ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
SB 173 (Liu) – As Amended: May 28, 2013
[Note: This bill is doubled referred to the Assembly Higher Education Committee and will be heard as it relates to issues under its jurisdiction.]
SENATE VOTE: 36-1
SUBJECT: Education funding: adult health and safety education
SUMMARY: Establishes guidelines and recommendations for adult education program in the areas of assessment, performance accountability, and teacher requirements; and eliminates specified classes and courses authorized to be funded from the adult education fund and California Community Colleges (CCC) adult education noncredit apportionments. Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires the California Department of Education (CDE), in conjunction with the chancellor's office of the CCC, to coordinate and issue assessment policy guidelines regarding assessments to be used by school districts and community college districts for purposes of placement in adult education courses.
2) Requires the CDE and the chancellor's office to do the following:
a) Jointly establish and implement a comprehensive performance accountability system for adult education courses; and,
b) Develop guidelines and procedures for all adult education funded providers for assessment, evaluation, and data collection to document participant outcomes and placement and other performance measures they deem appropriate. Specifies that performance measures may include receipt of a secondary school diploma or its recognized equivalent, placement in a postsecondary educational institution, training, and employment. Specifies that to the extent possible, these performance measures shall be consistent with those required and implemented pursuant to the federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998, Title II, Adult Education and Family Literacy Act. Requires all funded programs to annually submit demographic and other student-level outcome information.
3) Defines "chancellor's office" as the Office of the Chancellor of the CCC, and "department" to mean the CDE.
4) Removes the following classes from the list of authorized classes and courses offered by school districts and county superintendent of schools for apportionment purposes from the adult education fund:
a) Adult programs in parenting, including parent cooperative preschools, and classes in child growth and development, parent-child relationships, and parenting;
b) Adult programs for older adults;
c) Adult programs in home economics; and,
d) Adult programs in health and safety education.
5) Authorizes the governing board of a community college district to charge a fee for classes it offers, except for classes in English and citizenship in order to ensure that community college districts have the capacity to meet the demand for adult education courses for recent immigrants. Specifies that any community college district that chooses to charge a fee shall report the amount of the fee, the number of classes, and enrollment in those classes to the Office of the Chancellor of the CCC. Requires the chancellor's office to make the information available to the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO). Requires the LAO to provide a summary and analysis of the reported information to the Assembly Budget, Education and Higher Education Committees, and the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review and Education Committees by January 1, 2016.
6) Removes the following noncredit adult education courses and classes as eligible classes for funding:
a) Parenting, including parent cooperative preschools, classes in child growth and development and parent-child relationships;
b) Education programs for older adults;
c) Education programs for home economics; and,
d) Health and safety education.
7) Requires, by July 1, 2014, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) and the Academic Senate for the CCC to meet to review their current requirements for noncredit adult education and adult education instructors, and develop and submit recommendations to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature for modifying or establishing reciprocity standards for instructors of adult education courses.
8) Expresses the intent of the Legislature that:
a) Nothing in this bill shall be construed to limit the authority of school districts and community college districts to offer adult education programs and courses other than those specified in law, provided that those programs or courses are funded through alternative funding sources, including fees, if the district is authorized to charge fees.
b) Beginning in the 2015-16 fiscal year, base adult education funds and noncredit adult education funds shall be allocated to providers on the basis of a combination of enrollment and performance in courses.
EXISTING LAW:
1) Authorizes the establishment of adult school programs and specifies eligibility criteria, programmatic requirements, and the manner in which school districts' adult education revenue limit per unit of average daily attendance (ADA) shall be determined.
2) Authorizes a county office of education (COE) to administer an adult education program and authorizes each eligible school district within its jurisdiction to participate in the program.
Authorizes a COE to report the ADA of each school district participating in the adult education program for the purpose of receiving revenue limit apportionments.
