BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 173
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 26, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
SB 173 (Liu) - As Amended: May 28, 2013
[Note: This bill is doubled referred to the Assembly Higher
Education Committee and will be heard as it relates to issues
under its jurisdiction.]
SENATE VOTE : 36-1
SUBJECT : Education funding: adult health and safety education
SUMMARY : Establishes guidelines and recommendations for adult
education program in the areas of assessment, performance
accountability, and teacher requirements; and eliminates
specified classes and courses authorized to be funded from the
adult education fund and California Community Colleges (CCC)
adult education noncredit apportionments. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Requires the California Department of Education (CDE), in
conjunction with the chancellor's office of the CCC, to
coordinate and issue assessment policy guidelines regarding
assessments to be used by school districts and community
college districts for purposes of placement in adult education
courses.
2)Requires the CDE and the chancellor's office to do the
following:
a) Jointly establish and implement a comprehensive
performance accountability system for adult education
courses; and,
b) Develop guidelines and procedures for all adult
education funded providers for assessment, evaluation, and
data collection to document participant outcomes and
placement and other performance measures they deem
appropriate. Specifies that performance measures may
include receipt of a secondary school diploma or its
recognized equivalent, placement in a postsecondary
educational institution, training, and employment.
Specifies that to the extent possible, these performance
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measures shall be consistent with those required and
implemented pursuant to the federal Workforce Investment
Act (WIA) of 1998, Title II, Adult Education and Family
Literacy Act. Requires all funded programs to annually
submit demographic and other student-level outcome
information.
3)Defines "chancellor's office" as the Office of the Chancellor
of the CCC, and "department" to mean the CDE.
4)Removes the following classes from the list of authorized
classes and courses offered by school districts and county
superintendent of schools for apportionment purposes from the
adult education fund:
a) Adult programs in parenting, including parent
cooperative preschools, and classes in child growth and
development, parent-child relationships, and parenting;
b) Adult programs for older adults;
c) Adult programs in home economics; and,
d) Adult programs in health and safety education.
5)Authorizes the governing board of a community college district
to charge a fee for classes it offers, except for classes in
English and citizenship in order to ensure that community
college districts have the capacity to meet the demand for
adult education courses for recent immigrants. Specifies that
any community college district that chooses to charge a fee
shall report the amount of the fee, the number of classes, and
enrollment in those classes to the Office of the Chancellor of
the CCC. Requires the chancellor's office to make the
information available to the Legislative Analyst's Office
(LAO). Requires the LAO to provide a summary and analysis of
the reported information to the Assembly Budget, Education and
Higher Education Committees, and the Senate Budget and Fiscal
Review and Education Committees by January 1, 2016.
6)Removes the following noncredit adult education courses and
classes as eligible classes for funding:
a) Parenting, including parent cooperative preschools,
classes in child growth and development and parent-child
relationships;
b) Education programs for older adults;
c) Education programs for home economics; and,
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d) Health and safety education.
7)Requires, by July 1, 2014, the Commission on Teacher
Credentialing (CTC) and the Academic Senate for the CCC to
meet to review their current requirements for noncredit adult
education and adult education instructors, and develop and
submit recommendations to the appropriate policy and fiscal
committees of the Legislature for modifying or establishing
reciprocity standards for instructors of adult education
courses.
8)Expresses the intent of the Legislature that:
a) Nothing in this bill shall be construed to limit the
authority of school districts and community college
districts to offer adult education programs and courses
other than those specified in law, provided that those
programs or courses are funded through alternative funding
sources, including fees, if the district is authorized to
charge fees.
b) Beginning in the 2015-16 fiscal year, base adult
education funds and noncredit adult education funds shall
be allocated to providers on the basis of a combination of
enrollment and performance in courses.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the establishment of adult school programs and
specifies eligibility criteria, programmatic requirements, and
the manner in which school districts' adult education revenue
limit per unit of average daily attendance (ADA) shall be
determined.
2)Authorizes a county office of education (COE) to administer an
adult education program and authorizes each eligible school
district within its jurisdiction to participate in the
program. Authorizes a COE to report the ADA of each school
district participating in the adult education program for the
purpose of receiving revenue limit apportionments.
