Community colleges: Disability Services Program.

(1) Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law states the intent of the Legislature that the public postsecondary institutions request, and the state provide, through the state budget process, funds to cover the actual cost of providing services and instruction, consistent with specified principles, to disabled students in their respective postsecondary institutions. Existing law requires the board of governors to adopt rules and regulations for the administration and funding of educational programs and support services provided to disabled students by community colleges for state-funded services. Existing law requires these regulations to provide for the apportionment of funds to each community college district to offset the direct excess cost, as defined, of providing specialized support services or instruction, or both, to disabled students enrolled in state-supported educational programs or courses. This bill would recast these requirements as the Disability Services Program and would use the term "students with disabilities" instead of disabled students. The bill would instead require the regulations adopted by the board of governors to provide for the apportionment of funds to each community college district to offset the direct excess cost, as modified by the bill, of providing students with disabilities enrolled in state-supported educational programs operated by community college districts with academic adjustments, auxiliary aids, and services, as appropriate, in compliance with all applicable requirements of federal and state nondiscrimination laws. In utilizing funds apportioned to a community college district, the bill would require the district to give priority to ensuring that requirements of federal and state nondiscrimination laws have been satisfied with respect to students with disabilities who enroll for specified purposes. The bill would authorize a district to use these funds to provide other specialized services or to offer educational assistance courses for students with disabilities so long as specified conditions are met. The bill would also prohibit a district from using these funds to provide services for students with disabilities participating in classes, courses, or educational programs that do not receive state support. As a condition of receiving these funds, the bill would require a district to cooperate in the conduct of program evaluations, as prescribed, and to promptly take any corrective action required by the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges as a result of the program evaluations. The bill would require the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to request funding for the Disability Services Program that is sufficient to carry out the requirements of the program on a statewide basis in the annual budget request to the Governor and the Legislature. (2) Existing law requires all participating districts, with the assistance of the chancellor, to establish and maintain institutional research to evaluate the effectiveness of the Student Success and Support Program implemented under the Seymour-Campbell Student Success Act of 2012. Existing law requires the research to include certain metrics including, among others, disaggregated data by ethnicity, gender, disability, age, and socioeconomic status, to the extent the information is available. This bill would require a district to report a student participating in the Student Success and Support Program as having a disability if the student participates in the Disability Services Program. To the extent that the bill would impose new duties on community college districts, it would constitute a state-mandated local program. (3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.