Bill Text: CA SCR140 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Community College Month.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-01 - From committee: Ordered to third reading. [SCR140 Detail]
Download: California-2023-SCR140-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Concurrent Resolution
No. 140
| Introduced by Senator Dodd |
April 22, 2024 |
Relative to Community College Month.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 140, as introduced, Dodd.
Community College Month.
This measure would recognize the month of April 2024, and the month of April every year hereafter, as Community College Month in the State of California.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee: NOBill Text
WHEREAS, As the largest system of higher education in the nation, the California Community Colleges are uniquely positioned to help residents of all backgrounds improve their social and economic mobility and build a better future for themselves and their families; and
WHEREAS, California’s 116 community colleges, across 73 community college districts, serve more than 2,000,000 students annually and transfer nearly 80,000 students each year to the University of California and California State University systems, while providing hundreds of thousands more students with the skills-based career education needed to secure good-paying jobs; and
WHEREAS, Seventy percent of California community college students are people of diverse ethnic backgrounds, 51 percent of California State University graduates started at a California community college, and 29 percent of University of California graduates started at a California community college; and
WHEREAS, The California Community Colleges are a uniquely American educational model that was designed to guarantee access to affordable, high-quality higher education for all people, serving as the primary educators of life-saving nursing and other health care professionals, among many others, and as an on ramp to bachelor’s, master’s, and higher level degrees for many students, particularly for the most demographically and socioeconomically diverse students; and
WHEREAS, The California Community Colleges provide accessible admissions for all students and offer supports for adult students who have to work to support their families, and without the California Community Colleges, many students would not be able to access higher education at all; and
WHEREAS, The California Community Colleges are at the forefront in combating income inequality and are trailblazers in supporting social and economic mobility by providing hundreds of thousands of students with the career education and training needed to secure good-paying jobs; and
WHEREAS, The California Community Colleges are leading the way in California’s efforts on workforce development by partnering with industry and labor to create innovative skills-building initiatives, such as the Strong Workforce Program, and to support and expand career education opportunities, from automotive technology and advanced manufacturing to health care, web development, and biotechnology; and
WHEREAS, April is recognized nationally as Community College Month by the Association of Community College Trustees, and the primary goals of Community College Month are to improve awareness of the economic, academic, and equity advantages of attending community colleges, and to bust longtime stigmas wrongly associated with public two-year colleges, and this year, students, graduates, employees, and others are encouraged to spread the word about the importance of community colleges in cultivating skills for the future and the unique affordability that community colleges offer to financially challenged generations; and
WHEREAS, The California Community Colleges were created to serve the needs of their communities, and they serve their communities in countless ways; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognizes the month of April 2024, and the month of April every year hereafter, as Community College Month in the State of California; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