3)Authorizes the following classes and courses to be offered by
the school districts and county superintendent of schools for
apportionment purposes from the adult education fund:
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a) Adult programs in parenting, including parent
cooperative preschools, and classes in child growth and
development, parent-child relationships, and parenting.
b) Adult programs in elementary and secondary basic skills
and other courses and classes required for the high school
diploma.
c) Adult education programs in English as a second
language.
d) Adult education programs for immigrant eligible for
educational services in citizenship, English as a second
language, and workforce preparation classes in the basic
skills of speaking, listening, reading, writing,
mathematics, decisionmaking and problem solving skills, and
other classes required for preparation to participate in
job specific technical training.
e) Adult education programs for adults with disabilities.
f) Adult short-term career technical education programs
with high employment potential.
g) Adult programs for older adults.
h) Adult education programs for apprentices.
i) Adult programs in home economics.
j) Adult programs in health and safety education.
4)Prohibits state apportionment to be made for any course or
class not specified in law.
5)Authorizes the governing board of a school district to require
a fee. For a class in English and citizenship, a fee may be
charged only until July 1, 2015. Prohibits the total of the
fees required and revenues derived from the ADA from exceeding
the estimated cost of all such classes maintained.
6)Defines "adult" as a person 18 years of age or older for a
person who is not concurrently enrolled in a regular high
school program.
7)For the 2008-09 to 2014-15 fiscal years, authorizes recipients
of specified categorical program funds to use those funds for
any educational purpose.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, savings in excess of $26 from the elimination of the
specified courses and potentially significant up-front costs and
ongoing workload for the CDE and the chancellor's office to meet
the coordination and reporting requirements.
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COMMENTS : Background . Adult education is provided by a number
of delivery systems, including community colleges, public
libraries, nonprofit and faith-based organizations, prisons, and
COEs. In 2008-09, adult education programs enrolled 1.2 million
adult learners in almost 300 adult schools throughout
California. Prior to 2009-10, school districts' funding levels
were based on what they received in 1977-78 and grew by a cap of
2.5% from the previous year's funding level. The revenue limit
in 2007-08 for each unit of ADA (comprised of 525 hours of
accumulated seat time) was $2,645.30. The 2012-13 budget
allocated $635 million for adult education programs. Due to
budget problems, from the 2008-09 through 2014-15 fiscal years,
local educational agencies (LEAs) are allowed to use
approximately 40 categorical programs funds for any educational
purposes. According to the LAO, schools districts have diverted
between 50 to 60 percent of the adult education program funds
for other general fund uses.
Adult education schools offer the following ten programs:
1)Adult Basic Education;
2)English as a Second Language;
3)High School Diploma or Adult Secondary Education, including
General Education Development certification;
4)Citizenship Preparation;
5)Career Technical Education;
6)Adults with Disabilities;
7)Health and Safety;
8)Parent Education;
9)Home Economics; and,
10)Older Adult.
Purpose of the bill . According to the author's office, this
bill is based on a December 2012 report by the LAO titled,
"Restructuring California's Adult Education System." The author
states, "This bill begins the implementation of programmatic
changes necessary to better align the bifurcated system of
delivering adult education and non-credit adult education
courses, and to begin a shift towards a more rational and
coordinated funding approach for K-12 adult education and CCC
noncredit adult education programs in California."
The two largest providers of adult education are school
districts and the CCC, with, according to the LAO, the majority
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provided by the CCC (about 66% of full-time equivalent students
(525 hours of instructional hours) in 2009-10). The LAO argues
that the two systems have unclear lines of responsibility, an
overly broad mission, inconsistent state-level policies, lack of
coordination among providers, and limited student data, despite
serving the same student populations. The December report
suggests that the system is in need of comprehensive
restructuring.
This bill addresses the following:
Authorized classes . The LAO argues that while all classes have
value, adult education programs should focus on the knowledge
and skills needed to participate in civic life and workforce,
which includes the first six on the list above. This bill
eliminates the authorization to use adult education
apportionments to offer the following course and classes:
1)Parenting programs: According to the CDE, these are classes
that promote the healthy development of children, high-quality
family relationships, and children's success in school.
Classes in this program help individuals and families meet the
challenges of daily living through health and financial
literacy to improve the quality of home and family life.
Examples of classes offered include "Parenting the newborn-14
month old," and "Parenting an elementary school age child."
2)Older adult programs: According to the CDE, these are classes
designed specially to deal with issues related to aging.
These classes provide intellectual, physical, financial, and
social stimulation and resources addressing the demands of a
growing and active older population. Classes offered include
"Exercise and fitness", "Ceramics", and "Understanding and
using computers."
