Bill Text: CA SB721 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: California postsecondary education: state goals.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Vetoed) 2012-09-13 - In Senate. Consideration of Governor's veto pending. [SB721 Detail]

Download: California-2011-SB721-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 721	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Lowenthal

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2011

   An act to add Chapter 13 (commencing with Section 67050) to Part
40 of Division 5 of Title 3 of the Education Code, relating to
postsecondary education.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 721, as introduced, Lowenthal.  California higher education:
educational and economic goals.
   Existing law establishes the University of California, under the
administration of the Regents of the University of California, the
California State University, under the administration of the Trustees
of the California State University, and the California Community
Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the
California Community Colleges, as the 3 segments of postsecondary
education in this state.
   Existing law establishes a higher education accountability program
under which the University of California, the California State
University, and the California Community Colleges are required to
prepare a list of reports on a regular basis and present those
reports to the Legislature and to state agencies. Under the program,
the California Postsecondary Education Commission is required to
submit annually a higher education report to the Legislature and the
Governor that provides information on significant indicators of the
performance of public colleges and universities.
   This bill would require an undesignated state entity to establish
an additional accountability framework for achieving prescribed
educational and economic goals. The bill would require that the
framework so established be guided by stated principles. The bill
would require this framework to measure the collective performance of
the state's system of higher education in successfully serving
students by answering 6 statewide policy questions.
   The bill would make various legislative findings and declarations.

   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Chapter 13 (commencing with Section 67050) is added to
Part 40 of Division 5 of Title 3 of the Education Code, to read:
      CHAPTER 13.  EDUCATIONAL AND ECONOMIC GOALS FOR CALIFORNIA
HIGHER EDUCATION


