BILL NUMBER: SB 1737 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 4, 2000
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 10, 2000
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hayden
FEBRUARY 23, 2000
An act to add Article 8 (commencing with Section 66090) to Chapter
2 of Part 40 of the Education Code, relating to postsecondary
education.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1737, as amended, Hayden. Postsecondary education: Statewide
Service Learning and Community Service Center.
Existing law establishes a statewide system of public
postsecondary education consisting of the various campuses of the
University of California, the California State University, and the
California Community Colleges. Private postsecondary institutions
also provide educational services to California students.
This bill would establish a Statewide Service Learning and
Community Service Center for administering a grants program to
establish service learning and community service centers on the
campuses of individual public and private colleges and universities.
The bill would prescribe the duties of the Statewide Service
Learning and Community Service Center.
The bill would establish a Service Learning and Community Service
Grant Program, under which funds would be made available for
allocation, on a competitive basis, to individual campus service
learning and community service programs that raise a specified level
of matching funds.
The bill would require the California Postsecondary Education
Commission to be responsible for selecting and monitoring an entity
to administer the grant program and the Statewide Service Learning
and Community Service Center.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) Service learning and community service are essential to
meeting community needs, improving the quality of life, and the
enrichment of democracy.
(2) Service learning and community service programs, such as
tutoring in public schools, have proven effective in improving
educational achievement and decreasing dropout rates.
(3) Service learning and community service by college students
have proven to be significant educational tools in improving student
comprehension of classroom materials, problem-solving skills, and
reflective abilities, while providing significant service to
communities.
(4) Service learning is optimized for students and the community
when it is compensated by work-study funds, fee reductions, or other
sources of funding that offer financial assistance to the student who
is participating in the service learning.
(5) The Governor's "call to service" requests California's public
colleges and universities to establish a community service
requirement for undergraduate students at the University of
California, the California State University, and the California
Community Colleges.
(6) The California State University has adopted a policy of
endorsing campus efforts to make service an expectation, condition,
or requirement of the undergraduate education experience.
(b) It is, therefore, the intent of the Legislature to accomplish
all of the following:
(1) To encourage public and independent colleges and universities
to establish and expand community service and service learning
programs on every campus in order to improve the quality of higher
education and contribute a major public service to the people of
California.
(2) To provide funding for service learning programs as part of
the annual budget for public colleges and universities and matching
grants for private colleges and universities.
(3) To give every student attending a public institution of higher
education, or a private college or university that receives state
funds, the opportunity to participate in a service learning class or
supervised community service, or both.
SEC. 2. Article 8 (commencing with Section 66090) is added to
Chapter 2 of Part 40 of the Education Code, to read:
Article 8. Service Learning and Community Service Programs
66090. In order to increase the development of service learning
and community service programs at public and private colleges and
universities, institutions of higher education shall do the
following:
(a) The California State University shall support campus efforts
to make service learning or community service, or both, an
expectation, condition, or requirement of the undergraduate education
experience.
(b) The California Community Colleges shall support campus efforts
to make service learning or community service, or both, an
expectation, condition, or requirement for its students' educational
experience.
(c) The Legislature requests that the University of California
support campus efforts to make service learning or community service,
or both, an expectation, condition, or requirement for undergraduate
education experience.
(d) Private colleges and universities receiving state funding
shall support campus efforts to make service learning or community
service, or both, an expectation, condition, or requirement for
undergraduate education experience.
(e) The California State University, the California Community
Colleges, the University of California, and private colleges and
universities receiving state funding shall submit annual reports to
the Legislature on the progress being made in providing and expanding
service learning or community service programs, or both, in their
respective colleges and universities.
66090.1. (a) The Statewide Service Learning and Community Service
Center is hereby established to encourage and increase the
development of service learning programs at public and private
colleges and universities.
(b) As used in this article:
(1) "Community service" means focused and supervised community
service carried out in the context of academic education and not
integrated into the curriculum.
(2) "Service learning" means focused and supervised community
service carried out in the context of academic education and
integrated into the curriculum.
(c) The goals of the Statewide Service Learning and Community
Service Center are to accomplish both of the following:
(1) To encourage and enable the development of service learning
and community service programs that provide the integration of
service into courses and curricula.
(2) To support the development of service learning and community
service centers as hubs and catalysts for the growth of service
learning and community service opportunities.
