Sacramento – Assemblymembers Anthony Portantino (D - La Cañada Flintridge), Chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, today announced the introduction of his higher education legislative package.

“California is world-renown for its institutions of higher learning, but we must constantly look for ways to improve the system to meet the changing needs of our state,” said Portantino.  “I’ve introduced a comprehensive set of proposals that deal with a wide range of issues: from expanding community college access for eligible high school students to restoring the public’s trust in the upper-echelons of the California State University system.”

Portantino has introduced five bills that address various aspects of the higher education system:

AB 1409 – Concurrent Enrollment.  California Community Colleges are allowed to admit a limited number of high school students as "special admits", primarily in order to give these students advanced education.  For example, a high school student might take calculus at the local community college, rather than taking AP calculus in high school.   However, the law provides only a small percentage of high school students with this opportunity to become familiar with a college setting, to attempt college-level coursework, to accelerate their education, to have access to courses not taught in the high school and to make effective use of summer breaks.  AB 1409 would create strong local partnership between high schools and community colleges in order to make better use of facilities, promote greater participation for advanced education than currently allowed and to make enrollment simpler.   The bill, if enacted, would create more opportunities for partnerships to provide career technical education, basic skills and remediation, high school exit examination preparation, drop-out intervention, instruction in English as a second language and introduce students to the higher education who may not have envisioned it in their future.

AB 488 – Community College Grant Program.  The State of California has a long and proud tradition of ensuring access to college for its low-income students.  Although the fees at the California Community Colleges are the lowest in the nation, low fees in and of themselves do not guarantee affordability.   Community college students face an array of expenses other than fees.  Students must purchase textbooks, supplies, sometimes computer equipment, pay for rent, food, transportation and sometimes child care in order to attend college.   Like students in the University of California and the California State University, community college students are eligible to receive Cal Grants and Federal Pell Grants, and as with UC and CSU students, these grants are not sufficient to meet the needs of all low-income students.  However, in both UC and CSU the state maintains a "campus-based" financial aid program that can be used to fill in the gaps for students who do not get sufficient assistance from other programs.   AB 488 would create the CCC Access Grant modeled after existing campus-based grant programs to be simple, flexible and quick to respond to student need. 

AB 668 – Maximizing Federal and State Financial Aid for Community Colleges.   California Community College students receive Federal Pell Grant at a rate significantly below the national community college average and at a rate significantly below UC and CSU undergraduates.  Californians pay federal taxes to support the Federal Pell Grant program, but the grants are not returning to California in sufficient numbers.   Oftentimes the problem is simply that students do not know about all the various financing options available to address the full cost of education.   AB 668 will provide more notification to students of their financial aid options, increase funding at the Chancellor's office to

allow staff to spend extra time with economically disadvantaged students, and create training modules for community colleges  counselors on up-to-date financing options.

AB 1413 – CSU Governance Reform.  In the past year, many press accounts have detailed California State University (CSU) policies and practices related to executive compensation.  Investigative reporting revealed previously secret compensation packages that included transition pay, professorships and special benefits that are clearly excessive, especially in light of budget deficits that have plagued California in recent years.  AB 1413 will, among other things, require the Board of Trustees to approve all executive contracts in public session, revealing all benefits, not just salary and housing as is now the practice and eliminate the phenomena of “ghost professorships” by requiring CSU executives who are paid for professorships to actually teach if given this designation. 

AB 365 – Council on Workforce Needs.  Between 30-40% of California's workforce requires some college-level education.  At the same time, the fastest growing segments of our population are those least likely to attend college.  In order to meet this workforce demand and keep our economy and society vibrant, it is essential that the state's higher education institutions, labor community and employers work collaboratively—but there is no mechanism to do so.  AB 365 creates this mechanism by charging the California Postsecondary Education Commission and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to convene a task force of stakeholders to 1) determine California's workforce needs, 2) align those needs with the capacity at our state's higher education institutions, 3) and establish a permanent authority to ensure that our colleges and universities are prepared to meet the state's future workforce needs.

Portantino’s legislation will be heard in the Assembly Higher Education Committee in late March or early April.