Legislative Priorities

HOPE SPONSORED BILL

The Challenge

Legacy admission policies, which often prioritize applicants with family ties to a school’s alumni, tend to disproportionately benefit white and affluent students. According to the Campaign for College Opportunity, legacy applicants were 45 percentage points more likely to gain admission to a selective institution than equally qualified, non-legacy candidates, after controlling for other factors. This systemic privilege continues to disadvantage first-generation students, students of color and students from low-income backgrounds from an equitable shot at admittance.

The Solution

AB 1780 emerges as a vital solution by ending the practice of legacy admissions in California. This bill would enforce a civil penalty on institutions that give preference to students with relationships to donors or alumni in their admissions processes. By closing this loophole, this bill ensures that institutions offer fair admission opportunities to all Californians. In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision barring race-conscious admissions, AB 1780 stands strong as a protection for all students of color.

The Challenge

Dual Enrollment, like the College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) program, have proven to be effective strategies to increase access to college for students of color and first-generation students. Despite the public benefit of these programs, Latino and Black students are disproportionately underrepresented in dual enrollment classes. According to an EdSource analysis the reason for this includes misconceptions about who should take dual enrollment classes, a lack of available courses, and a lack of awareness by students, families and high school counselors about the programs. Reforms to CCAP are urgently needed to maximize the participation of underrepresented students, increase college completion and close educational equity gaps in the state.

The Solution

AB 359 addresses this challenge by proposing reforms to the CCAP dual enrollment program, streamlining the establishment of new CCAP partnerships and removing key implementation hurdles faced by Local Education Agencies and Community Colleges. These reforms include the elimination of systemic participation barriers like the need for the school principal’s recommendation requirement, expanding partnership opportunities with community colleges, permitting online course options, and ensuring students earn transferable college credits. By allowing all students to participate and prioritizing outreach for underrepresented groups, AB 359 aims to make dual enrollment the norm in California schools by 2030 and ensures Latinas and other underrepresented students can equitably benefit from these programs.

The Challenge

Despite medical advancements, racial disparities persist in maternal health, disproportionately affecting communities of color. In 2018-2020, the maternal mortality rate for black women in California was 45.8 per 100,000 births, higher than any other racial subgroup. While lower for Latinas, at 14.8, the maternal mortality rate is still disproportionately higher than it is for their white counterparts and raised concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic when it surged by an alarming 44%. The California Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act aimed to tackle these issues, but a recent Department of Justice investigation underscored the need for stronger enforcement, transparency, and specificity of the Act.

The Solution

AB 2319 directly addresses the disproportionately high maternal mortality rates among Black women and pregnant individuals of color by ensuring effective implementation of the California Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act of 2019 (SB 464). The bill clarifies which facilities must conduct anti-bias training and specifies the staff members requiring training, while granting enforcement authority to the California Department of Public Health and the Attorney General. It also establishes penalties for noncompliance, mandates online disclosure of compliance data, and sets firm training deadlines.

#EducationEquity

Governor Newsom signed into law AB 368, authored by Assemblymember Chris Holden and co-sponsored by HOPE and The Education Trust–West. AB 368 will improve access to dual enrollment programs for students who may not already be college-bound or are underrepresented in higher education. The new law, taking effect January 1, will require the governing board of a community college district participating in a College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) partnership to enroll high school pupils in any course that is part of a CCAP partnership offered at a community college campus. It also authorizes classes to be provided at the community college campus or the participating high school campus. AB 368 takes an important step in closing opportunity gaps in California’s education system, allowing more students to access resources previously only available to a select few.