Report 2021-101 Recommendations

To ensure consistency in scoring applications, the Bay Area Community College Consortium should collaborate with the other regional consortia to establish a standard approach for addressing score variations that selection committees statewide will use, beginning with the fiscal year 2022-23 grant application period, when evaluating whether applications meet eligibility criteria.

To ensure consistency in scoring applications, the Central/Mother Lode Regional Consortium should collaborate with the other regional consortia to establish a standard approach for addressing score variations that selection committees statewide will use, beginning with the fiscal year 2022-23 grant application period, when evaluating whether applications meet eligibility criteria.

To ensure that its selection committee follows safeguards designed to avoid unfair grant decisions, beginning with the fiscal year 2022-23 grant application period, the Central/Mother Lode Regional Consortium should maintain internal documentation demonstrating its review for selection committee members' potential conflicts of interest. This documentation should include a comparison of the entities that applied and the conflicts reported by each selection committee member. The consortium should also keep records showing that selection committee members did not review applications for which they had conflicts of interest.

To enhance the quality of information the selection committees have available when determining whether applications best meet the workforce program's goals, beginning with the fiscal year 2022-23 grant application period, the Chancellor's Office should specify in the RFA that applicants should include detailed information addressing all eligibility criteria, including information about the wage rates and demand for skilled workers in industries aligned with their CTE programs.

To enhance the quality of information the selection committees have available when determining whether applications best meet the workforce program's goals, beginning with the fiscal year 2022-23 grant application period, the Chancellor's Office should provide examples that address all of the eligibility criteria.

To ensure that all applicants can make informed decisions when applying for workforce grants, beginning with the fiscal year 2022-23 grant application period, the Chancellor's Office should request selection committees to determine—before the Chancellor's Office issues the RFA—how they will address requests for funding that exceed the total amount they are allocated and to inform the Chancellor's Office of their decision and any selection criteria they will use so that it can include this information in the RFA.

To ensure that all applicants can make informed decisions when applying for workforce grants, beginning with the fiscal year 2022-23 grant application period, the Chancellor's Office should include in the RFA transparent and complete information about whether each selection committee has decided to fund all eligible applications and, if not, what selection criteria it will use.

To provide LEAs equal access to the support staff who assist them with pursuing workforce grants, the Chancellor's Office should establish and implement a process by June 2022 for a regional consortium to propose modifications to the areas that its workforce pathway coordinators are assigned to serve. The Chancellor's Office should then obtain the state superintendent of public instruction's agreement to restructure service areas when it determines that doing so will improve the equality of LEAs' access to workforce pathway coordinators.

To ensure that unspent funds appropriated for support positions in fiscal year 2018-19 are used for the purposes of creating, supporting, or expanding CTE programs, the Chancellor's Office should, before it issues the fiscal year 2022-23 RFA, add any unspent funds to the amount appropriated to the regional consortia for these purposes.

To ensure that policymakers and interested members of the public have accurate information at their disposal, Education should work with any parties that have used this erroneous figure, including but not limited to the State Board of Education and the Advisory Committee, to publish corrections on their webpages that disclose accurate information.

To ensure consistency in scoring applications, the Inland Empire/Desert Regional Consortium should collaborate with the other regional consortia to establish a standard approach for addressing score variations that selection committees statewide will use, beginning with the fiscal year 2022-23 grant application period, when evaluating whether applications meet eligibility criteria.

To allow the Elite Academic Academy—Lucerne an opportunity to have its inappropriately denied fiscal year 2020-21 application reconsidered, the Inland Empire/Desert regional consortium should encourage the charter school to reapply for a workforce grant and should apply its selection criteria consistently and correctly when making its award decision.

To ensure that its selection committee follows safeguards designed to avoid unfair grant decisions, beginning with the fiscal year 2022-23 grant application period, the Los Angeles Regional Consortium should maintain internal documentation demonstrating its review for selection committee members' potential conflicts of interest. This documentation should include a comparison of the entities that applied and the conflicts reported by each selection committee member. The consortium should also keep records showing that selection committee members did not review applications for which they had conflicts of interest.

To ensure consistency in scoring applications, the Los Angeles Regional Consortium should collaborate with the other regional consortia to establish a standard approach for addressing score variations that selection committees statewide will use, beginning with the fiscal year 2022-23 grant application period, when evaluating whether applications meet eligibility criteria.

To ensure that its selection committee follows safeguards designed to avoid unfair grant decisions, beginning with the fiscal year 2022-23 grant application period, the North/Far North Regional Consortium should maintain internal documentation demonstrating its review for selection committee members' potential conflicts of interest. This documentation should include a comparison of the entities that applied and the conflicts reported by each selection committee member. The consortium should also keep records showing that selection committee members did not review applications for which they had conflicts of interest.

To ensure consistency in scoring applications, the North/Far North Regional Consortium should collaborate with the other regional consortia to establish a standard approach for addressing score variations that selection committees statewide will use, beginning with the fiscal year 2022-23 grant application period, when evaluating whether applications meet eligibility criteria.

To ensure consistency in scoring applications, the Orange County Regional Consortium should collaborate with the other regional consortia to establish a standard approach for addressing score variations that selection committees statewide will use, beginning with the fiscal year 2022-23 grant application period, when evaluating whether applications meet eligibility criteria.

To ensure consistency in scoring applications, the San Diego/Imperial Regional Consortium should collaborate with the other regional consortia to establish a standard approach for addressing score variations that selection committees statewide will use, beginning with the fiscal year 2022-23 grant application period, when evaluating whether applications meet eligibility criteria.

To ensure that its selection committee follows safeguards designed to avoid unfair grant decisions, beginning with the fiscal year 2022-23 grant application period, the South Central Coast Regional Consortium should maintain internal documentation demonstrating its review for selection committee members' potential conflicts of interest. This documentation should include a comparison of the entities that applied and the conflicts reported by each selection committee member. The consortium should also keep records showing that selection committee members did not review applications for which they had conflicts of interest.

To ensure consistency in scoring applications, the South Central Coast Regional Consortium should collaborate with the other regional consortia to establish a standard approach for addressing score variations that selection committees statewide will use, beginning with the fiscal year 2022-23 grant application period, when evaluating whether applications meet eligibility criteria.