Postsecondary education: articulation agreements.

Existing law requires the California Community Colleges, on or before July 1, 2027, to adopt a common course numbering system for all general education requirement courses and transfer pathway courses, and requires each community college campus, on or before July 1, 2027, to incorporate common course numbers from the adopted system into its course catalog. The Budget Act of 2021 allocated $10,000,000 to the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to establish a workgroup to support the development of that system. That workgroup recommended, among other things, the development of a common course numbering template for each course subject to the requirement described above. This bill would require the Intersegmental Committee of the Academic Senates of the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, on or before July 1, 2027, to establish an agreement for implementing streamlined system-level articulation by using the common course numbering templates, rather than individual course review, as provided. If the intersegmental committee has not established an agreement on or before July 1, 2027, the bill would require the respective administrative bodies of the segments, on or before December 31, 2027, to establish an agreement for implementing streamlined system-level articulation by using the common course numbering templates, rather than individual course review, as provided. This bill would require, commencing with the fall term of the 2028–29 academic year, the streamlined system-level articulation agreement to be the only articulation agreement used for community college courses subject to the common course numbering system described above. This bill would require, on or before June 1 of each year, the respective administrative bodies of the California Community Colleges and the California State University, and request the University of California, to publicly post on their respective internet websites a report on the results of the streamlined systemwide articulation agreement, as provided. This bill would require each campus of the California Community Colleges and the California State University, and request each campus of the University of California, to publicly post, on or before June 1 of each year, the name and contact information of the articulation lead or individual responsible for managing the course articulation process at the campus. By imposing additional duties on community college districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, in consultation with the administrative bodies of the California State University and the University of California, to identify a limited-term funding plan that would provide funding to the California State University and the University of California to support the intersegmental implementation of the common course numbering system, as provided. 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 the statutory provisions noted above.