Today's Law As Amended


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SB-650 Postsecondary education: the College Promise Partnership Act.(2011-2012)



As Amends the Law Today
As Amends the Law on Dec 01, 2011


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) In order to attain and surpass the education levels of some of the most competitive economies in the world, the number of students earning college degrees in California each year would have to increase by more than one million by 2020, nearly tripling the number of annual completions today.
(b) Research by the Institute for Higher Education Policy shows that only 30 percent of the students who enroll in California community colleges successfully complete a certificate degree or transfer within six years. Only 25 percent of African American students, and 18 percent of Hispanic students, achieve the same result.
(c) The Long Beach College Promise partnership, which includes the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD), the Long Beach City College (LBCC), and the California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), is a nationally recognized partnership that is committed to increasing college success for students in greater Long Beach.
(d) The Long Beach College Promise partnership provides early and sustained outreach to students and families through college transition, academic support and guidance, guaranteed admission to CSULB, and a tuition-free first semester for every local high school graduate who enrolls at LBCC the fall following graduation. Together, these efforts have proven to have a positive impact on students’ college attendance, persistence, and college readiness rates.
(e) The Long Beach College Promise partnership has increased the number of LBUSD students who attend college and significantly increased the acceptance rate of Long Beach kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, students desiring to go directly to CSULB.
(f) The Long Beach College Promise partnership has allowed CSULB to accept over 80 percent of LBUSD applicants.
(g) LBCC’s student success initiative requires students in key gateway courses to complete directed learning activities with assistance from learning specialists and has increased the overall success rates in these courses. Students who complete the activities are three times more likely to successfully complete the course.
(h) A 2010 report by McKinsey & Company, entitled “How the World’s Most Improved School Systems Keep Getting Better,” identifies LBUSD as one of the world’s top 20 school systems in terms of sustained and significant improvements, and as having made significant improvements in elementary math scores from 2004 to 2009, inclusive.
(i) The McKinsey & Company report ranks LBUSD as one of the top three school districts in the United States. The McKinsey & Company report concludes that the best school systems partner with higher education, have community and parental support, and communicate well with stakeholders.
(j) Innovative and creative programs that involve the collaboration of each of the state’s education systems provide the most promise for student success and ensure future competitiveness of California’s economy and workforce.
(k) A 2009 survey by the Legislative Analyst’s Office found that for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, categorical flexibility has had a positive impact on many school districts’ ability to implement their strategic plan, and made it easier to develop and balance a budget, dedicate resources to local education priorities, make staffing decisions, and fund programs for struggling students.
(l) The state’s ongoing economic crisis necessitates providing flexibility to educational institutions that agree to partner in order to effectively utilize resources, improve student academic successes, and provide a seamless bridge to college for all pupils.
(m) The Long Beach College Promise will allow the public education institutions in Long Beach, which have a proven track record of success in improving outcomes for all students, to move their partnership to a new level and to help create a model through which California can begin to increase completions at a scale and pace to meet President Obama’s 2020 completion goals.

SEC. 2.

 Article 1.5 (commencing with Section 48810) is added to Chapter 5 of Part 27 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, to read:

