ARIZONA STATE SENATE
RESEARCH STAFF
|
DAWN NAZARY LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH ANALYST HIGHER EDUCATION COMMITTEE Telephone: (602) 926 -3171 Facsimile: (602) 926 -3833 |
HIGHER EDUCATION COMMITTEE
DATE: March 27, 2006
SUBJECT: Strike everything amendment to H.B. 2058, relating to Eastern Arizona College; four year baccalaureate degrees
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Purpose
Permits Eastern Arizona College to offer four-year baccalaureate degrees beginning in FY 2007-2008.
Background
Arizona has ten established community college districts governed by locally elected governing boards: Cochise, Coconino, Graham, Maricopa, Mojave, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, Yavapai and Yuma/La Paz counties. Gila County operates as a provisional community college district that is similar to an established district without the authority to award degrees or receive equalization aid. Currently, Apache, Greenlee and Santa Cruz counties do not have community college districts within their boundaries.
Currently, community colleges receive state funding from three state formulas: capital outlay aid, equalization aid and operating state aid. Capital outlay is calculated by multiplying the district’s most recent audited full-time student equivalent (FTSE), or student enrollment, by a variable statutory rate based on a district’s FTSE count. The equalization aid formula uses property taxes and an equalization growth factor to calculate aid to four districts with low property valuation. Finally, the operating state aid formula divides the current appropriation for operating aid by the most recent audited FTSE in order to determine the amount of monies each community college district receives per FTSE.
There is a potential fiscal impact to the state General Fund beginning in FY 2007-2008 due to increased formula costs from the additional student enrollment resulting from 300 and 400 level courses offerings by Eastern Arizona College. However, there may be a potential fiscal savings to the state General Fund if the students enrolling in 300 and 400 level courses at Eastern Arizona College are transfers from a public university where student per-pupil costs are typically higher.
Provisions
Eastern Arizona College Baccalaureate Degree
1. Allows Eastern Arizona College, operated by the Graham County Community College District (GCCCD), to begin offering four-year baccalaureate degrees in FY 2007-2008 on a pilot program basis.
2. Limits the four-year baccalaureate degrees selected and offered by the GCCCD at Eastern Arizona College in the first year to include up to four academic disciplines, six academic disciplines in years two and three and an unlimited number of degrees in the fourth year and every year thereafter.
3. Requires the GCCCD to prepare to offer 300 and 400 level academic courses beginning in the spring semester of 2007 at Eastern Arizona College.
4. Maintains existing GCCCD two-year programs in arts, sciences and humanities at Eastern Arizona College, including associate degrees, technical and vocational courses and basic adult education classes.
5. Delays the ability of GCCCD to award baccalaureate degrees at Eastern Arizona College until the programs have received national or regional accreditation but does not prohibit the offering of 300 and 400 level academic courses prior to obtaining accreditation.
Reporting
6. Requires the GCCCD to notify the Joint Legislative Budget Committee in writing on an annual basis on or before September 15 for the next fiscal year of the GCCCD’s intention to offer four- year degrees the following information:
a) baccalaureate degree programs to be offered.
b) expected number of participating students.
c) estimated number of 300 and 400 level students served.
d) location of campus and colleges where baccalaureate degree programs will be offered.
e) potential impact on the GCCCD’s aggregate expenditure limitation.
f) actual costs to the student, the GCCCD, taxpayers of Graham County and the state.
7. Requires the GCCCD to submit a district budget on or before October 1, 2006, that provides an FTSE estimate for 300 and 400 level courses offered and develop performance measures for use in the state budget on or before September 15, 2006.
Taxes and Funding
8. Caps the amount that the Graham County Board of Supervisors may annually levy for community college taxes between FY 2007-2008 and FY 2012-2013 at $1.50 per $100 of assessed property valuation in the county and restricts the use of the tax collections for capital construction projects.
9. Requires the GCCCD governing board to adopt a resolution on or before June 30, 2012, on the question of continuing the community college district and the $1.50 tax levy or dissolving the district, discontinuing the tax levy and transferring the governance of Eastern Arizona College to the Arizona Board of Regents.
10. Requires the Joint Committee on Capital Review (JCCR) to review the capital construction projects funded through the $1.50 levy.
11. Prohibits GCCCD from using any portion of property taxes to fund, support or administer 300 and 400 level academic courses offered toward a baccalaureate degree except for property tax revenues collected to provide for the maintenance and operations of facilities used in whole or in part for students enrolled in 300 and 400 level academic courses.
12. Entitles the GCCCD to state operating and capital outlay aid for the first and second year in which 300 and 400 level courses are offered at an amount calculated using the district’s first and second year estimated FTSE count.
13. Adds $36 per FTSE to the existing amount GCCCD receives for state capital outlay aid.
14. Limits the FTSE amount for state operating aid at $5,564 for a student in a 300 and 400 level academic course.
15. Adjusts state operating and capital outlay payments in the third year in which 300 and 400 level courses are offered to reflect the difference between the estimated FTSE and the actual FTSE student counts for the first and second years as determined by the Auditor General.
Feasibility Study
16. Permits a community college district in a county with a population between 700,000 and 1,500,000, or Pima Community College District, to conduct a feasibility cost study to explore a pilot program to award four-year baccalaureate degrees only if a:
a) public university cannot or does not address a local need for a baccalaureate degree program.
b) sufficient number of potential students exist.
c) local infrastructure is in place to support a program.
d) community college district can secure national or regional accreditation.
17. Specifies that the feasibility study include funding mechanisms, economic development need and market capacity.
18. Requires the community college district to submit a summary report on the feasibility study to the Governor, President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee by December 15, 2006, with a copy to be delivered to the Secretary of State and the Director of the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records.
Miscellaneous
19. Requires the public universities under the jurisdiction of the Arizona Board of Regents to use the same admission criteria for potential graduate students with baccalaureate degrees from either a university and community college.
20. Allows a community college district to offer credit and noncredit courses in another established or provisional community college district through an intergovernmental agreement between the governing boards of both districts.
21. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
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