Amended in Senate May 27, 2014

Senate Bill No. 1425

Introduced by Senator Block

February 21, 2014

An act to add Article 1.7 (commencing with Section 78025) to Chapter 1 of Part 48 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education Code, relating to community colleges.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1425, as amended, Block. Community colleges: retroactive awarding of degrees.

(1) Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of the public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, and authorizes those districts to provide instruction at community college campuses.

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This bill, prior to the beginning of the spring term of each academic year, and in accord with a specified timetable, would require each community college district with a specified Internet-accessible automatic degree audit system in place to conduct a one-time inquiry as the system is put in place. That inquiry would seek to identify the students who have completed the required units to receive a degree or certificate, or who have completed the transfer requirements of the California State University or the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum, in up to 12 of the highest demand majors, as determined by each community college district, during the previous 2 academic years.

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The bill would require each affected community college campus to notify the students identified under the bill as eligible to receive a degree or certificate that they are eligible for the degree or certificate. The bill would provide that these students would have the choice of opting out or receiving the degree or certificate.

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The bill would require the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to begin delete develop or end delete identify begin insert and procure end insert a commercially available utility to conduct systemwide automatic degree audits that would enable community college student services staff to monitor student progress toward completion of a certificate or degree, or the credits required to meet the transfer requirements of the California State University or the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum. begin insert The bill would require the chancellor’s office to oversee the implementation of the bill in accordance with a timetable that would require all campuses of the California Community Colleges to have the automatic degree audit system in place by December 31, 2017, as specified. end insert

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The bill would require each community college campus, before the beginning of an academic year, to conduct an inquiry, using the online degree audit system that would be created under the bill, to identify the students or former students who are within 12 semester units or 18 quarter units of completing the requirements for a certificate, degree, or transfer, as prescribed. The bill would require community college campus staff to notify those students or former students of the courses needed to complete those requirements.

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The bill would require that certificates or degrees be awarded retroactively to students or former students who are found, pursuant to an audit of credits earned in the 5 academic years immediately preceding the 2015-16 academic year, to have met requirements for those certificates or degrees, if the students choose to receive them.

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The bill would require the begin delete chancellor end delete begin insert Legislative Analyst’s Office end insert to submit a report to the Legislature and the Governor on the progress of the implementation of the retroactive degree awarding and online degree audit system on or before December 31, 2017, and on or before December 31 begin delete of each year end delete begin insert every 3 years end insert thereafter.

This bill would not be operative until the board of governors certifies that sufficient funds have been received from state, federal, or private sources to implement the online degree audit system that would be created under the bill.

Because this bill would impose new duties on community college districts, it would constitute a state-mandated local program.

(2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.

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

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

SECTION 1.  

(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(1) California is falling behind in producing the necessary
postsecondary education to ensure our state’s prosperity and
opportunities for individuals in the 21st century.

(2) California faces a degree and certificate gap, and is projected
to need one million more workers with bachelor’s degrees and an
additional 1.3 million workers with associate degrees or certificates
by 2025. Today, one in every four jobs requires at least an associate
degree.

(3) In the near future, one in every three jobs will require at
least an associate degree. Failure to make significant improvements
in degree completion will result in a less productive economy,
lower incomes for residents, less tax revenue for the state, and
more dependence on social services. begin delete Awarding retroactive associate
degrees to the approximately 250,000 students whose records
qualify them for degrees but who never received those degrees,
and encouraging other students to return to school by making them
aware that they are close to completing their associate degree, will
mitigate this projected degree shortage. end delete

(4) The California Community Colleges are the state’s largest
workforce provider, offering associate degrees and short-term job
training certificates in more than 175 different fields.

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(5) In community colleges across the country, approximately
16 percent of the students in each cohort have either qualified for
a degree but never received it, or are within 12 semester units of
an associate degree and have left the system. This percentage
represents approximately 250,000 students in the California
Community Colleges system.

(6)

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begin insert ( end insert begin insert 5) end insert  Meeting the current and future need for higher education
requires that postsecondary institutions improve their success rates
with current students and attract, and graduate, individuals from
groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in
postsecondary education.