3) Authorizes the following classes and courses to be offered by the school districts and county superintendent of schools for apportionment purposes from the adult education fund:
a) Adult programs in parenting, including parent cooperative preschools, and classes in child growth and development, parent-child relationships, and parenting.
b) Adult programs in elementary and secondary basic skills and other courses and classes required for the high school diploma.
c) Adult education programs in English as a second language.
d) Adult education programs for immigrant eligible for educational services in citizenship, English as a second language, and workforce preparation classes in the basic skills of speaking, listening, reading, writing, mathematics, decisionmaking and problem solving skills, and other classes required for preparation to participate in job specific technical training.
e) Adult education programs for adults with disabilities.
f) Adult short-term career technical education programs with high employment potential.
g) Adult programs for older adults.
h) Adult education programs for apprentices.
i) Adult programs in home economics.
j) Adult programs in health and safety education.
4) Prohibits state apportionment to be made for any course or class not specified in law.
5) Authorizes the governing board of a school district to require a fee. For a class in English and citizenship, a fee may be charged only until July 1, 2015. Prohibits the total of the fees required and revenues derived from the ADA from exceeding the estimated cost of all such classes maintained.
6) Defines "adult" as a person 18 years of age or older for a person who is not concurrently enrolled in a regular high school program.
7) For the 2008-09 to 2014-15 fiscal years, authorizes recipients of specified categorical program funds to use those funds for any educational purpose.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, savings in excess of $26 from the elimination of the specified courses and potentially significant up-front costs and ongoing workload for the CDE and the chancellor's office to meet the coordination and reporting requirements.
COMMENTS: Background. Adult education is provided by a number of delivery systems, including community colleges, public libraries, nonprofit and faith-based organizations, prisons, and COEs. In 2008-09, adult education programs enrolled 1.2 million adult learners in almost 300 adult schools throughout California. Prior to 2009-10, school districts' funding levels were based on what they received in 1977-78 and grew by a cap of 2.5% from the previous year's funding level. The revenue limit in 2007-08 for each unit of ADA (comprised of 525 hours of accumulated seat time) was $2,645.30. The 2012-13 budget allocated $635 million for adult education programs. Due to budget problems, from the 2008-09 through 2014-15 fiscal years,local educational agencies (LEAs) are allowed to use approximately 40 categorical programs funds for any educational purposes. According to the LAO, schools districts have diverted between 50 to 60 percent of the adult education program funds for other general fund uses.
Adult education schools offer the following ten programs:
1) Adult Basic Education;
2) English as a Second Language;
3) High School Diploma or Adult Secondary Education, including General Education Development certification;
4) Citizenship Preparation;
5) Career Technical Education;
6) Adults with Disabilities;
7) Health and Safety;
8) Parent Education;
9) Home Economics; and,
10) Older Adult.
Purpose of the bill. According to the author's office, this bill is based on a December 2012 report by the LAO titled, "Restructuring California's Adult Education System." The author states, "This bill begins the implementation of programmatic changes necessary to better align the bifurcated system of delivering adult education and non-credit adult education courses, and to begin a shift towards a more rational and coordinated funding approach for K-12 adult education and CCC noncredit adult education programs in California."
The two largest providers of adult education are school districts and the CCC, with, according to the LAO, the majority provided by the CCC (about 66% of full-time equivalent students (525 hours of instructional hours) in 2009-10). The LAO argues that the two systems have unclear lines of responsibility, an overly broad mission, inconsistent state-level policies, lack of coordination among providers, and limited student data, despite serving the same student populations. The December report suggests that the system is in need of comprehensive restructuring.
This bill addresses the following:
Authorized classes. The LAO argues that while all classes have value, adult education programs should focus on the knowledge and skills needed to participate in civic life and workforce, which includes the first six on the list above. This bill eliminates the authorization to use adult education apportionments to offer the following course and classes:
1) Parenting programs: According to the CDE, these are classes that promote the healthy development of children, high-quality family relationships, and children's success in school. Classes in this program help individuals and families meet the challenges of daily living through health and financial literacy to improve the quality of home and family life. Examples of classes offered include "Parenting the newborn-14 month old," and "Parenting an elementary school age child."
2) Older adult programs: According to the CDE, these are classes designed specially to deal with issues related to aging. These classes provide intellectual, physical, financial, and social
stimulation and resources addressing the demands of a growing and active older population. Classes offered include "Exercise and fitness", "Ceramics", and "Understanding and using computers."
3) Home economics programs: These classes include "cooking", "knitting", and "wood working".
