Report 2021-101 Recommendation 4 Responses

Report 2021-101: K-12 Strong Workforce Program: State and Regional Administrative Shortcomings Limit the Program's Effectiveness in Supporting Grant Applicants (Release Date: February 2022)

Recommendation #4 To: Community Colleges Chancellor's Office

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.

1-Year Agency Response

- Implementation complete.

The California Community Colleges Chancellor's office provided guidance in the RFA for selection committees to consider funding to address regional investments and labor market needs. As stated in the RFA,

The K12 Selection Committee can take a variety of factors into consideration in making their funding decisions and are not required to fund the highest scoring applications that are determined not to align with the regional plans and/or do not meet regional economic needs (Education Code, Sections 88821 and 88830).

- K12 Selection Committees reserve the right to adjust the funding amount to align with the proposed scope of work in the application.

- The K12 Selection Committee may, at its discretion, award less than the amounts requested, based on review of the application and the committee's responsibility to ensure a portfolio of awards that best meets the needs of the region's economy and the intention of the legislation.

- When determining grant recipients under the K-12 component of the Strong Workforce Program, the K12 Selection Committee shall consider past performance of grantees before awarding additional funds to those reapplying for grants (Education Code, Section 88830(a)).

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

We reviewed the evidence the Chancellor's Office provided and in combination with the information provided in response to recommendation #3, we assessed this recommendation fully implemented. The Chancellor's Office's efforts have improved the transparency of selection criteria so that applicants can make better informed decisions when applying for workforce grants.

6-Month Agency Response

This item is pending. The Chancellor's Office will include the recommendation in the Round 5 RFA

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

The California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office disagrees with this recommendation to include criteria for the Selection Committees to be included in the RFA. Each of the regional selection committees are independent and develop criteria that reflect the unique requirements of their region. These criteria are included in each regional preliminary award announcement. In order to maximize funding, the California Community Colleges Chancellor's office will provide guidance in the RFA for selection committees to consider funding to address regional investments and labor market needs- This task will be completed in August 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: No Action Taken

We urge the Chancellor's Office to reconsider its response to this recommendation. Because each selection committee develops criteria, it is important to inform applicants in those regions of that criteria. Providing applicants with the criteria used to select applications after those selections have already been made is of little benefit to applicants. Further, it is feasible and consistent with recommended practices for selection committees to determine selection criteria before evaluating applications, and for the Chancellor's Office to include that selection criteria in the RFA. Doing so would allow schools to make better-informed application decisions and appeal decisions that are inconsistent with selection criteria - such as the inappropriate denial of a charter school grant application in fiscal year 2020-21 that we described in our report. Finally, the guidance that the Chancellor's Office states it will provide regarding maximizing funding is not relevant to this recommendation.

All Recommendations in 2021-101

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.