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(7)

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begin insert ( end insert begin insert 6) end insert  Degree audit systems efficiently support student persistence
and success efforts, and thereby save money for the institutions in
the longer term. This will be especially true of a degree audit
system that is centralized at the Chancellor’s Office of the
California Community Colleges and paired with the online
educational planner that is being developed as part of the
Seymour-Campbell Student Success Act of 2012.

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(8)

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begin insert ( end insert begin insert 7) end insert  In California, begin delete only about one-third end delete begin insert less than one-fifth end insert of
community colleges have online degree audit systems that can be
used to inform their students about their progress, leaving the
remainder of the state’s 112 community colleges without a
mechanism to identify already earned degrees.

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(9)

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begin insert ( end insert begin insert 8) end insert  As movement toward performance-based budgeting
continues, retroactive degree awarding and degree audit systems
better position an institution to improve student outcomes.

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(10)

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begin insert ( end insert begin insert 9) end insert  Earning a certificate or degree from a community college
doubles an individual’s chance of obtaining a job. At a time when
unemployment rates are nearly 9 percent, certificates and degrees
are all the more valuable.

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(11)

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begin insert (1 end insert begin insert 0) end insert  Earning a degree or certificate from a California community
college, on average, nearly doubles an individual’s earnings within
three years, from $25,600 to $45,571.

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(12)

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begin insert (1 end insert begin insert 1) end insert  A national effort, Project Win-Win, is tackling this issue
in nine other states and is showing promising results. This project
introduces degree audit systems at colleges to accomplish begin delete all end delete begin insert both end insert
of the following:

(A) Award degrees retroactively.

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(B) Identify and bring back students who are marginally short
of an associate degree to complete it.

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(C)

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begin insert ( end insert begin insert B) end insert  Ensure that, moving forward, students have real-time
information about their progress toward obtaining a degree.

(b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to do all of the
following:

(1) Build on national and local efforts to identify current or
former students who are eligible begin delete or nearly eligible end delete to obtain their
certificate or degree begin delete , or to attain the necessary credits for transfer,
and notify those students, as appropriate end delete .

(2) Award degrees and certificates retroactively to those students
who have completed degree or certificate requirements.

(3) Establish a central auditing system at the California
Community Colleges that enables individual community colleges
to audit student records, identify the students who are eligible begin delete or
nearly eligible end delete for a certificate or degree, and notify these students
of this valuable information.

SEC. 2.  

Article 1.7 (commencing with Section 78025) is added
to Chapter 1 of Part 48 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education
Code, to read:

 

Article 1.7.  Retroactive Awarding of Degrees

 

78025.  

(a) The board of governors shall require all community
colleges to award degrees retroactively in accordance with this
article.

(b) Prior to the beginning of the spring term of begin insert the academic
year, and commencing with end insert the 2015-16 academic year begin insert for the
first 28 campuses end insert , each community college begin delete shall perform an end delete begin insert district
shall perform a one-time end insert inquiry begin insert as the automatic degree audit
system required by this article is put in place at each campus,
consistent with the timetable prescribed in Section 78026, end insert to
identify the students who have completed the semester or quarter
begin delete required end delete units begin insert required end insert to receive a begin delete degree, end delete begin insert degree or end insert certificate,
or begin insert who have completed end insert the California State University (CSU) or
the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum
(IGETC) transfer requirements begin insert in up to 12 of the highest demand
majors, as determined by each community college district, end insert during
the previous begin delete five end delete begin insert two end insert academic years.

(c) A community college campus shall notify those students
identified pursuant to subdivision (b) begin insert as eligible to receive a degree
or certificate end insert that they are eligible to receive begin delete a end delete begin insert the end insert degree or
certificate. Those students shall have the choice to opt out or to
receive the degree or certificate.

78026.  

(a) The Chancellor of the California Community
Colleges shall begin delete develop or end delete identify a commercially available utility
to conduct systemwide automatic degree audits for these begin delete purposes.

The system shall satisfy all of the following conditions: end delete begin insert purposes,
and procure that utility in accordance with the relevant provisions
of the State Contract Act (Chapter 1 (commencing with Section
10100) of Part 2 of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code). Once
this utility is procured, the chancellor’s office shall oversee the
implementation of this article in accordance with the following
timetable: end insert

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(1)  At least 28 campuses of the California Community Colleges
shall have the automatic degree audit system in place by December
31, 2015.

end insert begin insert

(2) At least 56 campuses of the California Community Colleges
shall have the automatic degree audit system in place by December
31, 2016.

end insert begin insert

(3) All campuses of the California Community Colleges shall
have the automatic degree audit system in place by December 31,
2017.

end insert begin insert

(b) The automatic degree audit system procured under this
section shall satisfy all of the following conditions:

end insert

(1) It shall comply with all pertinent privacy and security
considerations and requirements.

