Today's Law As Amended


PDF |Add To My Favorites | print page

AB-1837 Postsecondary education: Office of Higher Education Performance and Accountability.(2015-2016)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.

 Article 2.6 (commencing with Section 66010.96) is added to Chapter 2 of Part 40 of Division 5 of Title 3 of the Education Code, to read:

Article  2.6. Office of Higher Education Performance and Accountability
66010.96.
 (a) The Office of Higher Education Performance and Accountability is hereby established as the statewide postsecondary education coordination and planning agency. The office is established in state government within the Governor’s office, and is under the direct control of an executive director.
(b) The Governor shall appoint the Executive Director of the Office of Higher Education Performance and Accountability, who shall perform all duties, exercise all powers, assume and discharge all responsibilities, and carry out and effect all purposes vested by law in the office, including contracting for professional or consulting services in connection with the work of the office. The appointment of the executive director is subject to confirmation by the affirmative vote of a majority of the membership of the Senate. The executive director shall appoint persons to any staff positions the Governor may authorize.
(c) The Governor may appoint the executive director at a salary that shall be fixed pursuant to Section 12001 of the Government Code.
(d) (1) An advisory board is hereby established for the purpose of examining and making recommendations to the office regarding the functions and operations of the office and reviewing and commenting on any recommendations made by the office to the Governor and the Legislature.
(2) The advisory board consists of the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Education and the Chairperson of the Assembly Committee on Higher Education, who serve as ex officio members, and six public members with experience in postsecondary education, appointed to terms of four years as follows:
(A) Three members of the advisory board appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules.
(B) Three members of the advisory board appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly.
(3) The office shall actively seek input from, and consult with, the advisory board regarding the functions, operations, and recommendations of the office, and provide the advisory board with sufficient time to review and comment.
(4) Advisory board meetings are subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code). Advisory board materials shall be posted on the Internet.
(5) The advisory board shall meet at least quarterly, and shall appoint one of its members to represent the board for purposes of communicating with the Legislature.
(6) The advisory board is responsible for developing an independent annual report on the condition of higher education in California.
(7) The advisory board is responsible for issuing an annual review of the performance of the Executive Director of the Office of Higher Education Performance and Accountability.
(8) Members of the advisory board shall serve without compensation, but shall receive reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses incurred in connection with the performance of their duties as board members.
(e) The office shall consult with the higher education segments and stakeholders, as appropriate, in the conduct of its duties and responsibilities. For purposes of this subdivision, “higher education segments” has the same meaning as in Section 66010.95, and “higher education stakeholders” includes, but is not necessarily limited to, postsecondary faculty and students, K–12 representatives, and representatives of the business community.
66010.962.
 The Office of Higher Education Performance and Accountability exists for the purpose of advising the Governor, the Legislature, and other appropriate governmental officials and institutions of postsecondary education. The office has the following functions and responsibilities in its capacity as the statewide postsecondary education coordination and planning agency and adviser to the Legislature and the Governor:
(a) It shall, through its use of information and its analytic capacity, inform the identification and periodic revision of state goals and priorities for higher education in a manner that is consistent with the goals outlined in Section 66010.91 and takes into consideration the metrics outlined in Sections 89295 and 92675. It shall, biennially, interpret and evaluate both statewide and institutional performance in relation to these goals and priorities.
(b) It shall review and make recommendations, as necessary, regarding cross-segmental and interagency initiatives and programs in areas that may include, but are not necessarily limited to, efficiencies in instructional delivery, financial aid, transfer, and workforce coordination.
(c) It shall advise the Legislature and the Governor regarding the need for, and the location of, new institutions and campuses of public higher education.
(d) It shall review proposals by the public segments for new programs, the priorities that guide the public segments, and the degree of coordination between those segments and nearby public, independent, and private postsecondary educational institutions, and shall make recommendations regarding those proposals to the Legislature and the Governor.
(e) (1) It shall act as a clearinghouse for postsecondary education information and as a primary source of information for the Legislature, the Governor, and other agencies. It shall develop and maintain a comprehensive database that does all of the following:
(A) Ensures comparability of data from diverse sources.
(B) Supports longitudinal studies of individual students as they progress through the state’s postsecondary educational institutions through the use of a unique student identifier.
(C) Maintains compatibility with California School Information Services and the student information systems developed and maintained by the public segments of higher education, as appropriate.
(D) Provides Internet access to data, as appropriate, to the segments of higher education.
(E) Provides each of the educational segments access to the data made available to the office for purposes of the database, in order to support, most efficiently and effectively, statewide, segmental, and individual campus educational research information needs.
(2) The office, in implementing paragraph (1), shall comply with the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g) as it relates to the disclosure of personally identifiable information concerning students.
(3) The office shall not make available any personally identifiable information received from a postsecondary educational institution concerning students for any regulatory purpose unless the institution has authorized the office to provide that information on behalf of the institution.
(4) The office shall, following consultation with, and receipt of a recommendation from, the advisory board, provide 30-day notification to the chairpersons of the appropriate policy and budget committees of the Legislature, to the Director of Finance, and to the Governor before making any significant changes to the student information contained in the database.
(f) It shall review all proposals for changes in eligibility pools for admission to public institutions and segments of postsecondary education, and shall make recommendations regarding those proposals to the Legislature, the Governor, and institutions of postsecondary education. In carrying out this subdivision, the office periodically shall conduct a study of the percentages of California public high school graduates estimated to be eligible for admission to the University of California and the California State University.
(g) It shall submit reports to the Legislature in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(h) It shall manage data systems and maintain programmatic, policy, and fiscal expertise to receive and aggregate information reported by the institutions of higher education in this state.
66010.964.
 Notwithstanding any other law, the office may require the governing boards and the institutions of public postsecondary education to submit data to the office on plans and programs, costs, selection and retention of students, enrollments, plant capacities, and other matters pertinent to effective planning, policy development, and articulation and coordination. The office shall furnish information concerning these matters to the Governor and the Legislature as requested by them.
66010.967.
 (a) On or before December 31 of each year, the office shall report to the Legislature and the Governor regarding its progress in achieving the objectives and responsibilities set forth in subdivision (a) of Section 66010.962.
(b) On or before January 1, 2020, the Legislative Analyst’s Office shall review and report to the Legislature regarding the performance of the office in fulfilling its functions and responsibilities as outlined in Section 66010.962.
66010.969.
  This article shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2021, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2021, deletes or extends that date.
SEC. 2.
  If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.