Amended in Assembly June 30, 2014

Amended in Assembly June 19, 2014

Amended in Senate April 10, 2014

Senate Bill No. 1391

Introduced by Senators Hancock and Wyland

(Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Bonta and Chávez)

February 21, 2014

An act to amend Section 84810.5 of, and to add Section 84810.7 to, the Education Code, relating to community colleges, and making an appropriation therefor.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1391, as amended, Hancock. Community colleges: inmate education programs: computation of apportionments.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Existing law requires the board of governors to appoint a chief executive officer, to be known as the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges.

Existing law provides that, notwithstanding open course provisions in statute or regulations of the board of governors, the governing board of a community college district that provides classes for inmates of certain facilities may include the units of full-time equivalent students generated in those classes for purposes of state apportionments.

This bill would instead waive the open course provisions in statute or regulations of the board of governors for any governing board of a community college district that provides classes for inmates of those facilities and state correctional facilities, and would authorize the board of governors to include the units of full-time equivalent students generated in those classes for purposes of state apportionments.

Existing law provides for the method of computing apportionments for purposes of these inmate education programs.

This bill would make revisions to that method of computation.

The bill would prohibit a community college district from claiming, for purposes of apportionments, any class for which a district receives full compensation for its direct education costs for the conduct of the class from any public or private agency, individual, or group of individuals, or any class offered pursuant to a contract or instructional agreement entered into between the district and a public or private agency, individual, or group of individuals that has received from another source full compensation for the costs the district incurs under that contract or instructional agreement, as prescribed.

This bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, in collaboration with the chancellor, to establish the Innovative Career Technical Education Grant Program to provide grants begin insert to community colleges to offer career technical education and workforce development programs end insert for inmates in state correctional facilities to begin delete attend career technical education community college classes to be end delete begin insert supplement, but not duplicate or supplant, adult education courses provided by the Office of Correctional Education of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation end insert offered at these facilities. The bill would require that the general educational and workforce development goals and details regarding the administration of the grant program be included in an interagency agreement entered between the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the chancellor’s office. The bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to develop, in collaboration with the chancellor’s office, metrics for evaluations of the efficacy and success of the grant program, and require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to report findings from conducting these evaluations to the Legislature and the Governor, as specified. The bill would specify details of the career technical education programs to be developed and provided by community colleges with these grants.

This bill would appropriate $2,000,000, as scheduled, from the Recidivism Reduction Fund to the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges for the creation and administration of, as well as the allocation of awards under, Innovative Career Technical Education grant programs for the 2014-15 fiscal year, as specified. This bill would provide for the return of residual funds, as defined, not retained for specified additional grants by the chancellor, to the Recidivism Reduction Fund. The bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, in consultation with the chancellor, to develop administrative guidelines for community college education programs operating in prison facilities, as specified, on or before July 1, 2015.

This bill would require the Legislative Analyst’s Office to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the Innovative Career Technical Education grant programs and other inmate education programs for purposes of making informed policy decisions and for cost-benefit analysis of the investments made in inmate education, begin insert as specified, end insert and submit this evaluation to the Governor and the Legislature on or before January 1, 2020.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 84810.5 of the Education Code is
amended to read:

84810.5.  

(a) (1) Open course provisions in statute or
regulations of the board of governors shall be waived for any
governing board of a community college district that provides
classes for inmates of any city, county, or city and county jail, road
camp, farm for adults, or state or federal correctional facility. This
section does not authorize the waiver of open course provisions
in any context or situation other than those that are specifically
authorized by this section. Subject to limitations set forth in
subdivision (b), the board of governors may include the units of
full-time equivalent students (FTES) generated in those classes
for purposes of state apportionments.

(2) The attendance hours generated by credit courses shall be
funded at the marginal credit rate determined pursuant to paragraph
(2) of subdivision (d) of Section 84750.5. The attendance hours
generated by noncredit courses shall be funded at the noncredit
rate.

(b) (1) A community college district shall not claim, for
purposes of state apportionments under this section, any class to
which either of the following applies:

(A) The district receives full compensation for its direct
education costs for the conduct of the class from any public or
private agency, individual, or group of individuals.

(B) The district has a contract or instructional agreement, or
both, for the conduct of the class with a public or private agency,
individual, or group of individuals that has received from another
source full compensation for the costs the district incurs under that
contract or instructional agreement.

(2) In reporting a claim for apportionment to the Chancellor of
the California Community Colleges under this section, the district
shall report any partial compensation it receives from the sources
described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1) during
the period for which the claim is made. The chancellor shall
subtract the amount of any partial compensation received from the
total apportionment to be paid.

(c) This section does not provide a source of funds to shift,
supplant, or reduce the costs incurred by the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation in providing inmate education
programs.

SEC. 2.  

Section 84810.7 is added to the Education Code, to
read:

84810.7.  

(a) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
shall, in collaboration with the Chancellor of the California
Community Colleges establish the Innovative Career Technical
Education Grant Program.