4) Health and safety education: These classes include basic CPR and first aid, aerobics, and weight management.
Several organizations oppose the elimination of some or all of these courses, expressing concerns that their elimination will decrease access. These organizations state that these classes provide some adults a second chance and recent immigrants a first chance at a quality education. They also argue that courses such as parenting education offer adults critical life skills. Others, such as the San Francisco Advisory Council to Aging and Adult Services, oppose the elimination of programs for older adults. As part of a $4 million federal nutrition grant received by the city that provides meal to senior and persons with disabilities, participants are required to attend nutrition courses. The City College of San Francisco provides weekly classes in 26 congregate meal locations for older adults to meet this requirement. In San Francisco, the school district chooses not to operate an adult education program; the community college district is the sole provider.
According to the CDE, in 2008-09, enrollment for these four programs was approximately 255,000, representing 20.9% of the total enrollment of adult education.
The bill expresses legislative intent that school districts and CCC have the authority to offer programs and courses other than those authorized for funding, provided that those programs and courses are funded by other sources, including fees.
Assessment. K-12 adult schools and the CCC use assessments for enrollment and placements. While the CCC is required to only use assessment tools approved by the chancellor's office for advisory purposes and not for placement of students in classes, adult schools can use any assessments they choose and can use them for minimum qualifications to enroll in a class or to determine appropriate class placement. This bill directs the CDE, in conjunction with the chancellor's office, to develop assessment policy guidelines to be used by both systems for purposes of placement in K-12 and CCC adult education courses. The bill is silent on whether the assessment can be used to determine whether a student meets minimum qualification for enrollment.
Performance accountability. This bill requires the CDE and the chancellor's office to develop guidelines and procedures for all adult education funded providers for assessment, evaluation and data collection to document participant outcomes and placement, and other performance measures they deem appropriate, such as whether the student received a secondary school diploma, placement in a postsecondary educational institution, or became employed.
Concerns have been expressed that this provision is unnecessary and duplicative. States that receive federal WIA Title II funds are already required to collect performance data. The state received $91 million in 2011-12 to provide adult elementary and secondary education and English as a second language classes. The CDE allocates its share of funding to providers based on performance points.
The CCC already has a robust data collection system that was augmented by the Student Success Scorecard released in April this year. The scorecard was a recommendation of the Student Success Task Force, enacted by SB 1143 (Liu), Chapter 409, Statutes of 2010. The scorecard provides performance data that includes completion and persistence rates that can be broken down by student demographics.
The Committee may wish to consider requiring the CDE and the chancellor's office to develop recommendations to submit to the Legislature before requiring implementation of a performance accountability system.
The bill requires all funded programs to annually submit demographic and other student-level outcome information, but the bill does not specify to whom the data is reported to. If the Committee chooses to pass this bill, staff recommends an amendment to clarify that the data is to be reported to the CDE and the chancellor's office.
This bill also states legislative intent that beginning in 2015-16, base adult education funds and noncredit adult education funds shall be allocated to providers on the basis of a combination of enrollment and performance in courses. It may be premature to make such a declaration before the CDE and the chancellor's office develop and agree to a joint performance accountability system. Staff recommends revising this provision to strike the reference to 2015-16 and amend the provision to declare the Legislature's intent to evaluate and consider funding adult education programs based on enrollment and performance in courses.
Teacher qualifications. K-12 adult school teachers are required to have a teaching credential, while CCC instructors are required to have a bachelor or master's degree depending on the type of course taught. The LAO believes that adult education instructors should be able to teach in either system. Requiring a teaching credential limits a CCC instructor's ability to teach in K-12 adult schools; the LAO recommends eliminating the requirement for adult school teachers to have a teaching credential. This bill directs the CTC and the Academic Senate for the CCC to review the requirements for noncredit adult education and adult school instructors, and develop and submit recommendations to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature by July 1, 2014. The CTC is concerned that the timeline may be too short. Staff recommends extending the date of the required report.
