Legislative Update

​The joint CCAE and CAEAA Legislative Team is reaching out to give you this brief Legislative Update with the hope that you will be able to join us at the Virtual CAEAA Conference on February 3rd to get more details.

Governor’s January 2023-23 Budget Proposal

​As you are probably aware, the Governor recently published his proposed budget for 2023-24 on January 10th , as required by law. The Governor faced the challenge of proposing a balanced budget that reflected a $22.5 billion dollar deficit! Fortunately, with a combination of strategies that included tapping into the rainy day fund, spending reductions, and fund shifts the proposed budget includes an 8.13% COLA for Adult Education, the same as LCFF. Considering the challenge of addressing such a large deficit, we are thankful to receive a COLA (proposed) equal to our K-12 districts.

LAO Report: Redesigning California’s Adult Education Funding Model

In this report, the LAO took a deep dive into Adult Education funding, both Adult Schools and Community Colleges. The report includes a fairly accurate account of how both systems are funded and points out both positive and concerns in the overall approach to funding. In short, the need for some change is made clear and we have known this for quite some time, although we might not necessarily agree on what that change should be. Before commenting on what we like and do not like about the proposal let me first summarize what we see the main components of the proposal are.

Key components of the proposal are:

1. Current K-12 CAEP funding allocations to be based on attendance (same as CC non-credit) and then gradually shift to a performance-based funding model with an eventual 70% based on attendance and 30% based on current CAEP performance outcomes. Performance funding would be based on learning gains, certificates, and jobs.
2. Community College non-credit funding (a separate pot of funding for CC only) would move with us to this funding model proposal.
3. Current CAEP funding allocated to Community Colleges (about 10% of the total CAEP state funding) would be repurposed to support consortium activities including transitions to post-secondary. Seventy percent of this pot would be based on a base fixed amount, number of members, and number of students served and 30% of funding would be based on the number of transitions from non-credit to credit bearing courses. The funds would be “shared” consortium funds and have to be renegotiated and redistributed by the consortium as the consortium sees best and not necessarily back to the colleges.
4. The funding model would be implemented over a number of years to allow providers and consortia to shift their practices to align with the new funding model.

Overall, we appreciate the proposal as one that has the intent of making the CAEP program more accountable to the students we serve. To that end, we feel the proposal does the following:

1. Equalizes funding across both K-12 and Community Colleges so that students benefit equally by attending in either system (or both).
2. Provides the same accountability on both providers and incentives outcomes for students.
3. Provides a means to redistribute funding based on changes in student needs across the State.
4. Provides a blended approach to funding that tries to strike a balance between funding stability and accountability.

Where we have some concerns at this time:

1. Attendance based funding would be a step back towards the previous funding model. Many programs have moved away from this model and focused more on accelerating students toward transitions, as has been directed by the State.
2. Current data collection is not as accurate as we were expecting it to be at this time, especially with the lack of coordination from the Chancellor's office.

At this time, we continue to receive feedback from the field and plan to do so even more at the Virtual CAEAA Conference on February 3 rd . We recommend members to register for the conference to hear from State level stakeholders and collaborate on next steps for a new funding model proposal.