After intensive deliberations and discussions, the Task Force has reached consensus on an initial package of recommendations related to the 50% Law. The Task Force proposes to build on these initial recommendations by proposing additional data gathering and analysis, which will provide the basis for additional deliberations regarding other potential policy changes next year and in future years, as appropriate.

The Task Force recommends this phased approach because it is imperative to move forward to the Consultation Council and the Board of Governors with a package of changes that demonstrates that we have begun to deal with the 50% Law and related issues as a system. The 50% Law remains a highly controversial subject that divides us within the system. We hold very different views about the law, and these views are strongly held. Some groups are frustrated because they are convinced the law is being misinterpreted or violated; and they are particularly frustrated because the Chancellor’s Office does not seem to be doing enough to monitor and enforce the law. Others are just as frustrated because they are convinced the 50% Law is an antiquated K-12 law that has no place in the post-AB 1725 environment in which our colleges operate. Because of these strongly held views, if the system is not responsive in working with the parties to bring a balanced response, it is likely that one or more of the parties will seek relief in the Legislature. In our view, having this dispute end up in the Legislature is not in the best interests of our students or our system. We will divide legislators, and we will most certainly divert the State from focusing on our budgetary needs. Almost as certain, we will diminish confidence in the system.

1. The Chancellor’s Office will establish a program to train district staff and others on the requirements of the 50% Law. In this regard we note the Chancellor’s earlier commitment to initiate this program by April of this year. The Chancellor’s Office will offer training/workshops at the annual Board of Governors/Chancellor’s Office conference (April), the ACBO conference, and the CASBO conference (participating in a district-led panel). In addition, the Office will provide workshops for CPA’s who do contracted audits of community college districts.

2. The Chancellor’s Office will expand the audit procedures for CPA’s hired by districts. In addition, the Chancellor’s Office will add to, and sharpen the audit questions that are applied. The audit guide should call for CPA’s to test the exclusions that districts are claiming, and will call for CPA’s to test areas of frequent misinterpretation (particularly those areas brought up by the State Auditor—ancillary services and reassigned time). In this regard, we note that the Chancellor’s staff has prepared draft proposals for accomplishing all of this work. The Office will release a draft for field review in April or early May, and the Chancellor’s staff will convene a Consultation task group to review and comment on these work products before they are formally included in the audit guide. In addition, the Chancellor’s Office has agreed to conduct workshops for CPA’s and district staff at locations around the state in the coming months.

3. The Chancellor’s Office will resume performing spot checks on district audits. In this regard we note the Chancellor’s commitment to resume spot checking audit work papers in May or June, using existing resources. If the request for additional staff is approved as part of the 2001-2002 budget, the Office will begin spot checking district compliance as soon as it has had the opportunity to fill the position and train the individual (probably around November of 2001).

4. The Chancellor’s Office will prepare and distribute legal advisories, or develop Budget and Accounting Manual revisions to ensure that public records related to the 50% Law are made available in a timely manner, and to ensure that governing board actions related to the 50% Law are taken in accordance with public meeting laws, including the opportunity for testimony prior to governing board action. Under existing law, the CCFS-311 is a public document, and must be made available to interested parties, upon request, in a timely manner, prior to adoption by the local governing board. In addition, upon request, a district will make available either its work papers related to the 50% Law portion of the CCFS-311, or worksheets prepared in accordance with a model or models prepared by the system’s Chancellor’s Office. These models will be reviewed by the Fiscal Standards & Accountability Committee and a Consultation task group (see Recommendation #2 above) before they are distributed for use.

5. The Chancellor’s Office will prepare revisions to the Budget and Accounting Manual related to ancillary services. The revisions will reinforce that ancillary services are intended to be self-supporting. In the instance that a district finds it necessary to expend unrestricted general fund revenue to support an ancillary service, the amount of such funds will be clearly identified. In such instances, the district will also provide, upon request, documentation of the various expenses involved in providing the ancillary service.

6. The Chancellor’s Office, working with appropriate parties, will collect data and conduct surveys as necessary to develop information on three items by the end of this year (2001):

1. The amount of reassigned time provided to faculty—this will be broken down into reassigned time for academic senate activities, reassigned time for union activities, and reassigned time for other purposes.

2. The change in the number of counselors and librarians, as a system, and district by district. The data will depict the numbers from 1996 to the present time. Also, a survey will be conducted with regard to hiring intentions and hiring actions for faculty hires to commence in the fall of 2001. This survey is intended to inform the extent to which districts have followed through on prior formal commitments to hire additional counselors and librarians.

3. Data on classified staff, including data on the change in classified managers and administration from 1996 to the present, and data on the extent to which increases in classified staff are due to part-time and casual/temporary hires.

Without further information and research on these items, the Task Force found that it could not adequately assess the merits of a number of proposals that had been discussed by the Task Force. Once the information is collected and compiled, the Chancellor should convene a short-term task force to determine whether additional policy changes should be recommended to the Consultation Council and the Board of Governors.

1. In light of the agreed-upon changes noted above, the Chancellor will issue a communication that affirms the importance of counselors and librarians in the instructional process and achieving the ultimate goal of student success. The communication will urge districts to exercise restraint in reducing or withdrawing any hiring commitments regarding counselors and librarians. The communication should note that the moderate package of changes being proposed should not cause dramatic changes in district percentages regarding the 50% Law. All parties should be asked to work together to assure that any package of expenditure reductions necessary to enable a district to come into compliance with the 50% Law be carefully considered, balanced, and as protective of the instructional process and student success as possible.