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AGENDA ITEM REPORT

Title: Report on Request to Increase the Maximum Reimbursable Tuition for Basic Course Driver Training
REPORT PROFILE
MEETING DATE
6/26/2013		 BUREAU SUBMITTING THIS REPORT
Basic Training Bureau
RESEARCHED BY (PRINT NAME)
Frank Decker/Stephanie Scofield		 REVIEWED BY (PRINT NAME)
Alan Deal
REPORT DATE
06/11/2013		 APPROVED BY
Robert A. Stresak		 DATE APPROVED
06/12/13
PURPOSE
Decision Requested		 FINANCIAL IMPACT
Yes

ISSUE, BACKGROUND, ANALYSIS, & RECOMMENDATION
ISSUE:
Should the Commission authorize the Executive Director to increase the maximum reimbursable tuition for Basic Course Driver Training to $1,000.00 per student?
BACKGROUND:
At its October 2008 meeting, the Commission received the Driver Training Study, Volume I and approved implementation of the recommendations in the report. One of the recommendations was to enhance driver training curricula in the RBC.

The Commission directed the development of an academy-based pilot program which would incorporate four components to LD 19 Vehicle Operations: Law Enforcement Driver Training Simulators (LEDS), a speed component, night driving and the use of interference vehicles.

Eight academies agreed to participate in the pilot, including the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, Butte College Public Safety Training Center, California Highway Patrol, Los Angeles Police Department, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, San Diego Regional Public Safety Training Institute, Sacramento Police Department, and South Bay Regional Public Safety Training Consortium.

POST staff established the LD 19 Pilot Advisory Council.  Members included staff from the pilot academies and LD 19 instructors from other academies throughout the state.

Participating academies incorporated LEDS, a speed component at a minimum of 65 mph, interference vehicles and night driving. The speed component was piloted as a stand alone exercise and as a component of pursuit and response. The interference vehicle was also added to pursuit and response. The minimum training hours required to incorporate the new content resulted in an increase from 24 to 40 hours for LD 19.

All pilot academy staff said their students were much better prepared to enter the Field Training Program. The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department conducted the pilot with their trainees and with students from Golden West College. They conducted an informal study and identified fewer first time failures and remediation hours with the pilot program compared to the current 24 hour program. 

As a result of the implementation of recommendations from the Commission, the new Training and Testing Specifications will go into affect on August 1, 2013. The RBC curricula will include new content and 16 additional hours. More instructional staff will be required for the LEDS training and to drive interference vehicles, all presenters will be required to have lighting systems for the Collision Avoidance Exercise and more fuel will be expended due to the 65 mph speed exercise test. 
ANALYSIS:

In early 2011 POST identified three experts to assist the Advisory Council.  Jerry Wachtel, a Human Factors Specialist with extensive knowledge in LEDS and Reginald Welles also an expert on LEDS and has extensive knowledge in online driver training focusing on decision making.  To assist in the development and validation of the new testing forms Greg Hurtz, Ph.D. was added to the team, his specialty is Industrial Psychology, Statistical Methods, and Measurement/Psychometrics.

 To ensure consistency of testing standards and specifications the Advisory Council and research team had lengthy discussions about the Collision Avoidance Test involving the use of indicator lights as opposed to audible directions (i.e. radio directions to a specific lane). Jerry Wachtel advised the Council there is a marked difference in the time to react to a visual stimulus as opposed to an audible stimulus. Since the Collision Avoidance Test is meant to simulate a student’s ability to avoid an interference vehicle or pedestrian, the Council advised that all programs use a lighting system. It was also learned that state wide there was no consistent description of the Collision Avoidance Test. The Council decided a minimum of four of five successful attempts would constitute a test and the student had to maintain a minimum speed of 35 MPH upon entering the test location .

On September 6, 2012, Dr. Hurtz  presented the results of the validation study. The percentage of agreement in “Test-Level” pass/fail decisions was very high. Across 2,642 instances where two evaluators rated the same student on the same test, 97% of the pass/fail test results were identical. With the development of consistent training standards and the eight Exercise Test Evaluation Forms validated, the pilot was completed.

 In order to determine the cost of presenting the 40 hour curricula, academies were asked to develop budgets for the course. The per student cost for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department which trains thirteen academies was $1,075.00, South Bay Regional was $993.00, and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department was $1,014.00.

 The last time there was an increase in the Basic Course Driver Training tuition was October 1999. Since then costs for vehicle maintenance and fuel have drastically increased. Due to the implementation of Commission recommendations there will be more minimum hours and higher fuel consumption. Based on the results of the survey, it is recommended that the Basic Course Driver Training tuition be increased to $1,000.00 per student.  Attachment A depicts current contractual costs for the 14 EVOC presenters and the cost of the proposed increase.
  

RECOMMENDATION:
If the Commission concurs, the appropriate action would be a MOTION to authorize the Executive Director to increase the maximum reimbursable tuition for Basic Course Driver Training to $1,000.00 per student.  (ROLL CALL VOTE)
 
ATTACHMENT(S):
Name: Type:
EVOC_COURSE_SUMMARY.docx Cover Memo