3)Home economics programs: These classes include "cooking",
"knitting", and "wood working".
4)Health and safety education: These classes include basic CPR
and first aid, aerobics, and weight management.
Several organizations oppose the elimination of some or all of
these courses, expressing concerns that their elimination will
decrease access. These organizations state that these classes
provide some adults a second chance and recent immigrants a
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first chance at a quality education. They also argue that
courses such as parenting education offer adults critical life
skills. Others, such as the San Francisco Advisory Council to
Aging and Adult Services, oppose the elimination of programs for
older adults. As part of a $4 million federal nutrition grant
received by the city that provides meal to senior and persons
with disabilities, participants are required to attend nutrition
courses. The City College of San Francisco provides weekly
classes in 26 congregate meal locations for older adults to meet
this requirement. In San Francisco, the school district chooses
not to operate an adult education program; the community college
district is the sole provider.
According to the CDE, in 2008-09, enrollment for these four
programs was approximately 255,000, representing 20.9% of the
total enrollment of adult education.
The bill expresses legislative intent that school districts and
CCC have the authority to offer programs and courses other than
those authorized for funding, provided that those programs and
courses are funded by other sources, including fees.
Assessment . K-12 adult schools and the CCC use assessments for
enrollment and placements. While the CCC is required to only
use assessment tools approved by the chancellor's office for
advisory purposes and not for placement of students in classes,
adult schools can use any assessments they choose and can use
them for minimum qualifications to enroll in a class or to
determine appropriate class placement. This bill directs the
CDE, in conjunction with the chancellor's office, to develop
assessment policy guidelines to be used by both systems for
purposes of placement in K-12 and CCC adult education courses.
The bill is silent on whether the assessment can be used to
determine whether a student meets minimum qualification for
enrollment.
Performance accountability. This bill requires the CDE and the
chancellor's office to develop guidelines and procedures for all
adult education funded providers for assessment, evaluation and
data collection to document participant outcomes and placement,
and other performance measures they deem appropriate, such as
whether the student received a secondary school diploma,
placement in a postsecondary educational institution, or became
employed.
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Concerns have been expressed that this provision is unnecessary
and duplicative. States that receive federal WIA Title II funds
are already required to collect performance data. The state
received $91 million in 2011-12 to provide adult elementary and
secondary education and English as a second language classes.
The CDE allocates its share of funding to providers based on
performance points.
The CCC already has a robust data collection system that was
augmented by the Student Success Scorecard released in April
this year. The scorecard was a recommendation of the Student
Success Task Force, enacted by SB 1143 (Liu), Chapter 409,
Statutes of 2010. The scorecard provides performance data that
includes completion and persistence rates that can be broken
down by student demographics.
The Committee may wish to consider requiring the CDE and the
chancellor's office to develop recommendations to submit to the
Legislature before requiring implementation of a performance
accountability system.
The bill requires all funded programs to annually submit
demographic and other student-level outcome information, but the
bill does not specify to whom the data is reported to. If the
Committee chooses to pass this bill, staff recommends an
amendment to clarify that the data is to be reported to the CDE
and the chancellor's office.
This bill also states legislative intent that beginning in
2015-16, base adult education funds and noncredit adult
education funds shall be allocated to providers on the basis of
a combination of enrollment and performance in courses. It may
be premature to make such a declaration before the CDE and the
chancellor's office develop and agree to a joint performance
accountability system. Staff recommends revising this provision
to strike the reference to 2015-16 and amend the provision to
declare the Legislature's intent to evaluate and consider
funding adult education programs based on enrollment and
performance in courses.
Teacher qualifications . K-12 adult school teachers are required
to have a teaching credential, while CCC instructors are
required to have a bachelor or master's degree depending on the
type of course taught. The LAO believes that adult education
instructors should be able to teach in either system. Requiring
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a teaching credential limits a CCC instructor's ability to teach
in K-12 adult schools; the LAO recommends eliminating the
requirement for adult school teachers to have a teaching
credential. This bill directs the CTC and the Academic Senate
for the CCC to review the requirements for noncredit adult
education and adult school instructors, and develop and submit
recommendations to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees
of the Legislature by July 1, 2014. The CTC is concerned that
the timeline may be too short. Staff recommends extending the
date of the required report.
