CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 744

Introduced by Senator Cabaldon

February 21, 2025

An act to amend Section 84757 of, and to repeal and add Section 66025.7 of, the Education Code, relating to community colleges.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 744, as introduced, Cabaldon. Community colleges: credit for students with prior learning.
Existing law requires the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to establish, by March 31, 2019, an initiative to expand the use of course credit at the California Community Colleges for students with prior learning. Existing law required the chancellor to submit, by January 1, 2020, a report on the initiative to the Legislature.
This bill would delete those requirements and would instead require the chancellor to award credit for competency-based educational opportunities that recognize students’ prior learning and help students advance toward a credential or degree while reducing redundant study and student expenses. The bill would require the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to establish competencies, with the advice of appropriate faculty and employers, that are focused on the knowledge and skills a student needs to demonstrate in order to pass a course and to earn a degree or credential, or to transfer to a baccalaureate degree program. The bill would describe methods for awarding credit pursuant to these provisions as including, but not being limited to, military service, credit by examination, and evaluation of training, certifications, apprenticeships, licenses, and service learning, as provided. The bill would require the chancellor’s office, on or before September 1, 2027, to submit a report to the Legislature on the credits awarded pursuant to these provisions.
Existing law establishes a system through which state funds are apportioned to community college districts based on specified formulas and identifies certain noncredit community college courses and classes that are eligible for that state apportionment funding.
This bill would require individualized evaluation, assessment, and portfolio review of students’ prior learning and competencies for the awarding of credit pursuant to the above-described provisions to be eligible for state apportionment funding.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 66025.7 of the Education Code is repealed.
66025.7.

(a)By March 31, 2019, the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges shall establish an initiative to expand the use of course credit at the California Community Colleges for students with prior learning. The initiative shall identify best practices for the use of course credit for students with prior learning, locate and collect available resources, and provide professional development in connection with the identified best practices. The initiative shall identify the best practices for purposes of establishing potential pilot programs and shall provide recommendations for internal systemwide policy changes to expand the use of course credit at the California Community Colleges for students with prior learning.

(b)(1)By January 1, 2020, the chancellor shall submit a report to the Legislature, pursuant to Section 9795 of the Government Code, on the initiative described in subdivision (a), including, but not limited to, activities established by the initiative. The report shall include recommendations for legislative policy changes necessary to implement the best practices identified by the initiative.

(2)The requirement for submitting a report imposed under paragraph (1) is inoperative on January 1, 2024, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.

SEC. 2.

 Section 66025.7 is added to the Education Code, to read:

66025.7.
 (a) The Chancellor of the California Community Colleges shall award credit for competency-based educational opportunities that recognize students’ prior learning and help students advance toward a credential or degree while reducing redundant study and student expenses.
(b) The chancellor’s office shall establish competencies, with the advice of appropriate faculty and employers, that are focused on the knowledge and skills a student needs to demonstrate in order to pass a course and to earn a degree or credential, or to transfer to a baccalaureate degree program.
(c) Methods for awarding credit pursuant to this section shall include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
(1) Military service, as provided in Section 66025.71.
(2) Credit by examination. The chancellor’s office, in coordination with the academic senate, shall support faculty in developing, sharing, and redeploying assessments to award credit by examination for courses that articulate to a public university and courses with common identifier designations. Assessments shall be developed to enable students to demonstrate mastery and shall be mapped to the competencies.
(3) Evaluation of training, certifications, apprenticeships, licenses, and service learning, including certifications earned as part of the Golden State Pathways Program or career technical education programs in secondary schools. The chancellor’s office, in coordination with the academic senate, shall establish guidelines by which certificated personnel shall examine a student’s training and determine whether the outcomes of that training correspond to the outcomes of a course. Where appropriate under the guidelines, a community college district shall be eligible for funding pursuant to Section 84757 when the evaluation, assessment, or portfolio review is organized as a noncredit course or a supervised student support service. The chancellor’s office shall prioritize prior learning and credit in programs leading to high-demand careers.
(d) Credit granted pursuant to this section shall be reciprocal among California community college districts and accepted for transfer in the same manner and for the same purposes as regular course credit by each qualifying institution, as defined in subdivision (l) of Section 69432.7.
(e) The State Allocation Board may consider the effectiveness of a community college district in furthering opportunities for students pursuant to this section in evaluating and prioritizing funds allocated pursuant to Section 17078.74.
(f) (1) On or before September 1, 2027, the chancellor’s office shall submit a report to the Legislature, in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, on the credits awarded pursuant to this section, including, but not limited to:
(A) The number of students awarded credit.
(B) The number of courses awarded.
(C) The number of units awarded.
(2) The report pursuant to paragraph (1) shall not include elective credit that does not satisfy a requirement for a credential or degree, or for transfer to a baccalaureate degree program.
(g) For purposes of this section, “chancellor’s office” means the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges.

SEC. 3.

 Section 84757 of the Education Code is amended to read:

84757.
 (a) For purposes of this chapter, the following noncredit courses, noncredit classes, and support services shall be eligible for funding:
(1) Parenting, including parent cooperative preschools, classes in child growth and development and parent-child relationships.
(2) Elementary and secondary foundational skills and other courses and classes such as pretransfer-level academic courses or classes in reading, mathematics, and language arts.
(3) English as a second language.
(4) Classes and courses for immigrants eligible for educational services in citizenship, English as a second language, and workforce preparation classes in the foundational skills of speaking, listening, reading, writing, mathematics, decisionmaking and problem solving skills, and other classes required for preparation to participate in job-specific technical training.
(5) Education programs for persons with substantial disabilities.
(6) Short-term vocational programs with high employment potential.
(7) Education programs for older adults.
(8) Education programs for home economics.
(9) Health and safety education.
(10) Supervised tutoring for foundational skills and for degree-applicable and transfer-level courses, as authorized pursuant to regulations adopted by the board of governors on or before July 31, 2023. These regulations shall ensure that community colleges are compliant with Section 78213 in the implementation of supervised tutoring pursuant to this paragraph.
(11) Individualized evaluation, assessment, and portfolio review of students’ prior learning and competencies for the awarding of credit pursuant to Section 66025.7.
(b) No state apportionment shall be made for any class or course that is not set forth in subdivision (a) and for which no credit is given.