BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 1068 (Beall) - Community colleges: Accreditation
Amended: May 7, 2014 Policy Vote: Education 9-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 19, 2014 Consultant: Jacqueline
Wong-Hernandez
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 1068 requires the Board of Governors (BOG) of
the California Community Colleges (CCC), by January 1, 2016, to
report on the feasibility of creating an independent accrediting
agency to accredit the CCCs and other 2-year private
postsecondary educational institutions, and to make
recommendations relative to CCC accreditation.
Fiscal Impact:
Report: $400,000 - $550,000 (General Fund) in costs to the
CCC Chancellor's office to research the feasibility of
creating an independent accrediting agency in California, to
make recommendations on the required topics (to be voted on
by the BOG), and to create the required report.
Recommendations: To the extent that the BOG recommends
changes to the CCC accreditation agency and process, there
will be cost pressure to make those changes. If the BOG
determines it is "feasible" to create an independent
accrediting agency, there may be substantial cost pressure
to actually create that agency.
Background: Accreditation is a voluntary, non-governmental peer
review process used to determine academic quality. Accrediting
agencies are private organizations that establish operating
standards for educational or professional institutions and
programs, determine the extent to which the standards are met,
and publicly announce their findings. Under federal law, the
U.S. Department of Education establishes the general standards
for accreditation agencies and is required to publish a list of
recognized accrediting agencies that are deemed reliable
authorities on the quality of education provided by their
accredited institutions.
SB 1068 (Beall)
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Accreditation is required to receive state appropriations and to
be eligible for federal and state financial aid programs.
Existing law confers upon the BOG the ability to prescribe
minimum standards for the formation and operation of CCCs and to
exercise general supervision over the CCCs. (Education Code �
66700 and � 70901)
The BOG has adopted regulations to require each CCC to be an
accredited institution, with the Accrediting Commission for
Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) determining accreditation.
Proposed Law: SB 1068 requires the BOG, by January 1, 2016, to
report on the feasibility of creating an independent accrediting
agency to accredit the CCCs and other 2-year private
postsecondary educational institutions for the purposes of
complying with federal law, and state authorized financial aid.
This bill requires the BOG, based on a thorough examination of
community college accreditation nationwide, to make a
recommendation as to whether the state would be best served by
using a specified accrediting agency for all public
postsecondary educational institutions, and to makes
recommendations regarding the potential for using multiple
accrediting agencies, as specified.
Staff Comments: The report required by this bill would
necessitate extensive research and analysis, to determine the
"feasibility" of creating a new agency, as specified, and to
consider the costs, benefits, issues, procedures, and questions
that would go into making the specified recommendations adopted
by the BOG. Creating such a report would require a task force,
likely involving administrators at the state and district level,
faculty, staff, student representatives, and accreditation
experts.
Staffing the task force would fall to the Chancellor's office,
which anticipates requiring 3 PYs, in addition to a significant
workload increase for senior staff (including the Chancellor of
the CCC) to ensure the success of a multi-month task force. The
Chancellor's office estimates the cost of the 3 PYs to be
approximately $400,000. If an outside consultant was required to
write the report and/or take a leadership role in facilitating
the task force, a contract could cost an additional $100,000 -
$150,000.
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The largest cost of this bill would likely result from the
actual recommendations, to the extent that they differ from the
current process and potentially advocate for creating a new
state body. There will be cost pressure to make those changes,
particularly considering the ongoing controversy between (and
state involvement in) the San Francisco Community College
District and the ACCJC.