Governor's proposals . In January, the Governor proposed in his
2013-14 budget shifting the coordination and administration of
all adult education programs to the CCC. The K-12 adult
education program would be eliminated, but CCC could contract
with school districts to provide instruction. Due to concerns
about the timing and structure of the proposal, the Governor's
may revision of the budget withdrew the proposal and instead
maintains the current system for two years while allocating $30
million for planning grants awarded to regional consortia
comprised of K-12 and CCC districts for the purpose of creating
plans to integrate existing programs and determine how best to
serve adult students within regions throughout the state. The
budget adopted by the Legislature reduced the planning grants to
$25 million and adopted trailer bill language in AB 86 (Budget
Committee), which is pending on the Governor's desk.
The trailer bill establishes the Adult Education Consortium
Program with the following features:
1)Eligibility is limited to consortiums consisting of at least
one community college district and at least one school
district within the boundaries of a community college
district. Consortia may include other entities providing
adult education courses, such as correctional facilities,
other local public entities and community-based organizations.
2)Planning grants must be used to create and implement a plan to
better provide adults in its region with all of the following:
a) Elementary and secondary basic skills, including classes
requires for a high school diploma or high school
equivalency certificate.
b) Classes and courses for immigrants eligible for
educational services in citizenship and English as a second
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language, and workforce preparation classes in basic
skills.
c) Education programs for adults with disabilities.
d) Short-term career technical education program with high
employment potential.
e) Programs for apprentices.
3)The regional consortium plan shall include an evaluation of
existing levels and types of adult education programs in the
region, current needs, how the parties that make up the
consortium will integrate their programs to create seamless
transitions into postsecondary education or the workforce,
plans to address gaps identified in the current offerings and
needs, plans to employ approaches to accelerate a student's
programs toward his or her academic or career goals, plans to
collaborate in the provision of ongoing professional
development opportunities, and plans to leverage existing
regional structures, including local workforce investment
areas.
The chancellor and the CDE shall submit a joint status report by
March 1, 2014 and a final report by March 1, 2015. The intent
of the Governor is to provide some level of additional funding
($500 million has been proposed) to provide adult education
services through the regional consortia beginning in 2015-16.
The courses allowed to be provided through the consortia are
consistent with the intent of this bill. School districts and
CCC can continue to offer their existing adult education
programs separate from the regional consortia. Because
categorical funds are eliminated through the Local Control
Funding Formula, school districts choosing to continue their
adult education programs would do so using their base funds.
CCC may continue to earn revenue limit funding. However, under
this bill, the CCC and school districts may not offer the four
courses eliminated by this bill. In order to give districts
time to plan and to better coordinate with the Consortium
Program, staff recommends delaying the elimination of the four
courses by two years.
Technical amendment : The provisions relating to assessments and
performance accountability in Section 1 of the bill were
incorporated in the section of the Education Code establishing
the CDE and specifying the duties of the CDE. Staff recommends
moving these provisions to the adult education sections of the
law.
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Arguments in support . The California Council for Adult
Education and the California Adult Education Administrators
Association state, "Over a hundred and fifty years after its
founding and after years of financial distress, adult education
needs reforming - a notion that has been echoed by the
California Department of Education's Strategic Plan, Legislative
Analyst's Office and now the Governor. Importantly, the LAO and
CDE do not call for dismantling adult education. On the
contrary, both entities acknowledge the important and valuable
programs that K-12 based adult education provides to its
students and the broader community."
Arguments in opposition . The California Federation of Teachers
(CFT) states, "CFT understands your goal is to strengthen adult
education as the state emerges from the past few years of budget
cuts, which in combination with categorical flexibility,
resulted in the decimation of adult education offerings by too
many K-12 school districts. This is a goal we share. Two
sections of [the] bill - those dealing with collaboration
between the community college and K-12 systems on performance
assessments and reciprocal instructor qualifications - create
opportunities for greater coordination and efficiency between
segments?Unfortunately, the remaining provisions in SB 173 will
decrease access for adult learners in California." CFT, along
with a number of other groups, have an "oppose unless amended"
position. The requested amendments restore the elimination of
the four courses and eliminate the performance accountability
provision.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Association of California School Administrators
California Adult Education Administrators Association
California Council for Adult Education
Opposition
Association of Continuing and Community Education
California Community College League of California
California Federation of Teachers
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
San Diego Community College District
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Los Rios Community College District
San Francisco Advisory Council to Aging and Adult Services
South Orange County Community College District
Yosemite Community College District
Many individuals
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087