BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1196
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Date of Hearing: June 24, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Das Williams, Chair
SB 1196 (Liu) - As Amended: May 25, 2014
SENATE VOTE : 36-0
SUBJECT : Public postsecondary education: state goals.
SUMMARY : Establishes a process for setting postsecondary
educational attainment goals and requires that these goals guide
the development of five-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. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the Governor, or designee, in consultation with
private industry, policy research entities, and any other
entity the Governor deems appropriate, to identify and
establish specific educational attainment goals for the
segments of postsecondary education in the state and a target
date for these segments to achieve these goals.
2)Establishes intent that the goals established be challenging
and quantifiable; address achievement gaps for
underrepresented populations; increase and align the
educational attainment of California's adult population to the
workforce and economic needs of the state; be guided by
statewide goals; and guide the development of the five-year
plans adopted pursuant to existing requirements.
3)Requires the CSU Trustees, CCC Board of Governors and, as a
condition of receiving a General Fund appropriation from the
state, the UC Regents to each develop and adopt a five-year
plan for making progress toward established statewide goals.
4)Requires the Governor, or designee, to convene a technical
working group to advise in the development of the five-year
plans required and provides that the technical working group
shall include all of the following:
a) One representative from each of the segments of public
postsecondary education;
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b) One representative from the Department of Finance;
c) At least one, but no more than three, members with
expertise in statewide accountability efforts; and,
d) A representative of the Legislative Analyst's Office.
5)Requires the technical working group to identify and define
specific metrics for measuring performance and progress
towards satisfying the statewide goals; requires the metrics
to include performance measures for the awarding degrees and
graduating students with job skills that align with
California's workforce and economic needs; and requires a
coordinated and centralized process for collecting and
reporting information required in the plans.
6)Requires the five-year plans to include, but not be limited
to, specific objectives for satisfying the statewide
attainment goals and progress on each of the performance
measures established for their segments, respectively,
commencing with the 2015-16 fiscal year.
7)Requires, in developing and adopting their respective
five-year plans UC, CSU and CCC to establish a process for
setting their respective attainment goals and performance
targets at a regional and campus level and to collaborate
across their respective segments in order to set attainment
goals and performance targets that align with statewide and
regional needs.
8)Requires UC, CSU and CCC to annually report to the Legislature
on each of their five-year plans and progress toward both
statewide goals and their respective objectives as part of the
state budget process. Sunsets this reporting requirement on
January 1, 2021.
EXISTING LAW
1)Outlines the following goals for guiding budget and policy
decisions in higher education:
a) Improved student success, to include, but not be limited
to, greater participation by demographic groups that have
participated at lower rates, greater completion by all
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students and improved outcomes for graduates.
b) Better alignment of degrees and credentials awarded with
the state's economic, workforce and civic needs.
c) Effective and efficient use of resources in order to
increase high-quality postsecondary educational outcomes
and maintain affordability.
2)Declares intent that appropriate metrics be identified,
defined, and formally adopted to monitor progress toward the
achievement of the state's goals, and declares 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee: 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; approximately $800,000 in costs to UC 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; significant costs
to CSU, likely in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, to
conduct similar work to UC; significant costs to CCC,
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.
COMMENTS : Background . The Legislature has been considering
statewide higher education goals and objectives for over a
decade; beginning with a study commissioned by the Senate in
2002 that served as the basis for several legislative efforts.
As part of its recent reports on higher education oversight, the
LAO has recommended that the Legislature and the Administration
establish a clear public agenda for higher education, including
specific and focused statewide goals that could serve as the
framework for an accountability system designed to align higher
education performance with the state's needs.
The 2013-14 Budget Act education trailer bill (AB 94) required
CSU and UC to report annually on specified performance measures,
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in order to inform budget and policy decisions and promote
effective and efficient use of resources. As heard by this
committee, SB 195 (Liu), Chapter 367, Statutes of 2013,
attempted to expand upon the 2013-14 Budget Act requirements by
establishing a working group to review and improve upon reported
elements, to include recommendations for CCC and private college
reporting and outcome measures, and to make recommendations for
ongoing evaluation of progress toward achieving outlined goals.
