For Immediate Release
June 29, 2021
Contact: Duc Luu, dluu@publicadvocates.org
Public Advocates Calls for Enforcement of Law That Limits Remedial College Classes
Law Firm Files Demand Letters to Community College District and Regulatory Petition with Chancellor’s Office
SACRAMENTO – Public Advocates filed letters today demanding legal compliance from Los Rios Community College District and Cosumnes River College citing systemic failures in the Sacramento community college system’s implementation of AB 705. That law is supposed to end the practice of disproportionately funneling Black and Latinx students into dead-end remedial math and English classes that do not count towards a transfer to four-year schools. For decades, many students have been trapped in these classes—wasting time, accumulating debt, and seeing their careers derailed. In the letters, Public Advocates concludes that Cosumnes River College and the Los Rios Community College District at large are in violation of AB 705 for failing to provide students the legally required notice, support and access to transfer-level courses, and called for immediate reforms.
Public Advocates also filed a petition today with the California Community College Chancellor’s Office and the Board of Governors, calling on them to update AB 705 regulations to adhere more closely to the Legislature’s mandate that colleges “maximize” transfer-level course completion within a year for students. In addition to ensuring colleges affirmatively guide students into transfer-level courses in most instances, the petition requests that the regulations require colleges to offer extra instructional support to students who need it to succeed in their transfer-level courses. The data that has emerged on AB 705’s implementation over the past two years demonstrates overwhelmingly that such “co-requisite supports” are much more effective than remedial classes at maximizing student success.
Senior Staff Attorney Jetaun Stevens said, “When AB 705 first became law, many community college leaders voiced support for this much-needed reform. While we’ve seen some success, the benefits of AB 705 have not been realized for thousands of students.” She added, “Black and Latinx students continue to be disproportionately and inappropriately enrolled in remedial courses and the gaps in access to transfer-level courses and completion rates remain. These actions are really about insisting that our institutional partners finish what they set out to do and ensure the promise of AB 705 applies to all students.”
“AB 705 could have completely changed my college experience,” said Keishaun Turner, a student at Cosumnes River College on whose behalf Public Advocates filed the demand letters. He added, “had it been implemented effectively during the 2019 spring semester, I wouldn’t have needed to deal with the stress of repeating a class I already passed in high school. AB 705’s impact on other students who look, walk, and talk like me can and will be life-changing once it’s actually implemented and is more than just a hollow law on the books and something on the California Community Colleges website.”
Cosumnes River College and the Los Rios Community College District now have 30 days to respond to the demand letter. Failure to respond could result in a Minimum Conditions Complaint being filed with the Chancellor’s Office and a writ being filed in Sacramento Superior Court. The Chancellor’s Office and the California Community Colleges Board of Governors have 45 days to respond to the Petition for a change to the AB 705 regulations.
Demand letter to Cosumnes River College (exhibits)
Demand letter to the Los Rios Community College District (exhibits)
Petition to the CA Community College Chancellor’s Office and Board of Governors (exhibits)
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Public Advocates Inc. is a nonprofit law firm and advocacy organization that challenges the systemic causes of poverty and racial discrimination by strengthening community voices in public policy and achieving tangible legal victories advancing education, housing, transportation equity, and climate justice.
