State and Legislative Issues

Whereas, The governor’s proposed January 2012-13 budget calls for saving $517 million through the curtailment of early childhood education (ECE) by slashing program eligibility, lowering family income levels, and removing the enrollment in a course of study in higher education as a reason to be eligible for services, and recommendations for 2012-2014 include moving all except a fraction of ECE from the State Department of Education to the State Department of Social Services;

Whereas, Assembly Bill (AB) 1056 (Fong, February 18, 2011) calls for the establishment of an electronic student transcript record-keeping and transmission system for all California community colleges (CCC) that will allow student transcripts to be transferred internally and externally by secure electronic means;

Whereas, Such a system (which is already operational in a pilot form - http://etranscriptca.org/ ) will likely reduce operational costs, expedite the transfer of student transcripts, and increase record portability;

Whereas, The 1960 California Master Plan for Higher Education expressed the intent that access and affordability are the principles on which California public education stands;

Whereas, Based on these principles the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has a long-standing position against fees for public higher education, a position that unfortunately has not been upheld by the Legislature;

Add a second resolved:


Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges work with Assembly member Anderson as AB 2400 moves forward to perfect the legislation and protect faculty primacy in curriculum and program development.


MSR Disposition: Referred to the Executive Committee to do with as the Executive Committee sees fit.

Whereas, Due to current economic realities and high unemployment rates in the state, tens of thousands of unemployed or underemployed Californians are entering or returning to college to improve job skills or train for new careers;

Whereas, SB 1143 (Liu, 2010) calls for the Board of Governors to develop a plan to promote and improve student success and examine specified best practices and models for accomplishing student success;
Whereas, The Chancellor’s Office is developing a task force to begin developing these plans, and they are examining a number of existing student success projects such as Completion by Design, Complete to Compete, Complete College America, and the American Diploma Project; and
Whereas, Local implementation of some of these models and activities is already occurring;

Whereas, AB 2400 (Anderson, March 2010) seeks to authorize selected districts to offer baccalaureate degrees in specific areas; and

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges formulates its positions based upon research and careful consideration of the pros and cons of an issue;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges study the issues of California community colleges potentially offering baccalaureate degrees and, based upon that analysis, develop a white paper for the body’s consideration no later than Spring 2011.

Whereas, Categorical programs support students who are underserved, are disadvantaged economically, educationally and by language, and often are the first generation to attend college;


Whereas, Many programs such as Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS), Disabled Student Programs and Services (DSPS), and CalWORKs have been extraordinarily successful as widely acknowledged by state educators and legislators;


Whereas, Categorical monies were intended to be reserved to fund categorical programs in ways mandated by Title 5; and

Whereas, The Governor’s January 2010 budget and subsequent proposals by the Legislative Analyst’s Office and other legislative processes contain recommendations that could negatively impact community college programs and educational efforts;


Whereas, As of March 27, 2010 these recommendations include:

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has passed resolutions that acknowledge the primacy of Early Childhood/Child Development faculty in developing the Early Childhood Education/Child Development major (19.04 S06), and that “support the Early Childhood/Child Development Curriculum Alignment Project by endorsing . . .