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September 2004, Volume 15, Issue 1 - The Nefarious Mission, Part 1 |
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By Ken Mason
“But first whom shall we send in search of this new world, whom shall we find sufficient?” - Milton
Last Spring, at the California Community Colleges Board of Governors (CCCBOG) meetings in Sacramento, a determined effort was made to defer full time hiring, undermine AB1725, eliminate the 50% proviso of the Education Code and restructure the role of the Community Colleges Chancellor’s office. Major players in this quixotic crusade was our own Superintendent/President, Dr. Piedad Robertson, and her trusted trustee, Dr. Margaret Quinones, the recent appointee to the CCCBOG. That was then.
Now, among the more than 1,200 recommendations in the four volume California Performance Review (CPR- for those who like political puns) designed to streamline state government and save an estimated $32 billion, one reads proposals to eliminate “costly” reports required under the Education Code; modify AB 1725 (Ed Code Section 87482.6) to exclude career/technical courses from the 75:25 requirement; collapse higher education (community colleges and the universities) under a pre-K-20 Education and Workforce Council. Education Workforce Council would be chaired by the newly empowered Secretary of Education, and include the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, Superintendent of Public Instruction, President of the University of California, Chancellor of the California State Universities, and Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. This would potentially eliminate the CCCBOG.
The already weakened chancellor’s office would be placed within the Educational and Workforce Council, functioning in the new the Higher Education Division. The Governor would appoint a Deputy Secretary of Higher Education to chair this group, and the Deputy Secretary would report to a newly empowered Secretary of Education who would “…report directly to the Governor, and manage [the]…Department of Education and Workforce Preparation,” as a kind of Czar of Education. One can only guess what will happen to the Community Colleges portion of Prop 98.
In addition, CPR recommends removing the statutory 16 hours barrier to allow more community service “volunteerism” for public college and university students as a graduation requirement. This reportedly would permit a more timely use of donations to the state; create a pilot volunteer leave program for state employees; restructure the governor’s office on service and volunteerism and expand the scope of the California Conservation Corps, ostensibly to augment state cuts in services, shaving off additional savings for the state.
That many of CPR recommendations parallel what our district had been promoting through its lone representative on the CCCBOG should not be surprising. After all was not our Superintendent/President advising Richard Riordan, the current Secretary of Education? Should we not assume that Dr. Robertson encouraged and supported Quinones appointment to the CCCBOG? Are these not the same issues raised by the district in talks with faculty and staff over the past years? It’s enough to lead one to wonder. Could it be that Drs. Robertson and Quinones have even more ambitious plans in mind?
The district’s plan is concurrent with that of the Governor’s when it comes to addressing issues involving the community colleges. On the other hand ideas like combining the CC’s into the CSU or UC or having the CC’s stand alone as its own independent system, or revising the
Equalization formula were either never seriously
Mission continued.
discussed or dismissed out-of-hand. It speaks volumes about the selected group that secretly met to draft the report. Was SMC represented? If so, what position did the district take? Far more interesting is the surgical approach to AB1725. CPR would effectively eliminate shared governance as we know it, centralizing all decision making into the hands of college superintendents/presidents, the Secretary of Education and, of course, the Governor. Yes our Governor, who toys with the idea of making state legislators part-timers, like so many of our faculty. There's a pattern here and it's not pretty.
“Prevent truth decay”, visit these and other informational sites on line at http://www.report.cpr.ca.gov/.
For LAO review of CPR go to: http://www.loa.ca.gov/204/cpr/082704_cpr_review_ov.htm)
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