Article  1.5. College Promise Partnership Act
48810.
 This article shall be known and may be cited as the College Promise Partnership Act.
48810.5.
 The Long Beach Community College District and the Long Beach Unified School District may enter into a partnership to provide participating pupils with an aligned sequence of rigorous high school and college coursework leading to capstone college courses, with consistent and jointly established eligibility for college courses. As used in this article, “capstone college course” means a community college course described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (d) of Section 48800.
48811.
 (a) The purpose of the partnership authorized by Section 48810.5 shall be to provide a seamless bridge to college for pupils not already college bound and to reduce the time needed for advanced students to complete programs.
(b) A pupil who elects to participate in the partnership authorized by Section 48810.5 shall complete the augmented California Standards Test in grade 11 to determine readiness for college-level coursework, and shall enroll in coursework during grade 12 to remedy any deficiencies diagnosed by the augmented test. The consent of a parent or guardian of a pupil shall be required prior to a pupil’s participation in the partnership.
(c) Article 1 (commencing with Section 48800) does not apply to pupils enrolled in a partnership operating pursuant to this article.
48812.
 (a) The Long Beach Community College District and the Long Beach Unified School District shall design the partnership to include focused curricular pathways leading to credit in at least one of the following: general education, a career technical certificate, or a degree, including at least one capstone college course.
(b) The partnership shall coordinate the delivery of student support services, including counseling, to participating pupils.
(c) The Long Beach Community College District shall not be eligible to enter into the partnership unless it participates in the Early Assessment Program (EAP) as described in Section 99301.
48813.
 (a) For purposes of allowances and apportionments from Section B of the State School Fund, the Long Beach Community College District shall be credited with additional units of full-time equivalent students (FTES) attributable to the attendance of partnership pupils at the Long Beach City College.
(b) Pupils of the Long Beach Unified School District who attend Long Beach City College pursuant to this article shall, for purposes of allowances and apportionments from Section A of the State School Fund, continue to receive credit for attendance by those pupils computed in the manner prescribed by law, and a pupil’s attendance at school for the minimum schoolday shall be deemed a day of attendance for purposes of making the computation.
(c) The Long Beach Community College District shall not receive an allowance or an apportionment for an instructional activity for which the Long Beach Unified School District has been, or shall be, paid an allowance or an apportionment.
(d) The Long Beach Community College District shall implement this article and Sections 76001.5, 76002.1, 76003, and 76004 in a manner that does not result in increased allocations, which are above the regularly funded FTES enrollment cap, from the General Fund for the Long Beach Community College District.
48813.5.
 (a) If the Long Beach Community College District decides to enter into a partnership pursuant to Section 48810.5, the district shall provide for an independent evaluation of the partnership funded with resources provided by the participating entities, which shall be presented to the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and the Legislature. The evaluation shall, at a minimum, provide recommendations for the improvement of, and issues related to, the establishment of admittance, enrollment, and course registration priority provided to pupils participating in the College Promise Partnership Act in accordance with this article, and a review and analysis on whether the partnership met the following objectives:
(1) An increase in the percentage of students who attended the school district who attend college directly from high school.
(2) An increase in the percentage of students who attended the school district who are determined, by assessment or other means, to be prepared for college-level English and mathematics by the commencement of their first regular semester at the college.
(3) An increase in the average number of college units completed prior to first semester enrollment by entering freshmen from the school district.
(4) An increase in the number of students who attended the school district who successfully complete college-level English and mathematics in their first year.
(5) An increase in the number of students who attended the school district who complete 25 transferable units in their first year.
(6) An increase in the number of students who attended the school district who earn a degree or certificate at the college, or successfully transfer to a four-year university, within four years of graduating from high school.
(b) The evaluation shall be submitted to the Legislature on or before December 30, 2016.
(1) The evaluation to be submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(2) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this section is repealed on January 1, 2018.
48814.
 This article shall become inoperative on June 30, 2017, and, as of January 1, 2018, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.

SEC. 3.

 Section 76003 is added to the Education Code, to read:

76003.
 (a) Notwithstanding Section 76001, the governing board of the Long Beach Community College District may admit to any community college under its jurisdiction, as a special part-time or full-time student, in any session or term, any student who is participating in the partnership established pursuant to Article 1.5 (commencing with Section 48810) of Chapter 5 of Part 27 of Division 4 of Title 2.
(b) (1) For the purpose of receiving state apportionments pursuant to Section 76002, the Long Beach Community College District may include high school pupils who attend a community college within the district and participate in the College Promise Partnership Act pursuant to Article 1.5 (commencing with Section 48810) of Chapter 5 of Part 27 of Division 4 of Title 2, provided that no school district has received reimbursement for the same instructional activity.
(2) The Long Beach Community College District shall report to the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges the moneys utilized for the partnership pursuant to Article 1.5 (commencing with Section 48810) of Chapter 5 of Part 27 of Division 4 of Title 2 by no later than November 1 of each year the partnership is in operation.
(c) Credit for partnership courses completed shall be at the level determined to be appropriate by the governing boards of the Long Beach Unified School District and the Long Beach Community College District pursuant to the terms of the partnership established pursuant to Article 1.5 (commencing with Section 48810) of Chapter 5 of Part 27 of Division 4 of Title 2.
(d) The Long Beach Community College District may assign priority for enrollment and course registration to any of the following:
(1) Students pursuing and making satisfactory academic progress toward a degree, certificate, transfer, or basic skills objective that is declared or reaffirmed upon enrollment in each academic term.
(2) Students pursuing and making satisfactory academic progress pursuant to an approved individual education plan toward a career development objective that is declared or reaffirmed upon enrollment in each academic term.
(3) Notwithstanding subdivision (e) of Section 76001, students participating in a partnership in accordance with Article 1.5 (commencing with Section 48810) of Chapter 5 of Part 27 of Division 4 of Title 2.
(e) This section shall become inoperative on June 30, 2017, and, as of January 1, 2018, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 4.
 The Legislature finds and declares that a special law is necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because the Long Beach College Promise partnership has been successful in providing quality education for pupils from the Long Beach Unified School District and there is a need to continue this partnership into the future with the Long Beach Community College District.