Governor's proposals. In January, the Governor proposed in his 2013-14 budget shifting the coordination and administration of all adult education programs to the CCC. The K-12 adult education program would be eliminated, but CCC could contract with school districts to provide instruction. Due to concerns about the timing and structure of the proposal, the Governor's may revision of the budget withdrew the proposal and instead maintains the current system for two years while allocating $30 million for planning grants awarded to regional consortia comprised of K-12 and CCC districts for the purpose of creating plans to integrate existing programs and determine how best to serve adult students within regions throughout the state. The budget adopted by the Legislature reduced the planning grants to $25 million and adopted trailer bill language in AB 86 (Budget Committee), which is pending on the Governor's desk.
The trailer bill establishes the Adult Education Consortium Program with the following features:
1) Eligibility is limited to consortiums consisting of at least one community college district and at least one school district within the boundaries of a community college district. Consortia may include other entities providing adult education courses, such as correctional facilities, other local public entities and community-based organizations.
2) Planning grants must be used to create and implement a plan to better provide adults in its region with all of the following:
a) Elementary and secondary basic skills, including classes requires for a high school diploma or high school equivalency certificate.
b) Classes and courses for immigrants eligible for educational services in citizenship and English as a second language, and workforce preparation classes in basic skills.
c) Education programs for adults with disabilities.
d) Short-term career technical education program with high employment potential.
e) Programs for apprentices.
3) The regional consortium plan shall include an evaluation of existing levels and types of adult education programs in the region, current needs, how the parties that make up the consortium will integrate their programs to create seamless transitions into postsecondary education or the workforce, plans to address gaps identified in the current offerings and needs, plans to employ approaches to accelerate a student's programs toward his or her academic or career goals, plans to collaborate in the provision of ongoing professional development opportunities, and plans to leverage existing regional structures, including local workforce investment areas.
The chancellor and the CDE shall submit a joint status report by March 1, 2014 and a final report by March 1, 2015. The intent of the Governor is to provide some level of additional funding ($500 has been proposed) to provide adult education services through the regional consortia beginning in 2015-16. The courses allowed to be provided through the consortia are consistent with the intent of this bill. School districts and CCC can continue to offer their existing adult education programs separate from the regional consortia. Because categorical funds are eliminated through the Local Control Funding Formula, school districts choosing to continue their adult education programs would do so using their base funds. CCC may continue to earn revenue limit funding. However, under this bill, the CCC and school districts may not offer the four courses eliminated by this bill. In order to give districts time to plan and to better coordinate with the Consortium Program, staff recommends delaying the elimination of the four courses by two years.
Technical amendment: The provisions relating to assessments and performance accountability in Section 1 of the bill were incorporated in the section of the Education Code establishing the CDE and specifying the duties of the CDE. Staff recommends moving these provisions to the adult education sections of the law.
Arguments in support. The California Council for Adult Education and the California Adult Education Administrators Association state, "Over a hundred and fifty years after its founding and after years of financial distress, adult education needs reforming – a notion that has been echoed by the California Department of Education's Strategic Plan, Legislative Analyst's Office and now the Governor. Importantly, the LAO and CDE do not call for dismantling adult education. On the contrary, both entities acknowledge the important and valuable programs that K-12 based adult education provides to its students and the broader community."
Arguments in opposition. The California Federation of Teachers (CFT) states, "CFT understands your goal is to strengthen adult education as the state emerges from the past few years of budget cuts, which in combination with categorical flexibility, resulted in the decimation of adult education offerings by too many K-12 school districts. This is a goal we share. Two sections of [the] bill – those dealing with collaboration between the community college and K-12 systems on performance assessments and reciprocal instructor qualifications – create opportunities for greater coordination and efficiency between segments…Unfortunately, the remaining provisions in SB 173 will decrease access for adult learners in California." CFT, along with a number of other groups, have an "oppose unless amended" position. The requested amendments restore the elimination of the four courses and eliminate the performance accountability provision.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Association of California School Administrators
California Adult Education Administrators Association
California Council for Adult Education
Opposition
Association of Continuing and Community Education
California Community College League of California
California Federation of Teachers
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
San Diego Community College District
Los Rios Community College District
San Francisco Advisory Council to Aging and Adult Services
South Orange County Community College District
Yosemite Community College District
Many individuals
Analysis Prepared by: Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087
No comments:
Post a Comment