In response to requests from the Governor's Office, SB 195 was
subsequently amended to remove all provisions except the
establishment of general statewide goals for higher education,
and intent to identify specific metrics for measuring progress
toward statewide goals. Committee staff understands that the
Governor's Office committed to the author to convene stakeholder
meetings to evaluate the development of metrics for purposes of
monitoring progress toward meeting outlined goals. Committee
staff understands that two stakeholder meetings were held in the
fall of 2013.
The 2014-15 Budget Act (SB 852) requires UC and CSU to approve
three-year "sustainability plans" that use projections of
funding provided by the Department of Finance to establish
projections of resident and non-resident enrollment and the
university's goals for the performance measures that are
required to be adopted pursuant to AB 94. UC and CSU are
required to report these plans by November 30, 2014.
Additionally, CCCs are required, pursuant to the 2014-15 Budget
Act higher education trailer bill (SB 860), to establish and
report, as a condition of receipt of Student Success Funds, on
Student Equity Plans, the plans are designed to ensure equal
educational opportunities and to promote student success for all
students.
Purpose of this bill . According to the author, this bill is
intended to propose a more collaborative process that engages
the Legislature, the public postsecondary education segments and
the Administration in the development of the sustainability
plans adopted in the 2014-15 Budget Act. This bill establishes
a process that includes all three entities to ensure that all
participate in the development of the sustainability plans
envisioned by the Governor. This bill acknowledges that the
segments of postsecondary education have a responsibility to
inform the Legislature and Administration of their goals and
targets and what they plan to accomplish, but that the State
also has a responsibility to be clear about its needs and
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expectations if we are to make progress towards our statewide
goals.
Issues to consider . The author and committee may wish to
consider the following:
1)Statewide goal setting . This bill requires the Governor, or
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 segments of postsecondary education and a target
date for these segments to achieve these goals.
The author may wish to require the Governor, or designee, to
also consult with representatives from the segments of
postsecondary education in setting goals and targets.
2)Duplicative reporting . This bill requires the segments to
develop five-year plans outlining objectives for satisfying
the statewide attainment goals. As previously outlined, the
2014-15 Budget Act contained a requirement for CSU and UC to
report three-year "sustainability plans" that include
reporting on progress toward goals for performance measures.
An important difference between the reporting required in this
bill and that established in the Budget Act is the role of the
technical working group in advising of the development of the
plans and the requirement that the plans be linked to overall
statewide postsecondary goals. However, the financial and
resource impact on the segments for the creation of two
reports should be considered.
The author may wish to require (1) the specific reporting
requirement contained in this bill to be, to the extent
feasible, consolidated with the sustainability plans required
of CSU and UC, and the Student Equity Plans required of CCC,
pursuant to the 2014-15 Budget Act, and (2) the metrics for
measuring performance to be, to the extent feasible,
consolidated with the UC and CSU reported elements required
pursuant to the 2013-14 Budget Act.
3)Independent and private postsecondary institutions . The goals
and intent for metrics established pursuant to SB 195 (Liu,
2014) included all segments of higher education, including
independent institutions and private postsecondary
institutions. This bill requires representation from all
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segments of higher education, but reporting and goal setting
is only specifically required of CCC, CSU and UC. As
identified in SB 195, independent and private institutions
play an important role in meeting the state's educational
needs. Further, many independent and private postsecondary
educational institutions receive significant public funds
(state and federal) through participation in student aid
programs.
The author may wish to consider requiring the task force to
make recommendations regarding private institutions,
particularly those receiving public funds through
participation in student aid programs, reporting on progress
toward achieving state goals, similar to the reporting
required of the public segments.
4)Legislative task force representation . This bill establishes
the working group membership to consist of segmental
representatives, Department of Finance, the Legislative
Analyst's Office, and members with expertise in
accountability.
To ensure Legislative representation, the author may wish to
establish the chairs of the appropriate Legislative policy
committee, or their designees, as members of the working
group. Additionally, the author may wish to provide the
Governor the authority to add to the task force
representation, as appropriate.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
Community College League of California
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
Kern Community College District
Los Rios Community College District
South Orange County Community College District
Yuba Community College District
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Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960