SB 1440 passed the Legislature and was signed by the Governor. The Senate has been instrumental in the implementation of SB 1440 and has considered many of the issues of this resolution as it moves forward.
Whereas, California State Senator Alex Padilla has authored a bill, SB1440 (2009), which has appropriately raised an issue of public concern regarding the gap between the increasing percentage of jobs in California calling for a minimum of an associate's degree and the number of those degrees awarded by California community colleges;
Whereas, The bill also raises a legitimate concern for those students entering community colleges with the intent to transfer to a baccalaureate awarding university who end up with neither a baccalaureate nor an associate's degree; and
Whereas, In calling for legislation of degrees, the bill identifies an inappropriate venue for determining the parameters of an associate's degree, misidentifies the primary impediments to associate degree attainment, and fails to deal with those University of California and California State University students who do not attend a community college who also end up with no degree;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges work with Senator Padilla and others towards the establishment of a high level intersegmental degree attainment taskforce supported by the Legislature and consisting of Academic Senate and high level administrative representatives from all three segments which would have ambitious targets in terms of timeline and intended results and which would use all appropriate resources to determine the primary impediments to postsecondary degree attainment and propose far reaching solutions aimed at greatly increasing degree attainment;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges adopt as a high priority the preparation of ideas, research, educational principles, and values such that the Senate’s assertion of faculty primacy and authority in appropriate areas is easily respected by the Legislature.
MSC Disposition: Local Senates, Senator Padilla, Board of Governors, Consultation Council