The 2022-23 Budget: California College Guidance Initiative

The 2022-23 Budget: California College Guidance Initiative FEBRUARY 2022 Summary. This post provides background Recent Work Group Recommended on the California College Guidance Initiative Statewide Expansion of CCGI Under Integrated (CCGI), describes the Governor’s proposal for the “Cradle to Career” Data System. As part of the program, and offers an associated assessment and 2019-20 budget package, Chapter 51 of 2019 recommendation to the Legislature. (SB 75, Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) provided $10 million one-time non-Proposition 98 Background General Fund to begin initial planning and CCGI Is a College Planning and Advising Tool. development of a statewide integrated education CCGI offers access to college planning, financial data system. This initial work included convening aid, and career exploration tools to students a cross-agency work group to recommend a from grades 6 to 12 through its online platform data system consistent with legislative intent. CaliforniaColleges.edu. CCGI also partners with Specifically, the budget package included intent school districts to streamline the college application language that the data system “create direct process through verified electronic transcripts. support tools for teachers, parents, advisors, Partner districts can upload verified academic and students” and have the ability to “transfer transcript data onto the platform and into students’ high school pupil educational records to accounts. When students from these partner postsecondary educational institutions.” The final districts apply to a California Community College work group report released in June 2021 included a (CCC) or California State University (CSU), certain recommendation to expand CCGI to school districts high school data is shared. The college or university, throughout the state to fulfill certain components of in turn, can use the data to inform decisions about legislative intent. admissions and course placement. As of 2021-22, 2021-22 Budget Provided $3.8 Million 95 school districts participate in CCGI. Ongoing Augmentation for CCGI Expansion. CCGI Is Funded Through Mix of The 2021-22 budget increased CCGI funding to Proposition 98, Fee Revenue, and Philanthropy. begin scaling statewide (bringing total ongoing In 2018-19, the state provided CCGI $3.5 million Proposition 98 funding to $7.3 million). The 2021-22 ongoing Proposition 98 for operational costs. budget package authorized CCGI to provide The state currently funds CCGI as part of the its services to all California school districts. California Department of Education’s (CDE’s) The budget also included intent language that, budget, with Riverside County Office of Education upon full implementation, CCGI would be expected (COE) and the nonprofit Foundation for California to provide several services—including free college Community Colleges acting as intermediaries. planning, financial aid lessons, and career planning CCGI generates some additional funding by curricula—for students in grades 6 through 12. collecting fees from participating districts and Trailer legislation also requires CCGI to report charter schools—$2 per middle school student additional information by April 1, 2022 (and and $2.75 per high school student. Fee revenue for every year thereafter), such as budget change 2021-22 was slightly less than $700,000. CCGI also proposals; details for participating districts and receives funding from private philanthropy and charter schools; and, in the first report, a needs institutional partners. For example, CCC and CSU assessment examining platform usage and cover participation fees for 77 districts in the Central relevance of existing features to users. Valley and Inland Empire. 2022-23 Budget Series 1 Governor’s Proposal CCGI Could Benefit From Long-Term Implementation Plan. Although CCGI assumes Provides $9.3 Million Ongoing Augmentation more districts will want to participate as the for CCGI Expansion. Of this funding, $4.5 million platform becomes more helpful to students during is proposed to cover the cost of operating the the college application and financial aid process, platform for existing districts, including covering there is no clear plan to expand to the remaining the costs of fees previously paid by participating districts. A long-term implementation plan could districts. The remaining $4.8 million would cover be particularly beneficial given the challenges of costs associated with new districts participating scaling statewide. For instance, there is no state on the platform, including technology operations, mandate requiring schools to use the CCGI platform maintenance, and development, as well as or incentive funding to encourage more districts CCGI personnel. The proposed augmentation to participate. A long-term implementation plan would bring total ongoing Proposition 98 funding could clarify how CCGI would target outreach and for CCGI to $16.8 million. resources to engage new districts and address any Includes $4.4 Million One-Time barriers to participation. For example, CCGI could Proposition 98 Funding to Establish Regional use a regional approach based on local college Support for Participating Schools. The Governor attendance rates or focus on the state’s largest also proposes one-time funding to establish a school districts first. The plan could also identify regional network of 11 COEs to increase utilization ways to encourage more district participation in of the CCGI platform and provide technical CCGI, including amending existing state law. assistance to participating schools. Funding Technical Assistance Seems Reasonable, but would be available over three years. Regional Approach Might Have Limited Impact. Assessment In our conversations with CCGI, they indicated the Proposed Augmentation Is Aligned With regional approach is intended to take advantage of Legislative Intent. As previously discussed, COEs’ knowledge of their local context, as well as trailer legislation as part of the 2021-22 budget the strong reputation of some COEs in their region. package authorized CCGI to provide its services However, there is no guarantee that a district will to all California school districts and established be inclined to follow advice on best practices from expectations for the services CCGI would a regional COE, given that under the proposal, the provide once fully implemented. The proposed selected COEs will be working with a large number augmentation is consistent with legislative intent of districts located in a separate county and with to scale CCGI statewide. which they may not have an existing relationship. In addition, the proposal includes little detail about Full Costs for Scaling CCGI Remain Unclear. the types of activities regional COEs would be With the proposed augmentation, CCGI plans to expected to perform to increase utilization of the expand the platform to an additional 136 districts in platform. Other approaches might better increase 2022-23. As a result, roughly 230 out of 424 unified CCGI utilization, such as having CCGI or CDE and high school districts (54 percent overall) would highlight exemplar districts or working within the be participating in CCGI statewide. CCGI plans to state’s existing system of support to promote CCGI fully scale by 2025-26. The proposed augmentation and share best practices statewide, especially as brings total ongoing CCGI funding to $16.6 million, they relate to college and career readiness. with 294 districts that still need to be added to the platform. CCGI initially estimated the cost of Recommendation fully scaling operations between $18 million and Evaluate Proposal Based on Additional $20 million, but given the large number of districts Details CCGI Will Provide in Spring. Since more that have yet to be added to the platform, we details will be available in April, we recommend the remain uncertain about the long-term costs for fully Legislature review the additional documentation scaling CCGI. CCGI will provide and ensure key questions are 2022-23 Budget Series 2 addressed. The Legislature could also consider • Does CCGI have a comprehensive plan for moving CCGI’s existing reporting deadlines in addressing issues identified in their needs statute from April to the fall, consistent with the assessment? What degree of user feedback administration’s budget development cycle. does CCGI plan to regularly incorporate into Some key questions for the Legislature to their platform updates? consider include: • Can CCGI provide more information on • What is CCGI’s long-term plan for fully scaling why districts might not want to participate the platform? What challenges does CCGI in CCGI and other related barriers to anticipate in reaching full implementation? participation? How does CCGI plan to address How does CCGI plan to address these barriers? these challenges? • What are the ongoing costs associated with fully scaling CCGI? How do other revenue sources, such as private philanthropic funding, factor into these ongoing cost estimates? Are the underlying assumptions to this cost estimate reasonable? 2022-23 Budget Series 3 LAO PUBLICATIONS This post was prepared by Amy Li, and reviewed by Edgar Cabral and Anthony Simbol. The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) is a nonpartisan office that provides fiscal and policy information and advice to the Legislature. 2022-23 Budget Series 4