BILL NUMBER: SB 640 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 58
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE AUGUST 6, 2009
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR AUGUST 5, 2009
PASSED THE SENATE JULY 16, 2009
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY JUNE 30, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 24, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 4, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hancock
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to amend Sections 52302.2 and 52302.8 of the Education
Code, relating to career technical education.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 640, Hancock. Regional occupational centers and programs:
employer advisory boards.
(1) Existing law authorizes the county superintendent of schools
of each county, with the consent of the State Board of Education, to
establish and maintain, or with one or more counties to establish and
maintain a regional occupational center or regional occupational
program in the county to provide education and training in career
technical courses. Existing law also authorizes the governing board
of any school district maintaining high schools in a county, with the
consent of the state board and of the county superintendent of
schools, to cooperate in the establishment and maintenance of a
regional occupational center or program, except as specified.
Existing law requires the governing board of each regional
occupational center or program to establish and maintain an employer
advisory board or boards pursuant to guidelines developed by the
State Department of Education. Existing law requires an employer
advisory board to perform various duties, including, among others,
approving measures, criteria, and methods to evaluate whether pupils
acquired the skills and knowledge identified in their skill
certificates and assisting a regional occupational center or program
in creating college scholarships for pupils participating in
occupational course sequences.
This bill instead would require an employer advisory board to
recommend measures, criteria, and methods to evaluate pupils' skills
and knowledge. In addition to creating college scholarships, the bill
would require an employer advisory board to assist a regional
occupational center or program in identifying scholarships.
(2) Existing law prescribes calculations that limit the percentage
of state-funded average daily attendance which a regional
occupational center or program is authorized to claim for services
provided to students not enrolled in grades 9 to 12, inclusive.
Existing law excludes adult average daily attendance attributable to
continuously enrolled grade 12 pupils who have not passed the high
school exit examination from those calculations. Existing law
requires that amounts that become available from reductions resulting
from those calculations shall be redirected to other regional
occupational centers or programs to serve additional secondary
pupils.
This bill would prohibit the redirection of adult average daily
attendance funding for a regional occupational center or program that
has entered into a corrective action plan to other regional
occupational centers or programs to serve additional secondary pupils
for up to 3 years while the regional occupational center or program
is in corrective action.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 52302.2 of the Education Code is amended to
read:
52302.2. (a) The governing board of each regional occupational
center or program shall establish and maintain an employer advisory
board or boards pursuant to guidelines developed by the department.
The advisory board shall do all of the following:
(1) Assist in the development of skill certificates that identify
the skills and knowledge that pupils completing an occupational
course sequence are expected to acquire upon completing the sequence.
The advisory board also shall recommend the measures and criteria,
and methods to evaluate whether pupils actually acquired the
identified skills and knowledge.
(2) Review at least once a year whether pupils who are assessed as
having met the requirements for a skill certificate possess the
skills needed for success in employment in that occupation.
(3) Review the specific occupational sequences offered by the
regional occupational center or program to train pupils for jobs that
are in demand and offer high beginning salaries or the potential for
significant wage increase after several years on the job.
(4) Assist the regional occupational center or program in
developing internships, paid summer employment, and postgraduation
employment opportunities for pupils participating in the course
sequences.
(5) Assist the regional occupational center or program in
identifying and creating college scholarships for pupils
participating in the course sequences.
(b) Employer advisory boards shall be composed of representatives
of trade organizations and businesses or government agencies that
hire a significant number of employees each year and require the
skills and knowledge that are taught in the course sequence or
sequences in that occupational area, as well as at least one
representative from a school district career technical educational
advisory committee. The department shall develop regulations guiding
the establishment of these boards.
(c) Regional occupational centers or programs operated in a rural
county of the sixth, seventh, or eighth class may designate a local
business or industry organization as the advisory board and consult
with the leadership of the local business or industry organization to
determine skill needs in the region and emerging job market needs.
For purposes of this section, the local business organization may be
designated as the advisory board for the regional occupational center
or program.
SEC. 2. Section 52302.8 of the Education Code is amended to read:
52302.8. (a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that
vocational training resources that are provided through regional
occupational centers and programs are an essential component of the
state's secondary school system and the local system of providing
occupational skills training to high school pupils. For this reason,
the Legislature finds and declares that these resources should be
focused primarily on the needs of pupils enrolled in high school.
