Spring

Whereas, California Code of Regulations Title 5 §55063 establishes requirements for students to earn an associate degree, including demonstrated competence in reading, written expression, and mathematics;

Whereas, Current regulations define the standards to meet these requirements by associating those requirements with specific courses or disciplines and outlining methods for establishing equivalencies to courses in those specific disciplines rather than defining reading, written expression, and mathematics competency statements; and

Whereas, The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, in its 2020 Zero-Textbook-Cost Degree Grant Program Legislative Report (

Note: The Resolutions Committee has made edits to this resolution, in consultation with the contact, to increase clarity and to include supporting Title 5 language without changing the original intent.

Whereas, The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the desire for greater distance education course offerings using online and hybrid modalities of instruction, including the “HyFlex” modality that attempts to create a classroom environment that includes fully online and traditional face-to-face options for students within the same section;

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI) was formally launched in early 2019 with funds allocated to the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) in Assembly Bill 1809 (Higher Education Trailer Bill, 2017-2018) “to support the development of, and the expansion of the use of, open educational resources for the California Community Colleges” and has established a faculty-led infrastructure to support local open educational resources (OER) implementation efforts, but the funding for the OERI was scheduled to en

Whereas, During the last decade, there has been significant support from the California Legislature for online and distance education to improve access to California community colleges, and during the COVID-19 pandemic online course offerings at California community colleges have increased dramatically, and enrollment trends indicate a continued increased interest in online learning;

Whereas, Faculty have both the freedom to select the course materials they deem most appropriate and the responsibility to consider the cost burden as they do so (California Code of Regulations Title 5 §59404);

Whereas, AB 417 Rising Scholars Network: justice-involved students (McCarty, 2021) [1] charges the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) with establishing the Rising Scholars Network and providing funding to up to 50 community colleges for services in support of justice-involved students; and

Whereas, Facilitation of teaching and learning in incarcerated environments is a coordinated effort of many entities, including the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, the Chancellor’s Office Rising Scholars Advisory Committee, and local jails, and faculty are often excluded from system-level communications specific to Rising Scholars programs;

Whereas, At this time, California community colleges serve over 15,000 incarcerated students at 35 California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) site locations, in addition to numerous unique county regions, and expect that number to reach over 20,000 students and 1,000 FTE within 3 years;

Whereas, Accessibility in the digital learning environment is an essential part of an equitable learning environment, and students deserve to have access to digital learning materials and environments without revealing their disability status as provisioned by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act;