116
AGENDA ITEM BACKGROUND
TO: GOVERNING BOARD
DATE
FROM: PRESIDENT
April 8, 2013
SUBJECT:
ENCLOSURE(S)
Legislative Platform
REASON FOR BOARD CONSIDERATION
ACTION
ITEM NUMBER
Page 1 of 3
G.6
BACKGROUND:
California community colleges are created by state law. Acts of the state legislature directly affect student
programs and services. Cabrillo College can influence the state legislature through the development of a
legislative platform. The legislative platform will be the basis for communicating the position of the college
on important state legislation. All Trustees, faculty and staff will be asked to follow the legislative platform
when representing the views of the college before members of the legislature, state agencies, local
governmental agencies, local organizations and similar venues.
The Legislative Platform proposal was written by Kristin Fabos, Director of Marketing and Communications,
and is based upon the talking points developed by the Community College League of California and
distributed at the annual Trustees Legislative Conference held in Sacramento on January 28, 2013. The draft
proposal was reviewed at the College Planning Council (CPC) meetings of February 27 and March 6, 2013.
The proposal includes revisions recommended by CPC. The draft proposal was approved by CPC at its
March 6, 2013 meeting.
FISCAL IMPACT: None.
RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the Governing Board approve the 2013 Legislative
Platform as presented.
Administrator Initiating Item:
Kristin Fabos, Director, Marketing &
Communications
Academic and Professional Matter
If yes, Faculty Senate Agreement
Senate President Signature
 Yes  No
 Yes  No
Final Disposition
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Cabrillo College
Legislative Platform & Talking Points
March 6, 2013
•
The Cabrillo Community College District is grateful for the passage of Proposition 30,
which will provide restoration funding to Cabrillo and community colleges statewide. Last
year community colleges in California turned away approximately 500,000 students.
Cabrillo’s enrollment has shrunk by approximately 3,000 students since 2008-9. Cabrillo
believes in improving our completion rates with a commitment to quality of education, in
three core areas: Basic Skills, Transfer, and Career and Technical Education (CTE). We
welcome the $197 million in proposed new funding to the California Community College
system. For this new funding, key areas of need include:
• A funded cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to begin restoration of lost COLA.
• Restoration funding for student success initiatives and the overall quality of
instruction services.
• Funding for enrollment demand in core areas for student success.
Shortened: Cabrillo is grateful for the passage of Proposition 30. We recommend directing
additional funds toward continued improvements in the quality of education that result in student
success, and addressing our softening enrollment.
•
While Cabrillo supports and is in the process of implementing the reforms outlined in SB
1440 (streamlined the transfer pathway from community colleges to CSU) and SB 1456,
(established a Student Success Task Force that released a report with a number of
recommendations for the system to undertake), Cabrillo opposes the Governor’s proposal
to place a 90-unit cap on community college students. We are aligning our systems in
support of the 100-unit cap recommended by the Student Success Task Force, however, its
first effects will not be realized until Fall 2014. We’d like time to see how that 100-unit cap
works for our students, before consideration of further reducing the cap to 90 units.
o Several of our transfer-ready students in more demanding majors have had to
take many pre-requisites, placing them at or above 100 units.
o The 90-unit cap would limit students’ ability to come back to Cabrillo for
retraining, which is an essential role of community colleges in this current
economy.
Shortened: Cabrillo supports the recommendations of the Student Success Task Force, including
the 100-unit cap. We are in the process of implementing those reforms and oppose additional
reforms until the effects of the 100-unit cap take effect, in Fall 2014.
•
Issues around the Governor’s proposed census/completion reform are complex and
require additional discussion between the Chancellor’s Office and the Administration to
clarify intentions in meeting our shared goal of increasing student success.
Cabrillo
College
Marketing
&
Communications
118
•
Cabrillo does not support the Governor’s proposal for the funding of adult education in its
current form. We do support augmented funding for community colleges to focus on the
following three areas:
• Basic skills
• English as a Second Language (ESL)
• Short-term vocational programs
Focusing this funding on critical needs in basic skills, ESL and short-term vocational
programs will allow community colleges to be innovative in addressing the high number
of students that are not college-ready.
Shortened: Cabrillo supports the additional funding to community colleges, however it is not
sufficient to cover what is needed for adult education. Instead, we support an alternative that
would supplement what we are already doing in basic skills, ESL and short-term vocational
programs.
Cabrillo
College
Marketing
&
Communications