BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 1196 (Liu) - Public Postsecondary Education: State Goals
Amended: May 7, 2014 Policy Vote: Education 9-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 23, 2014 Consultant: Jacqueline
Wong-Hernandez
SUSPENSE FILE.
Bill Summary: SB 1196 establishes a process for setting specific
educational attainment goals for the state's postsecondary
education segments and requires that these goals guide the
development of 5-year plans by the California Community Colleges
(CCC), the California State University (CSU), and the University
of California (UC) for making progress toward the state's goals
to; improve access, equity and success, better align with
workforce and economic needs, and use resources effectively and
efficiently while maintaining quality .
Fiscal Impact:
Work group: Potentially significant costs to the Governor's
designee, to consult with private industry and policy
research entities to establish state goals, and to convene
the required work group.
UC: Approximately $800,000 in costs to participate in the
intensive work group, to develop a 5-year plan, collaborate
with the other segments, establish a process at the campus
and regional levels for achieving goals, and annually report
on progress toward attaining the goals.
CSU: Significant costs, likely in the hundreds of thousands
of dollars, to conduct similar work to UC.
CCC: Significant costs, potentially in the hundreds of
thousands of dollars, but costs would depend on the extent
to which the work would be duplicative of work already
completed by the Student Success Task Force.
Background: Existing law outlines the following goals for
guiding budget and policy decisions in higher education:
Improved student success, to include, but not be limited
to, greater participation by demographic groups that have
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participated at lower rates, greater completion by all
students and improved outcomes for graduates.
Better alignment of degrees and credentials awarded with
the state's economic, workforce and civic needs.
Effective and efficient use of resources in order to
increase high-quality postsecondary educational outcomes
and maintain affordability. (Education Code � 66010.91)
Existing law also declares the Legislature's intent that
appropriate metrics be identified, defined, and formally adopted
to monitor progress toward the achievement of the state's goals.
In addition, current law declares the intent that the metrics be
used to ensure the effective and efficient use of state
resources available to postsecondary education, and that
progress on the adopted metrics be reported and considered as
part of the state's annual budget process. (EC 66010.93)
Proposed Law: SB 1196 establishes a process for setting specific
educational attainment goals for California's postsecondary
education segments. This bill requires the Governor, or his
designee, to consult with private industry, policy research
entities, and any other entity the Governor deems appropriate,
to identify and establish specific educational attainment goals
for the state and a target date for their achievement.
This bill declares the Legislature's intent that the attainment
goals: a) be challenging and quantifiable; b) address
achievement gaps for underrepresented populations; c) increase
and align the educational level of California's adult population
to address the state's economic and workforce needs; d) be
guided by the statewide goals currently in statute; and, e)
guide the content of the plans to be developed by the segments
for meeting those goals.
This bill requires the CSU Trustees, the CCC Board of Governors,
and the UC Regents to each develop and adopt a 5-year plan for
making progress toward meeting the statewide goals. It also
requires a designee of the Governor to convene a technical
working group, with specified responsibilities, to advise in the
development of the plan.
The plans must include, but not be limited to, specific
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objectives for meeting the state's attainment goals and their
progress in each of the performance measures established for
their respective segments. Each of the segments, in developing
their plans, must: 1) establish a process for setting attainment
goals and performance targets at a regional and campus level;
and, 2) collaborate to establish attainment goals and
performance targets based upon both statewide and regional
needs.
Related Legislation: SB 721 (Lowenthal) 2011 would have
established specified goals to guide budget and policy decisions
regarding postsecondary education and required the Legislative
Analyst's Office (LAO) to convene a working group to develop
metrics to measure progress in meeting the goals. It also
required the LAO to annually and publicly report statewide
performance on each of the measures adopted by the Legislature,
as part of the budget process. That bill was vetoed by Governor
Brown, with the following message:
This bill sets three goals for our colleges and postsecondary
institutions and orders the Legislative Analyst to create a
committee to establish metrics that measure progress towards
these goals. The bill also requires annual reports.
Questions about who should measure, what to measure and how
to measure what is learned in college are way too important
to be delegated to the Legislative Analyst.
Staff Comments: This bill will result in significant costs to
each of the segments to implement the required process for
setting specific segment goals within the state's established
postsecondary goals, as well as to develop 5-year plans to
achieve those goals. The most substantial costs, however, will
likely be incurred by the activities required to carry out the
plans and meet the identified goals.
This bill declares the Legislature's intent that the attainment
goals, among other things, be challenging and quantifiable,
address achievement gaps for underrepresented populations, and
increase and align the educational level of California's adult
population to address the state's economic and workforce needs.
This bill's requirement of a plan to create and meet the goals,
and to annually report on progress toward that end will likely
drive substantial new costs to each of the segments to carry out
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the tasks necessary to do so.