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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Griego

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/20/2007

HB

SHORT TITLE Luna College High School Reading Program

SB 1123

ANALYST McOlash

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$750.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

Public Education Department (PED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 1123 appropriates $750,000 from the General Fund to HED for expenditure in FY

2008 for Luna Community College (LCC) to develop and implement a Cross Roads Academy

program that offers developmental reading to high school sophomores at Mora, Springer, and

Santa Rosa High Schools.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $750,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY 2008 shall revert to the

General Fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The PED analysis indicates that through the “cross roads academy," Luna Community College

hopes to build a bridge program to facilitate the transition process for students between high

school and college. The “academy" has two components targeting skills development in reading

Senate Bill 1123 – Page

2

and English for two different populations: the first focuses on high school cohort groups, many

of whom are special education students enrolled in a career pathway culminating in a

postsecondary certificate, and the second focuses on GED students who are near completion and

are desirous of entering college. The tuition for such refresher courses, which also may earn dual

credit, are waived for students up to a maximum of two courses and/or as provided in respective

articulation agreements. The high schools specified in this bill constitute the college’s satellite

sites participating in the pilot.

The college has been offering remedial and refresher developmental reading courses to its first-

year students and dual credit-enrolled high school students in the hope of increasing their

chances at academic success, and increasing its postsecondary recruitment, retention and

completion rates.

Funding would be used to provide (HED Analysis, 2/15/2007):

1.

instructors in the high schools (adjunct and full-time faculty at LCC);

2.

additional tutors for those students who may need more assistance;

3.

training to build a cohesive model for instructors;

4.

travel reimbursements to instructors;

5.

curriculum development;

6.

technology-based resources, such as, computers, software;

7.

technical support to be set up in the participating high schools; and

8.

placement diagnostic tools and diagnostic tools to determine learning disabilities and

follow-up strategies.

Schools that are being targeted to participate in the pilot program do not currently provide

remedial courses to college-bound students. These remedial courses would be integrated in the

high school curriculum and would require approximately four hours of instruction/week per

course.

This request was not submitted by LCC to HED for review and is not included in the

Department’s funding recommendation for FY08.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

The concept of a “Cross Roads Academy" is not entirely clear and SB 1123 provides no

elaboration. It could be one of a number of formal programs including a Crossroads Academy

based upon the writings of Stephen R. Covey.

About five years ago, two California educators were “experimenting" with the concepts in

Stephen R. Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." Impressed by strategies they

learned from the book, they realized that teenagers could benefit from its principles. Thus was

born the idea that led to a highly successful course called “Crossroads," originally taught only at

Mar Vista High School in Imperial Beach, near San Diego.

The course, which ninth-grade students can take for one or two semesters, helps them make the

transition to high school and provides them with improved decision-making and study skills. It

also teaches them how to establish positive relationships with peers and adults. Students receive

a copy of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens" as well as the companion workbook; they

Senate Bill 1123 – Page

3

keep a Crossroads portfolio and attend field trips to college campuses to encourage strategic

thinking about their futures.

Crossroads focuses a lot on character development named from Habit #2—‘Begin with the end

in mind.’ Students are at the point where they can go in any direction they choose. Crossroads

provides them with options. It gets them to think about where they want to be.

BM/nt