   67050.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
   (a) Since the enactment of the Master Plan for Higher Education in
1960, California's system of postsecondary education has provided
access and high-quality educational opportunities that have fueled
California's economic growth.
   (b) In today's global information economy, California's national
and international success as an educational and economic leader will
require strategic investments and improved management of state
resources.
   (c) Several factors, including changing demographics, rising
costs, increased competition for scarce state funding, and employer
concerns about graduates' skills, present new challenges to higher
education and state policymakers in effectively meeting the
postsecondary education needs of Californians.
   (d) Although the public segments of higher education have each
developed their own institution-specific accountability efforts,
these efforts do not combine to tell us whether the state as a whole
is on track to produce enough college educated individuals to meet
workforce needs and to effectively compete in the global information
economy, nor do they reflect statewide policy goals that cut across
all higher education segments.
   (e) Without the articulation of a shared common vision and goals,
and in the absence of a statewide focus and context, the state has
limited access to meaningful data and analyses to assess the state's
performance in key areas in order to make critical fiscal and policy
decisions.
   (f) As public demand to ensure the state is making proper
investments in postsecondary education grows, policy and educational
leaders must collectively hold themselves accountable for connecting
the postsecondary academic and research enterprise to the state's
economic and workforce development needs, increasing the state's
productivity, and expanding postsecondary access for all citizens and
regions of the state to produce the economic and educational
outcomes that best serve the state's interest.
   (g) In order to achieve the educational and economic outcomes
necessary to ensure the state's success, it is the intent of the
Legislature that data-driven budget and policy decisions within
higher education be guided by each of the following goals:
   (1) Increased educational attainment and successful transition
across all education levels. In the best performing state in the
nation, for every 100 pupils in grade 9, 91 graduate from high
school, 57 directly enter college, and 27 graduate within 150 percent
of program time. However, in California, for every 100 pupils in
grade 9, 71 graduate from high school, 31 directly enter college, and
17 graduate within 150 percent of program time, placing California
27th in the nation. Goal: by 2020, California will have improved its
educational pipeline numbers sufficiently so that it is among the top
10 states in the nation for the successful movement of students
through this pipeline.
   (2) Meeting the state's economic development, workforce
development, and civic capacity needs. Current projections by the
National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education indicate that
California residents will have the largest drop in projected per
capita income in the nation over the next two decades, and will fall
below the national average by 2012. Goal: by 2020, California will be
at the average per capita income of the top 10 new economy states as
determined using the State New Economy Index developed by the
Progressive Policy Institute.
   (3) Closure of the achievement gap and increased learning at all
levels. In 2005, California ranked 33rd among states in the
percentage of persons between 18 and 24 years of age, inclusive, with
a high school diploma, 31st in the percentage of persons between 25
and 64 years of age, inclusive, with an associate degree, and 14th in
the percentage of persons between 25 and 64 years of age, inclusive,
with a bachelor's or higher degree. Goal: by 2020, California will
be in the top 10 states nationally for the percentages of its age
groups with degrees and certificates conferred.
   67051.  The State of California shall establish an accountability
framework that provides the basis for a biennial assessment of the
collective contribution of the state's system of postsecondary
education toward meeting the clear and measurable educational and
economic goals established pursuant to Section 67050. The
accountability framework developed to monitor progress toward these
goals shall be guided by all of the following principles:
   (a) A state-level accountability framework is designed to help
policymakers develop, maintain, and fund a postsecondary education
system that meets the state's goals, recognizes the differentiated
missions of each segment of postsecondary education, and guides the
segments toward maintaining effective institutions consistent with
state goals and institutional missions.
   (b) Policymakers and governing boards are collectively accountable
for meeting public goals for higher education, in accordance with
all of the following:
   (1) Monitoring progress toward meeting state goals is largely the
responsibility of state policymakers.
   (2) Monitoring the performance of individual colleges and
universities is primarily the responsibility of institutional
governing boards.
   (3) Institutional governing boards have ongoing responsibility for
monitoring the progress toward meeting statewide policy goals of
individual colleges and universities, for meeting segmental and
institutional missions and goals, for ensuring the quality of the
students' education, and for providing information to students and
parents regarding enrollment, retention, and student success.
   (c) The state-level reporting system shall be designed to contain
only data that helps policymakers to assess progress toward meeting
state goals and to make appropriate policy and funding decisions.
Specific indicators may change as better data are identified for
assessing progress toward meeting state goals.
   (d) In establishing an accountability framework for higher
education, it is the intent of the Legislature to build upon existing
higher education data, information systems, reports, and processes,
including, but not limited to, the reporting process established in
Section 84754.5, and improve upon these efforts to measure collective
progress toward common vision and goals.
   (e) Rather than envisioning a particular level of higher education
funding to move toward the statewide educational and economic policy
goals established pursuant to Section 67050, it is the intent of the
Legislature that the framework established pursuant to this chapter
help ensure the effective and efficient use of whatever funding is
provided to higher education.
   67051.5.  It is the intent of the Legislature that, after
sufficient opportunity for deliberation and analysis, the information
gathered under the framework established pursuant to this chapter be
utilized by the Governor and the Legislature to do all of the
following through appropriate actions:
   (a) Establish clear and measurable goals in various areas,
including, but not limited to, enrollment, completion,
time-to-degree, efficiency in facilities utilization, transfer, and
access.
   (b) Establish a timeline for phasing in the Legislature's and the
Governor's expectations for the achievement of these goals.
   (c) Develop policy and budget proposals that include appropriate
funding mechanisms, where appropriate, for achieving these goals,
including, but not limited to, incentive funding, differential
funding, or the reallocation of existing resources, or all of these.
   67052.  The state shall utilize the accountability framework
established pursuant to this chapter to measure progress toward its
articulated educational and economic goals by collecting and
reporting information that answers all of the following six statewide
policy questions:
   (a) Are enough Californians prepared for postsecondary education?
   (b) Are enough Californians going to college?
   (c) Is the state's postsecondary education system affordable to
all Californians?
   (d) Are enough Californians successfully completing certificates
and degrees?
   (e) Are college graduates prepared for life and work in
California?
   (f) Are California's people, communities, and economy benefiting?