(b) The general educational and workforce development goals
and details regarding the administration of the Innovative Career
Technical Education Grant Program shall be included in an
interagency agreement entered between the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Office of the Chancellor
of the California Community Colleges. The Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation shall, in collaboration with the
Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges
develop metrics for evaluations of the efficacy and success of the
grant program. Beginning in July of 2017, and every three years
thereafter, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall
report findings from conducting these evaluations to the Legislature
and the Governor.

(c) Grants shall be awarded to community colleges to offer
career technical education and workforce development programs
for inmates in state correctional facilities begin insert to supplement, but not
to duplicate or supplant, any adult education course offered at
that facility by the Office of Correctional Education of the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation end insert . The grants begin delete shall end delete
begin insert may end insert include funds for the equipment and instructional materials begin insert ,
including improvements to existing equipment and facilities, end insert
necessary for the instruction of these career technical education
and workforce development programs. begin insert Equipment and instructional
materials purchased with grant funds shall be used to provide
career technical education and workforce development programs
for inmates in state correctional facilities. end insert

(d) Innovative career technical education programs developed
and provided by community colleges pursuant to this section shall
provide all of the following:

(1) Career technical education and experiential educational
courses and training necessary to obtain high skill, high pay
employment, or to enter apprenticeship programs upon release
from prison.

(2) Sequences of courses leading to industry, business, or state
certification.

(3) Community college courses that offer units transferable
begin insert within the California Community Colleges system and end insert to the
University of California and the California State University begin insert , to the
extent that the campuses offer related programs end insert .

(4) Information on reentry programs with job search assistance,
and, where possible, information about employers with a record
of hiring participants of the program with similar skills education
upon their release from prison.

(5) If applicable, information about preapprentice and
state-certified apprenticeship programs with a record of hiring
participants of the program with similar skills education upon their
release from prison.

(e) (1) (A) The sum of two million dollars ($2,000,000) is
hereby appropriated from the Recidivism Reduction Fund to the
Chancellor of the California Community Colleges for Innovative
Career Technical Education grant programs for the 2014-15 fiscal
year. Of the amount appropriated pursuant to this subdivision:

(i) Three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) shall be used to
identify the components essential for the creation of innovative
career technical education programs, to develop the metrics upon
which programs are to be assessed, and to administer the planning
grant application and award process.

(ii) One million seven hundred thousand dollars ($1,700,000)
shall be used for up to 20 competitive planning grants of up to one
hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) each for community colleges
in the 2014-15 fiscal year.

(B) The innovative career technical education programs
developed under this section shall be consistent with the
performance metrics, developed under this subdivision, upon which
these programs will be assessed. These programs shall also consider
the availability of existing equipment and resources of the partner
prisons upon which to build courses. Planning grant funds may
also be used for the purchase of instructional materials and
equipment in preparation for the receipt of implementation grants
in the 2015-16 fiscal year.

(2) In any fiscal year, up to five hundred thousand dollars
($500,000) of residual funds may be retained by the chancellor’s
office to supplement implementation grant funds in subsequent
fiscal years by making funds available for additional instructional
materials and equipment to the grantees on a competitive basis.
Any residual funds remaining after five hundred thousand dollars
($500,000) have been allocated pursuant to this paragraph in any
fiscal year shall be returned to the Recidivism Reduction Fund.
As used in this section, “residual funds” means any unencumbered
funds appropriated under this subdivision for a fiscal year that
remain after all of the grants awarded for that fiscal year have been
funded.

(3) From funds provided in the annual Budget Act for the
2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20 fiscal years,
there shall be funded up to 20 innovative career technical education
implementation grants per fiscal year.

(4) From funds not expended between the commencement of
the 2014-15 fiscal year and the end of the 2019-20 fiscal year, an
amount not to exceed one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000)
per fiscal year may be used by the Chancellor of the Community
Colleges, for the identification of best practices and the ongoing
administration and evaluation of the grant programs.

(f) On or before July 1, 2015, the Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation, in consultation with the Chancellor of the
California Community Colleges, shall develop administrative
guidelines for community college education programs operating
in prison begin delete facilities, including, end delete begin insert facilities that include, end insert but begin insert are end insert not
necessarily limited to, all of the following:

(1) Academic and education level attainment priorities for
inmate participation in classes.

(2) Conditions for community college faculty, staff, and
volunteers when serving in the facilities.

(3) Faculty-to-inmate ratios for various types of educational
programs.

(4) Time reduction credits that may be earned by prisoners for
their participation in programs.

(5) Suspension of courses during lockdowns.

(6) Inmate participation preferences which may ensure greater
success in obtaining industry certifications and employability upon
release.

(7) Other guidelines as deemed appropriate.

(8) Authorized equipment and tools allowed in the facility.

begin insert

(9) Coordination with the Office of Correctional Education of
the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation regarding
program offerings.

end insert

(g) The Legislative Analyst’s Office shall conduct a
comprehensive evaluation of the Innovative Career Technical
Education grant programs and other inmate education programs
for purposes of making informed policy decisions and for
cost-benefit analysis of the investments made in inmate education.
begin insert The analysis shall include a review of coordination efforts between
community colleges and the Office of Correctional Education of
the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and a discussion
of whether existing programs were supplanted by community
college offerings. end insert The evaluation shall be submitted to the Governor
and to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2020, in compliance
with Section 9795 of the Government Code.