California University of California Online Initiative (2018)
| California University of California Online Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 6, 2018 | |
| Topic Education | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The California University of California Online Initiative (#17-0025) did not qualify to appear on the ballot in California as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 6, 2018.
The measure would have established the University of California Online (UCO), an online university of the UC system. UCO would have encompassed all online courses, online academic programs, and digital libraries of the UC system. The university would have had two academic divisions:[1]
- Division I would have allowed the public "to audit all courses, programs, and digital libraries at no cost and to question professors, access course books, course materials, and labs at cost."
- Division II would have allowed the public to enroll "all accredited, degree courses and programs, including courses with labs at cost." Division II would have had tuition and lab fees.
The Regents of the University of California would have appointed the president of UCO.[1]
The measure would have also required the state treasurer to issue bonds to establish the school. UCO would have been responsible for repaying the bonds from tuition received.[1]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The official ballot title was as follows:[2]
| “ |
Creation of New University of California Online. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.[3] |
” |
Petition summary
The summary provided for inclusion on signature petition sheets was as follows:[2]
| “ |
Requires creation of new, online public university named University of California Online. Authorizes free public not-for-credit access to all University of California Online course materials, programs, and digital libraries. Authorizes for-credit enrollment in all University of California Online courses and degree programs for all who apply. University of California Online tuition shall be at cost, including course books and materials, with an additional fee for out-of-state students. Requires creation of University of California Online Bookstore to sell and buy-back textbooks for all California public university and college courses. Requires State Treasurer to issue bonds to fund University of California Online, to be repaid by University of California Online from tuition and fees.[3] |
” |
Fiscal impact
- Note: The fiscal impact statement for a California ballot initiative authorized for circulation is prepared by the state's legislative analyst and director of finance.
The fiscal impact statement was as follows:[2]
| “ |
Costs for a new online university, potentially up to hundreds of millions of dollars annually at full scale. Costs intended to be covered by tuition and fees charged to enrolled students. Potential other fiscal impacts on the state—costs and savings—depending on various factors, including initial student demand for the new online university, enrollment fluctuations at the online university, the impact of the online university on existing public colleges and universities, and changes in state financial aid costs.[3] |
” |
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article IX, California Constitution
The measure would have added a Section 10 to Article IX of the California Constitution.[1] The full text of the constitutional amendment is available here.
Sponsors
The Committee to Support a University of California Online led the campaign in support of the initiative.[4] Boyd Roberts, a Democratic candidate for the 48th Congressional District in 2018, proposed the measure. He said, "We're creating a path for anyone willing to do the work to get higher education. ... The free division is a radical idea: we own the University of California. We should have access to [course information]."[5]
Path to the ballot
In California, the number of signatures needed to qualify a measure for the ballot is based on the total number of votes cast for the office of governor. For an initiated constitutional amendment, petitioners must collect signatures equal to 8 percent of the most recent gubernatorial vote. To get a measure on the 2018 ballot, the number of signatures required was 585,407. In California, initiatives can be circulated for 180 days. Signatures needed to be certified at least 131 days before the 2018 general election, which was around June 28, 2018. As the signature verification process can take several weeks, the California secretary of state issues suggested deadlines for several months before the certification deadline.
The timeline for the initiative is as follows:[6]
- Boyd Roberts submitted a letter requesting a title and summary on August 28, 2017.
- A title and summary were issued by the California attorney general's office on November 1, 2017.
- Petitioners needed to collect 585,407 valid signatures by April 30, 2018, in order for it to make the 2018 ballot.
- On May 21, 2018, the secretary of state announced that the initiative failed to make the ballot.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 California Attorney General, "Initiative #17-0025," August 28, 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 California Secretary of State, "Initiatives and Referenda Cleared for Circulation," accessed March 6, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Committee to Support a University of California Online, "Homepage," accessed August 29, 2017
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Congressional candidate wants an online University of California and to make toll roads free," October 3, 2017
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Ballot Measures," accessed August 22, 2017
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