BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1425|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1425
Author: Block (D)
Amended: 5/27/14
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 7-0, 4/24/14
AYES: Liu, Wyland, Block, Galgiani, Hancock, Hueso, Monning
NO VOTE RECORDED: Correa, Huff
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 5/23/14
AYES: De Le�n, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
SUBJECT : Retroactive awarding of degrees
SOURCE : Campaign for College Opportunity
Southern California College Access Network
DIGEST : This bill requires that the Chancellor of the
California Community Colleges (CCCs) to develop or identify a
commercially available utility to conduct systemwide automatic
degree audits and requires all CCCs to award degrees
retroactively, as specified.
ANALYSIS : Existing law specifically establishes the mission
and function of the CCCs as offering academic and vocational
instruction at the lower division level and authorizes the CCCs
to grant the associate in arts and the associate in science
degree.
This bill, prior to the beginning of the spring term of each
CONTINUED
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academic year, and commencing with the 2015-16 academic year for
the first 28 campus, requires each CCC district (CCD) with a
specified Internet-accessible automatic degree audit system in
place to conduct a one-time inquiry as specified.
This bill requires each participating CCC campus to notify the
students identified as eligible for the degree or certificate,
and provides that these students have the choice of opting out
or receiving the degree or certificate.
This bill requires the Chancellor of the CCCs to identify and
procure a commercially available utility to conduct systemwide
automatic degree audits that enables CCC 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 (CSU) or the
Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC).
This bill requires the Chancellor's Office of CCC (CCCCO) to
oversee the implementation of this bill in accordance with the
following timetable:
1.At least 28 campuses of the CCCs shall have the automatic
degree audit system in place by December 31, 2015.
2.At least 56 campuses of the CCCs shall have the automatic
degree audit system in place by December 31, 2016.
3.All campuses of the CCCs shall have the automatic degree audit
system in place by December 31, 2017.
The automatic degree audit system procured must satisfy all of
the following conditions:
1.Comply with all pertinent privacy and security considerations
and requirements.
2.Be centrally purchased by the CCCCO in order to reduce costs
through a bulk procurement process.
3.Be managed by each CCD for use among the campuses within each
respective district.
4.Enable CCC counselors, advisors, and other student services
staff to monitor student progress toward completing a degree
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or certificate program, or achieving the minimum requirements
for CSU or IGETC transfer.
5.Be accessible to CCC 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
CCC's data.
This bill requires the Legislative Analyst's Office 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 every three
years thereafter.
This bill will 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 will be created.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Degree audits (commercial utility): Approximately $12 million
(General Fund) to purchase a commercial utility that meets
this bill's requirements, for each of the approximately 80
campuses that do not currently have one.
Mandate: Degree audits (workload) - Setting up the degree
audit software, maintaining the system, and updating the data,
and conducting annual degree audits for the CCDs that do not
have a system, will likely require two dedicated classified
employees at each CCD. Annual costs could total $10 million
(General Fund) across those CCDs, once the program is fully
implemented. Costs will vary at the approximately CCDs for
which an existing system will need to be maintained, the data
updated, and degree audits conducted each year (but would not
need to be set up). Even if those CCDs required only one
classified staff person each, annual costs will exceed $2
million (General Fund).
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Mandate: Retroactive degrees - Potentially substantial
reimbursable state mandate, likely in the low millions of
dollars, to require each CCC to conduct retroactive degree
audits for each student enrolled in the past two years.
Mandate: Notifications - Potentially substantial reimbursable
mandate, likely hundreds of thousands of dollars, to establish
notification procedures and to notify students of their degree
status once the audit is completed each year.
Report: Potentially significant costs to the CCCCO to
complete the required implementation report.
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/27/14)
Campaign for College Opportunity (co-source)
Southern California College Access Network (co-source)
Access College Foundation
Al Wooten Jr. Heritage Center
ALL Management Corporation
Binational Center for the Development of Oaxacan Indigenous
Communities
Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor
Bresee Foundation
Bright Prospect
California Communities United Institute
California Competes
Center for Student Opportunity
Children Youth and Family Collaborative
Community Partners
Determined to Succeed
Fulfillment Fund
Gradguru
Heart of Los Angeles
Inner City Struggle
Institute for College Access and Success
Japanese Community Youth Council
Kid City Hope Place
LA Coalition of Essential Schools
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Los Angeles Education Partnership
Los Angeles United Methodist Urban Foundation
Mar Vista Family Center
North Bay Leadership Council
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Project Grad
South Central Scholars
Study Smart Tutors
Transformative Action Institute
United Friends of the Children
Young Invincibles
Youth Alliance
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, while
the Student Success Act of 2012 requires CCCs to provide
orientation, advising and educational planning tools, and
existing law does not require the institution to monitor and
notify students of their progress toward the defined educational
goal.
According to an examination of U.S. Department of Education
datasets by the Institute for Higher Education Policy,
approximately 15% of traditional-age students in any cohort had
completed more than 60 units yet held no degree and were no
longer enrolled anywhere. If applied to the 2.4 million
students currently enrolled at the CCCs, this statistic
represents hundreds of thousands of students who may have
completed their degrees or are very close to doing so.
PQ:k 5/27/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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