(2) It shall be centrally begin delete housed at end delete begin insert purchased by end insert the Chancellor’s
Office of the California Community Colleges begin insert in order to reduce
costs through a bulk procurement process end insert .

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(3) It shall be managed by each community college district for
use among the campuses within each respective district.

end insert begin delete

(3)

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begin insert ( end insert begin insert 4) end insert  It shall enable community college counselors, advisors, and
other student services staff to monitor student progress toward
completing a degree or certificate program, or achieving the
minimum requirements for CSU or IGETC transfer.

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(4)

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begin insert ( end insert begin insert 5) end insert  It shall be accessible to community college personnel and
students through an Internet Web portal that provides a degree
progress profile, generated for each student upon request, that
includes all information regarding credits earned that is available
in the community college’s data.

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(b) Prior to the beginning of each spring term, each community
college shall perform an inquiry to identify students who are within
12 semester units or 18 quarter units of completing a degree or
certificate, or achieving the minimum requirements for CSU or
IGETC transfer.

(c) A community college shall notify those students or former
students identified pursuant to subdivision (b) of the courses needed
to complete a degree, a certification, or transfer requirements.

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78027.  

begin delete (a) end delete begin delete   end delete begin delete Each community college district, with the assistance
of the chancellor, shall study and to evaluate the effectiveness of
the retroactive degree awarding and audit program established by
this article and of any other programs or services designed to
facilitate students’ completion of their educational goals and
courses of study. Notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the
Government Code, the chancellor end delete begin insert The Legislative Analyst’s Office end insert
shall submit a report to the Legislature and the Governor on the
progress of the implementation of the retroactive degree awarding
and online degree audit system on or before December 31, 2017,
and on or before December 31 begin delete of each year end delete begin insert every three years end insert
thereafter.

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(b) The report required by this section shall be submitted in
compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

end delete

78028.  

begin delete (a) end delete begin delete   end delete The metrics to be determined and reported pursuant
to Section 78027 shall include, but not necessarily be limited to,
all of the following:

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(1)

end delete

begin insert ( end insert begin insert a) end insert  The number and percentage of community college students
who were identified begin delete , reenrolled, end delete and were awarded associate
degrees or certificates, or who begin insert were determined to have end insert completed
the CSU or IGETC transfer requirements because of the degree
audit system.

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(2) The average amount of time spent and number of units
earned by community college students in order to complete their
associate degree, certificate, or transfer requirements, after being
notified that they were within the 12 semester units or 18 quarter
units of completion.

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(3)

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begin insert ( end insert begin insert b) end insert  The estimated economic benefits for the college and labor
market begin insert of the degree audit system end insert .

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(4)

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begin insert ( end insert begin insert c) end insert  Other relevant indicators of student success begin insert resulting from
having a degree audit system in place end insert .

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(b) Information specified in subdivision (a) shall be
disaggregated data, classified by ethnicity, gender, disability, age,
and socioeconomic status, to the extent this information is
available.

end delete begin delete

(c) The evaluation required by Section 78027 shall include an
assessment of the effectiveness of the programs and services in
attaining at least the following objectives:

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(1) Identifying students within 12 semester units or 18 quarter
units of meeting the requirements for a degree or certificate or
completing the CSU or IGETC transfer requirements.

end delete begin delete

(2) Assisting institutions in reenrolling these students, assessing
these students’ educational needs, and identifying appropriate
course placement for these students.

end delete begin delete

(3) Helping support students’ successful completion of associate
degree, certificate, or transfer requirements.

end delete begin delete

(4) Matching institutional resources with students’ educational
needs.

end delete

begin delete 79029. end delete
begin insert 78029. end insert   

This article shall not be operative until the board of
governors certifies that sufficient funds have been received from
state, federal, or private sources to implement the online degree
audit system that would be created under this section. The board
of governors shall prominently post this certification promptly on
its Internet Web site.

SEC. 3.  

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.