California Senate Bill SB1425 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: SB 1425AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 4, 2014 AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 27, 2014 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  , and to add and repeal Section 78026 of,  the Education Code, relating to community colleges. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 1425, as amended, Block. Community colleges:  retroactive awarding of degrees.   degree audit system.   (1) Existing   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.  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.   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.   The   This  bill would require the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to identify  and procure a  commercially available  utility   utilities and procure at least one of those utilities  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 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,   2019,  as specified. The bill would require 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 3 years thereafter.   2020.  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   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. (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) 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. (6) 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  Chancellor 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.  (7) In California, less than one-fifth 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.  (8)   (7)  As movement toward performance-based budgeting continues, retroactive degree awarding and  degree audit systems better position an institution to improve student outcomes.  (9)   (8)  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.  (10)   (9)  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.  (11)   (10)  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 both of the following:   (A) Award degrees retroactively.   (B)     Ensure   to 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 to obtain their certificate or degree.  (2) Award degrees and certificates retroactively to those students who have completed degree or certificate requirements.   (3)   (2)  Establish  a central   an  auditing system at the California Community Colleges that enables individual community colleges to audit student records, identify the students who are 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   Degree Audit System   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 academic year, and commencing with the 2015-16 academic year for the first 28 campuses, each community college district shall perform a one-time inquiry 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, to identify the students who have completed the semester or quarter units required to receive a degree or certificate, or who have completed the California State University (CSU) or the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) transfer requirements in up to 12 of the highest demand majors, as determined by each community college district, during the previous two academic years. (c) A community college campus shall notify those students identified pursuant to subdivision (b) as eligible to receive a degree or certificate that they are eligible to receive the degree or certificate. Those students shall have the choice to opt out or to receive the degree or certificate.   78026.   78025.  (a) The Chancellor of the California Community Colleges shall identify  a  commercially available  utility   utilities  to conduct systemwide automatic degree  audits for these purposes,   audits,  and procure  that utility   at least one of those utilities  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   that  utility  is   or those utilities are  procured, the chancellor's office shall oversee the implementation of this article in accordance with the following timetable: (1) At least  28   84  campuses of the California Community Colleges shall have the automatic degree audit system in place by December 31,  2015.   2018.   (2) At least 56 campuses of the California Community Colleges shall have the automatic degree audit system in place by December 31, 2016.   (3)   (2)  All campuses of the California Community Colleges shall have  the   an  automatic degree audit system in place by December 31,  2017.   2019.  (b)  The   An  automatic degree audit system procured under this section 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  purchased   procured  by the  Chancellor's Office  Office of the Chancellor  of the California Community Colleges in order to reduce costs through a bulk procurement process. (3) It shall be managed by each community college district for use among the campuses within each respective district. (4) 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. (5) 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.  78027. The   78026.   (a)     The  Legislative Analyst's Office 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 every three years thereafter.   2020.   (b) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this section is repealed on December 31, 2024.  78028.   78027.  The metrics to be determined and reported pursuant to Section  78027   78026  shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, all of the following:  (a) The number and percentage of community college students who were identified and were awarded associate degrees or certificates, or who were determined to have completed the CSU or IGETC transfer requirements because of the degree audit system.   (b)   (a) The estimated economic benefits for the college and labor market of the degree audit system.  (c)   (b)  Other relevant indicators of student success resulting from having a degree audit system in place.  78029.   78028.  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.