BILL NUMBER: SB 1425INTRODUCED BILL TEXT 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 introduced, 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. The bill would require the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to develop or identify 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. 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. 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. The bill would require the chancellor 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 of each year 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. 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. (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. (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) 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. (7) 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. (8) In California, only about one-third 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. (9) As movement toward performance-based budgeting continues, retroactive degree awarding and degree audit systems better position an institution to improve student outcomes. (10) 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. (11) 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. (12) 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 all of the following: (A) Award degrees retroactively. (B) Identify and bring back students who are marginally short of an associate degree to complete it. (C) 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 or nearly eligible to obtain their certificate or degree, or to attain the necessary credits for transfer, and notify those students, as appropriate. (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 or nearly eligible 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 the 2015-16 academic year, each community college shall perform an inquiry to identify the students who have completed the semester or quarter required units to receive a degree, certificate, or the California State University (CSU) or the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) transfer requirements during the previous five academic years. (c) A community college campus shall notify those students identified pursuant to subdivision (b) that they are eligible to receive a 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 develop or identify a commercially available utility to conduct systemwide automatic degree audits for these purposes. The system shall satisfy all of the following conditions: (1) It shall comply with all pertinent privacy and security considerations and requirements. (2) It shall be centrally housed at the Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges. (3) 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. (4) 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. (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. 78027. (a) 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 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 of each year thereafter. (b) The report required by this section shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code. 78028. (a) The metrics to be determined and reported pursuant to Section 78027 shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, all of the following: (1) The number and percentage of community college students who were identified, reenrolled, and were awarded associate degrees or certificates, or who completed the CSU or IGETC transfer requirements because of the degree audit system. (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. (3) The estimated economic benefits for the college and labor market. (4) Other relevant indicators of student success. (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. (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: (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. (2) Assisting institutions in reenrolling these students, assessing these students' educational needs, and identifying appropriate course placement for these students. (3) Helping support students' successful completion of associate degree, certificate, or transfer requirements. (4) Matching institutional resources with students' educational needs. 79029. 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.