On January 9th the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges accepted and endorsed a set of 22 recommendations to realign resources for community colleges and bring about "transformative change." They would centralize control of community colleges in a large, lumbering bureaucracy. They would impose assessments developed by for-profit corporations in lieu of locally produced, targeted assessments. The would limit the definition of success, ignoring the many ways that community colleges contribute to the success of a very diverse population, threatening ESL, parent education, older adults and other "non-degree" programs. They would impose new conditions on low income students and part-time students and limit the amount of time and number of classes students could take at a community college, thereby reducing opportunities for Californians to acquire workplace skills or pursue other educational goals. These recommendations are not well thought out, are often contradictory and will lead to student failure rather than success.

With the endorsement of the Board of Governors, Chancellor Jack Scott is seeking changes to law and legal regulation to implement this plan to downsize the mission and success of California's community colleges. Before any recommendation is implemented, each one must receive an evidence based, unbiased study that articulates predictable unintended consequences as well as desired goals.

We oppose the recommendations of the Student “Success” Task Force.
We oppose rationing education to a select group of students.
We oppose a limited view of success.
We oppose the proposal to centralize control of community colleges.
Budget difficulties cannot justify cutting away at the mission of serving all Californians.
Keep community colleges in the community!