development Fund, administered by the Chancellor's
Office of the California Community College, to provide
state General Fund to community colleges for the purpose of
supporting locally developed and implemented faculty and
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staff development programs.
(Education Code � 87150)
Existing law also authorizes the Board of Governors to
annually allocate funds appropriated for development to
each community college district whose chief executive
officer has submitted to the Chancellor an affidavit that
includes:
1) A statement that each campus within the district
has an advisory committee, composed of administrators,
faculty, and staff representatives, which has assisted
in the assessment of the faculty and staff development
needs and in the design of the plan to meet those
needs;
2) A campus human development resources plan completed
for the current and subsequent fiscal years; and
3) A report of the actual expenditures for faculty and
staff development for the preceding year. (Education
Code � 87151)
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Renames the Community College Faculty and Staff
Development Fund to the Community College Professional
Development Program.
2) Provides that the Board of Governors of the
California Community Colleges shall allocate funds,
when appropriated for the Community College
Professional Development Program, only to a community
college district whose chief executive officer has
submitted to the Chancellor an affidavit that includes
specified requirements.
3) Provides that any available funding shall be
allocated to the community college districts that
provide professional development opportunities to both
faculty and staff. Funding shall be disbursed in
accordance with rules and regulations adopted by the
Board of Governors.
4) Provides that community college districts that
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receive Community College Professional Development
Program funds shall include the employee's time used
participating in that program in the employee's
contractually obligated hours.
5) Makes technical and clarifying changes to existing
law, as specified.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author's office,
past support for professional development has been
mixed. The Community College Faculty and Staff
Development Fund was created in 1988 but budget
shortfalls shifted money away from the fund after
2002. Consequently, few resources for professional
development opportunities have existed in recent
years. Additionally, the author's office indicates
that what little support there has been for
professional development on community college campuses
has been focused primarily on faculty and not all
campus employees, such as classified and
administrative staff, who also strive to ensure a
positive environment for students.
2) Student Success Task Force . Senate Bill 1143 (Liu),
Chapter 409, Statutes of 2010, triggered the launch of
the Student Success Task Force in 2011 by the Board of
Governors of the California Community Colleges. The
task force, which comprised of community college chief
executive officers, faculty, students, researchers,
staff, and external stakeholders, set out to identify
the best methods necessary to improve student outcomes
at the community colleges. The task force issued a
report that was adopted by the Board of Governors in
January 2012 with the goal to identify best practices
for promoting student success and to develop statewide
strategies to take these approaches to scale while
ensuring that educational opportunities for
historically underrepresented students would not just
be maintained, but ameliorated.
The task force made 22 specific recommendations,
including a call to re-energize professional
development opportunities and resources for all
community college employees. Subsequently, the
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Chancellor's Office convened a 30 member system-wide
Professional Development Committee which was tasked
with developing proposals to improve professional
development and issuing a report specifying the steps
needed in order to accomplish the task force's goal of
re-energizing professional development. The committee
released the "Report on the California Community
Colleges Student Success Initiative Professional
Development Committee Recommendations" in September
2013 and provided recommendations to the California
Community Colleges on how to improve professional
development, which are embodied in this measure.
3) Technical amendments . The bill contains a provision
providing that "Any available funding shall be
allocated to the community college districts that
provide professional development opportunities to both
faculty and staff." Committee staff understands that
the intent of this provision is to apply only to funds
appropriated for this purpose and not to any funds
available to the community colleges. Therefore, staff
recommends a clarifying amendment specifying that any
available funding "appropriated for purposes of this
article shall be allocated to the community college
districts?"
SUPPORT
Association of California Community College Administrators
California Community Colleges Classified Senate
California Community College Council for Staff and
Organizational Development
California Federation of Teachers
Campaign for College Opportunity
Canada College Classified Senate
Chancellor's Office, California Community Colleges
(sponsor)
Citrus College
Community College League of California
De Anza College Classified Senate
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
Fresno City College
Los Angeles Community College District
Los Medanos College Professional Development Advisory
Committee
Los Rios Community College District
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San Bernardino Community College District
Santa Rosa Junior College
Sonoma County Junior College District
South Orange County Community College District
Yosemite Community College District
Letters from individuals
OPPOSITION
None on file.