Report 2021-101 Recommendation 5 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 #5 To: Community Colleges Chancellor's Office

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.

1-Year Agency Response

- Implementation complete.

The following process was established to inform the Chancellor's office of any modifications to Pathway Coordinator Service Areas.

The regional consortia, in partnership with the K12 and community college stakeholders, will annually evaluate the distribution of the K12 PCs within their region to consider availability of support, equity, and access.

If needed, the regional consortium may submit a proposal to modify the distribution of K12 PCs to the California Community College Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) to best suit the needs of the region. Modification proposals shall include an explanation of the proposed changes and a justification. Proposals are due September 30. CCCCO and Superintendent of Public Instruction will render decisions by October 31 to allow for changes to be implemented by the beginning of the following fiscal year.

There may be extenuating circumstances when a September due date would be incompatible with the needs of the region (e.g., a K12 PC vacancy or an LEA host opts out). In this scenario, a region may submit a proposal and the CCCCO and Superintendent of Public Instruction shall respond with a decision within 30 days of the request.

For justification purposes, modification proposals may include, but are not limited to...

o K12 district or site level ADA

o Community College FTE

o Geographical area

o Number of colleges, districts, school sites, etc.

o Distance

o Other information or data

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

The process the Chancellor's Office describes will, as we recommended, allow changes to pathway coordinator service areas--if it is used by the regional consortia. Although the Chancellor's Office did not indicate whether the regional consortia have used the process to date, we consider this recommendation fully implemented.

6-Month Agency Response

This recommendation is mostly implemented. The Chancellor's office has been working with the regional consortia on a process and will work collaboratively with the Dept. of Education to implement the process. Anticipate completion by end of year.

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

60-Day Agency Response

The Chancellor's Office will survey the Regional Consortia to inform the Chancellor's Office of any changes or modifications to the Pathway Coordinators area by May 30, 2022 and each year thereafter will submit by March 15 for changes. The Chancellor's Office will work with the CA Department of Education to modify or restructure the service areas.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

We look forward to reviewing documentation of the new procedure the Chancellor's Office describes, and the initial results of applying that procedure, in its six-month response to this recommendation.

All Recommendations in 2021-101

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.