The following resolution was approved Wednesday, September 1, 2004, by the Board of Trustees of the Coast Community College District. Adoption of Resolution Regarding the Consolidation of the Community College Chancellor’s Office into a Division of Higher Education reporting to the Secretary of Education CONTACT: Erin Cohn District Director, Public Affairs (714) 438-4605 September 3, 2004 NEWS The recently released California Performance Review (CPR) includes a recommendation to consolidate the Chancellor’s Office into a Division of Higher Education. Such a change would dramatically impact the governance structure of community college districts around the State. Given the potential of an adverse impact on the Coast Community College District, it is recommended that the Board adopt the following Resolution, in cooperation with other community college districts, to express its opposition to the proposed consolidation. RESOLUTION REGARDING THE PROPOSED CONSOLIDATION OF THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE CHANCELLOR’S OFFICE INTO A DIVISION OF HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTING TO THE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION WHEREAS, The California Performance Review (CPR) proposes to consolidate the Community College Chancellor’s Office, the California Postsecondary Education Commission, the California Student Aid Commission and the Bureau for Private and Postsecondary and Vocational Education into a single Division of Higher Education reporting to the Secretary of Education; and WHEREAS, The Chancellor’s Office, unlike the other agencies the CPR proposes to consolidate into a Division of Higher Education, is a key element in the delivery of higher education to Californians, and carries out responsibilities that are distinctly different from those of the other agencies; and WHEREAS, The Chancellor’s Office and the other agencies the CPR proposes to consolidate share few, if any, overlapping functions; and WHEREAS, All three systems of public higher education in California—the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges—currently have independent governing boards that provide informed and knowledgeable policy direction to their respective systems; and WHEREAS, The consolidation of the Chancellor’s Office into a Division of Higher Education reporting to the Secretary of Education implies the inevitable elimination of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges or a radical minimization of its role; and WHEREAS, The elimination of the Board of Governors and consolidation of the Chancellor’s Office into a Division of Higher Education within the bureaucracy of the executive branch of State government would inevitably diminish the standing of the California Community Colleges as a system of higher education in California; and WHEREAS, The elimination of the Board of Governors would deprive the community colleges (the largest of the three higher education systems in California) of an independent voice; and WHEREAS, The Board of Governors, as an independent governing board, and the Chancellors’ Office, as an agency responsible to the Board of Governors, render the community colleges more accountable to the public and less vulnerable to political interference than they would be as part of a Division of Higher Education reporting to the Secretary of Education; and WHEREAS, The Board of Governors and the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges has considerable discretionary authority over the allocation of funds appropriated to community colleges by the Legislature, the approval of programs of study at community colleges, and the funding of college building and capital improvement projects; and WHEREAS, The Board of Governors and the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges exercise their discretionary authority openly, after full opportunity for public comment and debate, and with appropriate regard for the principal of local control; and WHEREAS, The proposed consolidation of the Chancellor’s Office into a Division of Higher Education would shift discretionary authority affecting the education of nearly two million Californians to a Deputy Secretary for Education, reducing public involvement in and oversight of the decision-making process and rending the colleges more vulnerable to political interference; and WHEREAS, The California Community College system, organized under the Board of Governors and the Chancellor’s Office, is one of the most successful and respected in the nation; and WHEREAS, The California Community College system, organized under the Board of Governors and the Chancellor’s Office, is already the most cost effective segment of higher education in the State, and consolidation of the Chancellor’s Office with several dissimilar agencies within the bureaucracy of the executive branch of State Government would jeopardize the system’s effectiveness without any apparent cost savings; and WHEREAS, It will not serve the public interest to radically change a system that has had such a powerful and remarkable results through the years, and the proposed consolidation of the Chancellor’s Office into a Division of Higher Education would not benefit community colleges or their students; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the Coast Community College District opposes the California Performance Review’s recommendation to consolidate the Community College Chancellor’s Office, the California Postsecondary Education Commission, the California Student Aid Commission and the Bureau for Private and Postsecondary and Vocational Education into a single Division of Higher Education reporting to the Secretary of Education and opposes the elimination of the California Community Colleges Board of Governors.         The Coast Community College District is the seventh largest community college district in the nation in credit enrollment, serving 55,000 students each semester.  The district is comprised of Coastline Community College headquartered in Fountain Valley, Golden West College in Huntington Beach, Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, and KOCE-TV, the district’s public broadcasting station.  ###