California Community Colleges system

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California Community College System


Motto	Empowering community colleges through leadership, advocacy, and support
Established	1967
Type	Public University System
Endowment	US$25 million (planned permanent endowment)
Chancellor	Marshall Drummond
Faculty	57,711
Students	2.5 million
Location	Sacramento, California
Campus	109 campuses
Affiliations	California Community Colleges
Website	[1]

The California Community Colleges system consists of 109 community colleges in 72 community college districts in California. Created by legislation in 1967, it is the largest system of higher education in the world, serving more than 2.5 million students each year who have a wide variety of educational and career goals.

The system is administered by the Chancellor's Office located in Sacramento, which is responsible for allocating state funding and provides leadership and technical assistance to the colleges. Together with the research oriented University of California and the teaching oriented California State University it forms California's public higher education system.

The system is governed by the Board of Governors which, within the bounds of state law, sets policy for the system. The 17 Board members, who represent the public, faculty, students, and classified employees, are appointed by the Governor of California as directed by Section 71000 of the California Education Code [2]. The Board is also directed by the Education Code to allow local authority and control of the community college districts to the "maximum degree permissible" and AB 1725 in 1974 added a formal consultation process which has resulted in the formation of a consultation council [3] to assure the Board of Governors and Chancellor's Office remain responsive in this respect.

The Chancellor of the system brings policy recommendations to the Board of Governors, and is given the authority to implement the policies of the Board through his leadership of the Chancellor's Office. The Chancellor plays a key role in the consultation process.

[edit] History

In 1907, the California Legislature, seeing a benefit to society in education beyond high school but realizing the load could not be carried by existing colleges, authorized the state's high schools to offer what were termed "postgraduate courses of study" similar to the courses offered in just the first two years of university studies. Thanks to the efforts of people such as Professor Alexis F. Lange, Dean of the School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley, the Junior College Act was passed in 1917, expanding the mission by adding trade studies such as mechanical and industrial arts, household economy, agriculture, and commerce. By 1932 there were 38 junior colleges in the state. The 1944 GI Bill dramatically increased college enrollments, and by 1950 there were 50 junior colleges. By 1960 there were 56 districts in California offering junior college courses, and 28 of those districts were not high school districts but were "junior college districts" formed expressly for the governance of those schools.

The 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education and the resulting Donahoe Act was a turning point in higher education in California. The UC and CSU systems were to limit their enrollments, yet an overall goal was to "provide an appropriate place in California public higher education for every student who is willing and able to benefit from attendance", meaning the junior colleges were to fulfill this role. By 1967 studies were showing that the California Department of Education was not doing an adequate job of leading the junior colleges, and legislation passed control from the Board of Education to a new Community College system with a Chancellor's Office and Board of Governors. The degree of local control in this system, a side-effect of the origins of many colleges within high school districts, can be seen in that 52 of the 72 districts (72%) govern only a single college; only a few districts in major metropolitan areas have more than four colleges.

The current enrollment fee is $26 per unit, up by $15 since 2004 due to California's budget problems. It is the lowest enrollment fee in the nation. Enrollment fee will be lowered to $20 per unit, starting in January 2007.

In October 2006, the Board of Governors has stepped up English and Math requirements for an Associates of Arts degree. These requirements are effective in 2009..

[edit] Governance

Like the two California university systems, the CCCS is headed by an executive officer and a governing board. The 17 member Board of Governors sets direction for the system and is in turn appointed by the California Governor. They appoint the Chancellor who is the chief executive officer of the system. . Locally elected Boards of Trustees work on the district level with Presidents who run the individual college campuses.[4]

[edit] External links

California Community College System
Sacramento (Home Office)

Districts

Allan Hancock Joint Community College District •Antelope Valley Community College District •Barstow Community College District •Butte-Glenn Community College District •Cabrillo Community College District •Cerritos Community College District •Chabot-Las Positas Community College District •Chaffey Community College District •Citrus Community College District •Coast Community College District •Compton Community College District •Contra Costa Community College District •Copper Mountain Community College District •Desert Community College District •El Camino Community College District •Feather River Community College District •Foothill-DeAnza Community College District •Gavilan Community College District •Glendale Community College District •Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District •Hartnell Community College District •Imperial Community College District •Kern Community College District • • Lake Tahoe Community College District Lassen Community College District •Long Beach Community College District •Los Angeles Community College District •Los Rios Community College District •Marin Community College District •Mendocino-Lake Community College District •Merced Community College District •MiraCosta Community College District •Monterey Peninsula Community College District •Mt. San Antonio College •Mt. San Jacinto Community College District •Napa Valley Community College District •North Orange County Community College District •Ohlone Community College District •Palo Verde Community College District •Palomar Community College District •Pasadena Area Community College District •Peralta Community College District •Rancho Santiago Community College District •Redwoods Community College District •Rio Hondo Community College District •Riverside Community College District •San Bernardinhoo Community College District •San Diego Community College District •San Francisco Community College District •San Joaquin Delta Community College District •San Jose/Evergreen Community College District •San Luis Obispo County Community College District •San Mateo County Community College District •Santa Barbara Community College District •Santa Clarita Community College District •Santa Monica Community College District •Sequoias Community College District •Shasta-Tehama-Trinity Joint Community College District •Sierra Joint Community College District •Siskiyou Joint Community College District •Solano County Community College District •Sonoma County Community College District •South Orange County Community College District •Southwestern Community College District •State Center Community College District •Ventura County Community College District •Victor Valley Community College District •West Hills Community College District •West Kern Community College District •West Valley-Mission Community College District •Yosemite Community College District •Yuba Community College District