66090.3. The duties of the Statewide Service Learning and
Community Service Center include, but are not necessarily limited to,
all of the following:
(a) Administration of the Service Learning and Community Service
Grant Program established pursuant to Section 66090.7.
(b) Fostering and promoting the ideals of service learning and
community service programs and encouraging integration of service
learning into curricula.
(c) Undertaking regular assessment and evaluation of service
learning and community service programs.
(d) Identifying potential private, state, local, and federal
sources of funding for service learning and community service
programs.
(e) Recommending service learning and community service policies
to the Governor and Legislature.
66090.5. (a) Individual campuses are encouraged to incorporate
service learning into their curricula, to direct existing resources
to compensate students for service learning and community service, to
form local centers for service learning and community service, and
to apply for grants from the Statewide Service Learning and Community
Service Center.
(b) Service learning and community service centers on individual
campuses are encouraged to do all of the following:
(1) Strengthen the service learning infrastructure at the campus
level by building on existing efforts and coordinating service
learning with existing campus community outreach programs.
(2) Assist faculty in developing service learning courses.
(3) Provide administrative and logistical support to offer
high-quality service learning courses and programs.
(4) Build awareness of service learning on and off campus, and
ensure that all students have access to service opportunities.
(5) Serve as a liaison between community organizations and
colleges or universities.
(6) Inform community organizations about the ways in which the
college or university could serve them.
(7) Work with community organizations to determine the ways in
which the college or university could best assist them.
(8) Evaluate the effectiveness of service learning and community
service programs in addressing community needs and promoting student
development.
(9) Engage students in productive and meaningful educational
experiences.
(10) Provide community service resources for recognized local
organizations that address educational, health, environmental, or
other human needs.
66090.7. (a) A Service Learning and Community Service Grant
Program is hereby established. Under the grant program, state
matching funds shall be allocated to individual service learning and
community service programs at public and private colleges and
universities, as administered by the Statewide Service Learning and
Community Service Center established pursuant to Section 66090.1.
(b) The Statewide Service Learning and Community Service Center
shall approve grants in a competitive process, and shall base grant
amounts on the size of the campus student population and the proposed
magnitude of the service learning and community service programs.
Grants provided under this article may be expended for administrative
costs and compensation, transportation, and other necessary costs
incurred by service learning and community service student
participants. The matching fund ratio shall be 80 percent from state
funds and 20 percent from individual campus funds.
(c) Priority in awarding grants shall be given to campuses that
demonstrate an interest in increasing and strengthening service
learning and community service opportunities and programs, and to
service learning and community service programs that address
educational needs in one or more of the following programs, although
other types of service learning opportunities shall be encouraged:
(1) Elementary and secondary schools.
(2) Continuing education schools.
(3) Youth camps.
(4) Probation programs.
(d) Campuses and service learning and community service programs
applying for grants shall demonstrate collaboration with community
partners.
66091. (a) Each private or public college or university receiving
a grant under Section 66090.7 shall plan to assume support of its
service learning center over time. Grant applicants shall present a
financial plan for independently sustaining the centers that are
established.
(b) The Statewide Service Learning and Community Service Center
and individual campus service learning centers shall seek to
integrate resources and programs with complementary organizations
engaged in national or community service and service learning,
including, but not necessarily limited to, programs such as America
Reads, Americorps, Vista, and the Senior Corps.
(c) The Statewide Service Learning and Community Service Center
shall be encouraged to cooperate and coordinate with the State
Department of Education, the California Education Roundtable, the
Governor's Office of Child Development and Education, and the
California Commission on Improving Life Through Service in promoting
service learning and community service programs statewide.
(d) The Legislature encourages the California Education Roundtable
to adopt a policy supporting service learning and community service
programs and centers on every college and university campus.
66091.3. (a) The California Postsecondary Education
Commission shall select and monitor an entity to administer the grant
program and the Statewide Service Learning and Community Service
Center from entities that shall include, but not necessarily be
limited to, all of the following: Campus Compact, the California
Commission on Improving Life Through Service, or another
administrative entity selected through an intersegmental memorandum
of understanding. The
(b) The California Postsecondary Education Commission shall
make the selection required by this section through a
competitive process, in accordance with appropriate criteria that it
shall develop and make known to the competing entities. The
commission shall not make the selection required by this
section until a level of grant funding has been made available and is
deemed by the commission to be sufficient to implement this article
on at least a limited or pilot basis.