(BiM)–The Chronicles

If you read the last blog you know that there is a lot that you must do in order to go to college. As you might have noticed going to college is not easy. There are a lot of barriers that prevent students from going to college.

The ARC or Applied Research Center is an organization dedicating to “evening” the playing field. It hopes to remove some of these unwarranted barriers. Most of the barriers that the ARC tries to remove are associated with race and civil right’s matters. Right now I’m interning for them.

So what is ARC doing to help high school students? Right now they are focus on institutionalized racism (racist laws and systems) in education and health care. Proposing bills is one of the ways they are combating racism. Three bills that the ARC is trying to push though include bills AB 428, AB 178, and SB 405.

These California bills were written to help students of color gain better access to college.

What are they?

AB 428

Basically it mandates that all school tell student and parents requirements to go to college. It would force unwilling schools to inform student and parents about A-G classes (see the “What are A through G Classes?”" article). This is critical because a Californian student that does not complete their A-G classes cannot attend a UC or CSU. So far it looks this co-sponsored bill is the bill that is most likely to pass.

AB 178

This bill is also co-sponsored. 178 is, basically, a 3 million dollar plan. Each year the government will give 1 million dollars to up to 100 schools so they can teach more A-G classes. It would help schools offer more CP or college prep classes and therefore help more students go to college. As of recent, it appears that this bill will not go through.

SB 405

Is like 178. It wants school to “Upgrade” their classes and make them more rigorous. It also does not look like it’s going to go through.

So who’s working on the project? A man by the name of Jarad Sanchez has been working on passing these bills since January 2007. He’s part of the LA ARC Office.

Why is passing these bills important?

All Californian high schools have the classes needed for their students to go to college, but not all of them have enough of the classes to go around. These schools that do not have enough A-G classes to serve their entire populous are relying on the fact that their students will either not want to go to college or not know that these classes are the means to get there.

These schools tend to be those in poorer areas. They also tend to be schools that have large Black and or Latino populations.

178 and 405 would directly help these schools. 428 would also help because it will force students and parents to face their schools lack of college preparatory help.

So how do these bill pass?

Well at first there’s a problem. People in the ARC meet with one and other and discuss that problem. Then they try to solve it. After that they go to an author.
An author writes a rough draft of the law and then the law is converting into legal form. Now the idea is a bill that can be passed.

This bill goes to a committee and then to appropriations. After it is reviewed the senate or the assembly take a vote. Which house votes on it first is determined by whether it’s an AB or SB bill. Right now 428 and 178 are in this stage of approval.

After that it goes to yet another committee from the opposite house. It’s expected that 178 will not get passed the Senate Education committee.

Then it goes to Appropriations. They are people who basically calculate the opportunity cost of that bill. They find out if they can pay for it and whether it’s worth paying for it. Then it goes to the second house. They Vote.

Finally it goes to the governor. He can ever sign or veto the bill. If he signs it, the bill is law. If not the bill goes back to the two houses. Only two-thirds majorities in both houses can over rule the governor.

So will 428 pass?

428 has its enemies. The main opponents to 428 are Republicans. They say it’s an unfunded bill, and unfunded bill is ineffective.

But 428 could be funded. 428 would cost somewhere in the 100,000’s of dollars. Though a lot to most people, 100,000 dollars is California budget pocket change, or “pennies” as Mr. Sanchez said.

The people that are most likely to vote against the bill are Republicans. Unfunded bills are not Republican friendly.

Other than that, the opponents to 428 have given little if no other reasons why the bill should not pass.

Some advocates of the bill are afraid that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will not sign such a bill because he is a Republican. On the other hand, the authors of 428, think he will.

Mr. Sanchez believes that if the governor vetoed AB 428 it would die. He believes that since most house members vote on party lines and since democrats do not have 2/3 of the houses, the bill is unlikely going to be revived if vetoed.

When will we know if 428 and 178 will be passed?

Probably around Late August or as late as Mid September until then we can only speculate which bills will pass if any at all.