State and Legislative Issues

Whereas, Curriculum, especially curriculum that leads to the expansion of required courses and units, should be driven by faculty to meet the educational needs of the community it serves with consideration of transfer opportunities and the capacity to hire faculty in disciplines that could be required due to the legislation;

Whereas, Title 5, Division 6 of the California Code of Regulations, established by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors and including curricular requirements for the California Community Colleges, has the strength of law;

Whereas, The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) and the California Community Colleges Board of Governors, with the support of the state legislature, approved a fully online community college, now named Calbright;

Whereas, SB 850 (Block, 2014) established a pilot program to create baccalaureate degrees in 15 districts within the California Community Colleges system, based in part on concerns regarding the potential gap in the number of students needing baccalaureate degrees by 2030 and beyond;

Whereas, The 15 pilot programs have succeeded in graduating more than 200 students in the first two years of the pilot, with hundreds more currently in courses leading to a baccalaureate degree, particularly in those programs related to allied health;

Whereas, In 2010 legislation was introduced calling for the creation of baccalaureate degrees in the California Community College System, and the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) voted to oppose such an action for multiple reasons, including opposition to “any expansion of the California community college mission as proposed in AB 2400 (Anderson, March 2010)” [1];

Whereas, A recent study [1] showed that California community college students are increasingly housing insecure, with 1 in 5 students, or roughly 400,000 students in the system, currently being homeless, and that 60 percent of community college students in California have experienced recent housing insecurity and 50 percent have struggled with food insecurity in the last year;

Whereas, As of 2017, approximately 46 percent of California Community Collegesstudents receive need-based financial aid, compared to about two-thirds of resident undergraduate students enrolled in the University of California and the California State University systems [1];

Whereas, Many state and federal student aid programs are structured to help full-time students and thereforedo not benefit community college students who attend college part time,and student aid in the California Community Colleges is conventionally overseen by the Student Aid Commission;

Whereas, California law established the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) as the coordinating and planning agency for statewide postsecondary education, and CPEC performed a variety of useful functions for California higher education, including data collection for all public segments and advising the governor regarding budgetary priorities to preserve access for students, prior to being defunded by the governor and ceasing operations in 2011;

Whereas, California law established the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) as the coordinating and planning agency for statewide postsecondary education, and CPEC performed a variety of useful functions for California higher education, including data collection for all public segments and advising the governor regarding budgetary priorities to preserve access for students, prior to being defunded by the governor and ceasing operations in 2011;

Whereas, The Title 5 language around distance education classes has not been updated since 2008, and significant changes have occurred during that time that warrant a reexamination and updating of the language;

Whereas, The Distance Education and Educational Technology Advisory Committee (DEETAC) has proposed changes to Title 5 §§55200-55210[1] regarding requirements for distance education classes, and those changes were sent to the field for comment; and

Whereas, AB 2621 (Medina, as of April 10, 2018)[1], would require the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) to conduct a study on the feasibility of creating an exclusively online California community college and report its findings to the Legislature on or before July, 1 2019; and