(b) For the 2008-09 fiscal year, a regional occupational center or
program may claim no more than 50 percent of the state-funded
average daily attendance for which the center or program is eligible,
for services provided to students who are not enrolled in grades 9
to 12, inclusive.
(c) For the 2009-10 fiscal year, a regional occupational center or
program may claim no more than 30 percent of the state-funded
average daily attendance for which the center or program is eligible,
for services provided to students who are not enrolled in grades 9
to 12, inclusive.
(d) For the 2011-12 fiscal year and every fiscal year thereafter,
a regional occupational center or program may claim no more than 10
percent of the state-funded average daily attendance for which the
center or program is eligible, for services provided to students who
are not enrolled in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, and up to an
additional 5 percent for CalWORKs, Temporary Assistance Program, or
Job Corps participants and participants under the federal Workforce
Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 2810 et seq.) who are enrolled
in Intensive Training services.
(e) Pupils who are CalWORKs, Temporary Assistance Program, or Job
Corps participants shall have priority for service within the
percentage limits established under subdivision (d).
(f) Notwithstanding subdivision (d), a regional occupational
center or program may claim more than 15 percent of its average daily
attendance for students who are not enrolled in grades 9 to 12,
inclusive, if all of the students who are not enrolled in grades 9 to
12, inclusive, are CalWORKs, Temporary Assistance Program, or Job
Corps participants, and if the governing board of the regional
occupational center or program does all of the following:
(1) Meets with local human services directors, and representatives
of adult education programs, community colleges and other
institutions of higher education, to assess the needs of CalWORKs,
Temporary Assistance Program, or, Job Corps and federal Workforce
Investment Act participants to identify alternative ways to meet the
needs of these adult students.
(2) Enters into a transition plan, approved by the Superintendent,
to become in compliance with subdivision (d) in accordance with
benchmarks and timelines established in the transition plan.
Transition plans shall be established pursuant to guidelines issued
by the department, in consultation with the State Department of
Social Services, and shall be resubmitted and reviewed annually.
(g) Notwithstanding subdivisions (b), (c), and (d), a regional
occupational center or program that claims more than 40 percent of
its students are not enrolled in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, on
January 1, 2007, shall submit a letter to the Superintendent by July
1 of each year until it complies with this subdivision, outlining the
goals of the regional occupational center or program to reduce the
number of adult students in order to comply with subdivision (d) on
or before July 1, 2013.
(h) Regional occupational centers and programs operated in a rural
county of the sixth, seventh, or eighth class may exceed the number
of adults by an additional 10 percent of the limits established in
subdivisions (b), (c), and (d).
(i) (1) For purposes of this calculation, adult average daily
attendance attributable to continuously enrolled grade 12 pupils who
have not passed the high school exit examination pursuant to Section
60851 is excluded from the calculation under this section. Amounts
that may become available from reductions resulting from the
enactment of this section shall be redirected to other regional
occupational centers or programs to serve additional secondary
pupils.
(2) Adult average daily attendance funding for a regional
occupational center or program that has entered into a corrective
action plan pursuant to subdivision (k) shall not be redirected to
other regional occupational centers or programs to serve additional
secondary pupils for up to three years while the regional
occupational center or program is in corrective action.
(j) The governing boards of a community college district and a
regional occupational center or program may enter into contractual
agreements under which the center or program provides services to
adult students of the community college district affected by this
section if both of the following are satisfied:
(1) The agreements conform to state regulations and audit
requirements jointly developed by the Chancellor of the Office of the
California Community Colleges and the State Department of Education,
in consultation with, and subject to approval by, the Department of
Finance.
(2) A course offered for adults pursuant to an agreement entered
into pursuant to this subdivision is limited to the same cost per
student to the state as if the course were offered at the regional
occupational center or program. This subdivision does not authorize
the apportionment of funds for community colleges for adult students
in excess of the revenue limit for regional occupational centers or
programs if a course is deemed eligible for college credit.
(k) A regional occupational center or program that fails to meet a
timeline established under subdivision (c), (d), or (g) shall meet
with the community college, adult education program, or other adult
service to identify alternative means of meeting the needs of adult
students and shall enter into a corrective action plan administered
by the department. The corrective action plan shall be established
pursuant to guidelines issued by the department and shall be
submitted to the department annually for review.