Each member has agreed to the reporting requirements within Assembly Bill 104. Every member has committed to reporting any funds available for education and workforce services for adults and the uses of those funds.  Every member has agreed to submit at a minimum an annual report on their uses of education and workforce services for adults. These reports will be reviewed by the consortium board members. Every member has signed a Memorandum of Understanding describing the duties and responsibilities of each member institution. The consortium will review, evaluate, and certify that the services and uses of these funds conform to the regional plan. Member reports describing available funds, their usage, and conformity with the regional plan will be presented at consortia meetings. The board and executive committee will review, evaluate, and certify that the services and uses of these funds conform to the regional plan.

Each member’s governing board has approved, authorized, and signed the Memorandum of Understanding. In a separate action, each member’s governing board will designate a representative and an alternate. Each member can change their representative and/or alternate representative by providing notice the to consortium as well. The governing board will provide a copy of the governing board’s minutes including the designation action having been taken. The consortium will ensure that each member of the consortium is represented only by an official designated by the governing board of the member by maintaining these documents on file, by requiring notice of any change in the designated representative or alternate within the memorandum of Understanding, and by identifying the member’s representative (or the alternate) as the only official present and designated to represent the member.

Each designated member representative (and alternate) will receive meeting notices, draft agendas, final agendas, and any supporting documents. Each designated member representative (or alternate) will be encouraged to submit agenda items and will attend and participate in consortium meetings and decision-making. Participation is deemed to have occurred if either the representative or the alternate was present through in-person, phone, or Zoom/computer-enabled attendance at meetings, provided verbal comments and input, or has provided written comments and input on decision-making matters. Meeting agendas and minutes will be posted publicly at member sites as well

During the planning period (AB 86), the consortium participants discussed a decision-making process. As indicated during the planning period, decisions were made by consensus. The consortium arrived at this decision-making model after having considered the CAEP and AB104 language and discussed several proposed models. This decision-making model has worked for us so far, and we will keep this decision-making model going forward at this time.

The Consortium will establish agendas and will notice meetings for a minimum of 72 hours. Members of the public may request that a copy of the agenda and “all documents constituting the agenda packet” be mailed to them. One of the agenda items will be "Public Comment" during which any member of the public may comment and provide input.

The Consortium will establish agendas and will notice meetings for a minimum of 72 hours. One of the agenda items will be"Public Comment" during which any member of the public may comment and provide input. Members of the public may request that a copy of the agenda and “all documents constituting the agenda packet” be mailed to them. The Consortium has established and will continue to develop an e-mail list of relevant adult education and workforce providers within our region. The agendas and relevant documents will be sent to those on the e-mail list and requesting comments and input. This input will be provided to all members who are working on that particular item for consideration. Public comments will be provided to the Board during the regularly scheduled meeting and entered into the minutes.

All comments received by the consortium will be provided to each member representative of the consortium board along with the agenda packet. All public comments provided during the meetings will be included in the minutes. The consortium intends to facilitate the development, implementation, and evaluation of significant projects that respond to our Annual and Three-Year Plan. This will lead to new and successful collaboration with our adult schools and community colleges, resolve the gaps, accelerate student progress, provide professional development, and leverage existing regional structures and resources. To achieve this we will need to seek as much input from a variety of experts, students, and stakeholders during the entire process and not just at meetings. 

During the AB 86 planning process, the Consortium held several sub-regional meetings to gather input and ideas from adult schools, community colleges, and other adult education and workforce training service providers, including public agencies, departments, offices such as safety and social services, workforce investment boards, libraries, and community-based organizations. This focus on the specific needs has continued since the implementation of AB 104 and the ongoing CAEP funding. The Director of the consortium works to develop and grow the relationships with all partners in our service region. The intention is to ensure that as we are implementing the Three Year Plan and each Annual Work Plan we are inclusive of information, data, and best practices from all sources. We will also ensure that all providers of education and workforce services are included.

The following funding cases are to help ensure distribution pursuant to Section 84913: (1) current level of funding is maintained; (2)additional funding is received; and (3) optimal funding is available. These three funding-level cases were a conceptual framework for planning rather than a set of defined dollar thresholds. Each year, members will set out the activities identified for the first (and each successive year during 3-year planning) fiscal year and we will develop the detailed cost estimates for those activities. The costs for each partner as listed in the projects will be identified and aggregated into a distribution schedule pursuant to Section 84913.

Membership actions including joining, leaving, or dismissing from the Consortium, will be decided by Consortium Board recommendation to the Executive Committee and the Executive Committee's final decision. In addition, any member deciding to join the consortium will need to have a detailed plan and budget with the understanding that any funding will need to be voted on and approved by the board and executive committee.

The Kern Adult Education Consortium will follow the 20% carryover limit for consortia to be followed by each member.

The consortium will follow the consortium 20% allocation carryover. The director will work with the member to create a carryover expenditure plan. If the funds aren’t spent past the 20% carryover in the 2nd year, the carryover will be divided among members based upon member allocation % or a decision based on member needs that is approved by the board and executive committee.

Member effectiveness will be defined by staying on time with all CAEP reporting timelines for student data, fiscal reporting, and all state reporting requirements. In addition, the Kern Adult Education Consortium will follow the goals and objectives outlined in our three-year plan and annual plan in terms of what we expect of members for outcomes.

Bylaws will be evaluated, revised, and updated to ensure each consortium member has a clear understanding of membereffectiveness.