Chancellor’s Newsletter – December 2018

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Paradise Camp Fire Update and Support Opportunities

The Camp Fire was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history to date.  Beginning on November 8, 2018, the Camp Fire caused approximately 86 civilian fatalities, injured approximately 12 civilians and five firefighters, covered an area of about 153,000 acres and destroyed over 19,000 structures including almost 14,000 residences and over 500 commercial buildings.  Brave firefighters and first responders worked heroically toward containment for seventeen days, reaching success on November 25th.  According to the Butte County Sheriff’s Department three persons are still unaccounted for as of the date of this newsletter.

Students and staff of the Yuba Community College District were impacted by the Camp Fire, although not as extensively as our community college partner to the north, Butte College.  Thirty-nine Yuba College students were affected and 25 employees of YCCD reside within the incident area.  Over 630 Butte College students and 129 employees lost their homes by the devastating event.  Butte College reports that hundreds more are displaced or are sheltering with friends and family.

Yuba Community College District is thankful for colleagues around the state, faculty, staff and community members who have reached out to Butte College and YCCD, offering words of encouragement and acts of support.  Donations have been received from sister community college district foundations to support our students and employees who were impacted by this and previous disasters.  Provided below are a few ways YCCD faculty, staff, and students can donate to help those impacted by the fire.

  • Yuba Community College District Foundation: The Yuba Community College District Foundation is accepting relief funds to help support the staff, students, and faculty who have been affected by the most recent fire in Butte County. In order to assist the fire victims as quickly as possible, established foundation accounts are accepting donations which will be dispersed directly to those who have been affected.  Donations may be made to the Lake County Campus Relief Fund, the Dorothy Minges Student Emergency Relief Fund, and the Yuba College Student Emergency Relief Fund here: https://www.yccd.edu/.
  • Butte College Camp Fire Relief Fund: Butte College has set up a Camp Fire Relief Fund to collect tax-deductible donations that the Butte College Foundation will use to help students, faculty and staff who are victims of the Camp Fire. Donations can be made here: http://www.butte.edu/campfire/donate.html.
  • Foundation for California Community Colleges: Your donation to the California Community College Wildfire Relief Fund will help affected California Community College students and staff recover and rebuild communities. Funds raised will be distributed to college foundations providing emergency and recovery assistance to impacted individuals.  Donate here: https://foundationccc.org/News-Room/California-Wildfire-Relief/Wildfire-Donation

Chancellor Houston was recently interviewed by the Appeal-Democrat and Capitol Public Radio for articles reporting on the Paradise Camp Fire.  The interviews and articles can be found here:

YCCD Receives Approval for IEPI Partnership Resource Team Visit

YCCD recently submitted a request for a technical assistance through a Partnership Resource Team (PRT) visit under the Institutional Effectiveness Partnership Initiative (IEPI) to assist with planning the automation of various Human Resources practices.  The YCCD submission was approved and a team will visit in spring 2019.  The visit will be followed by the submission of a grant application focused on implementation of the plan developed through the onsite visit.

The IEPI is a statewide collaborative effort to help advance the effective practices of the California Community Colleges and in the process, significantly reduce the number of accreditation sanctions and state and federal audit issues.  Most importantly, IEPI will enhance the system’s ability to serve its students effectively and improve student success in measurable ways, thereby aligning work across the system with the Vision for Success goals.  An important focus of the initiative is to draw on the exceptional expertise and innovation that exists within the system in advancing effective practices and avoiding potential pitfalls.

Both Yuba College and Woodland Community College have successfully used these grants on several initiatives, including for the 2016 Aspen Technical Assistance visits that paved the way for the colleges’ Educational Master Plans and initial Guided Pathways work.  Yuba College was approved for a visit to support Distance Education Planning and Woodland Community College is in the process of a visit to support Allied Health program planning.  The program also funds activities such as the Wheelhouse Program, the CCLCL’s CEO Leadership Academies, and the YCCD visit last summer to the Arm’s National Training Center as well as the recent November 30th CSU-CCC Summit on teacher preparation.

CSU-CCC Teacher Preparation Summit

YCCD hosted the CSU-CCC Teacher Preparation Summit on November 30th at the Woodland Community College campus.  The 60 participants in the summit included senior leaders from five of the regional CSUs, numerous Community Colleges, the CCC System Office, and various organizations that support K-12s including the Learning Policy Institute.

Discussions at the summit revolved around the capacity of CSU education preparation programs, identifying the need for teachers in rural counties, developing and supporting new partnerships among community colleges and the CSUs, statewide shortages and regional needs, an update on CSU and CCC collaboration and teacher preparation pathways, and lessons learned and next steps.

The discussions brought to light the need of an ongoing conversation that fosters collaborative partnerships between CSUs and CCCs across distance to serve the rural schools.

CCCCO Proposes Financial Aid Reforms

The California Community College Chancellor’s Office presented the 2019-20 Budget Request financial aid proposal to the California Student Aid Commission in early December.  The proposal focuses on supporting community college affordability and expanding student financial aid based on three principles:

  1. All students would be eligible for need-based financial aid. If a student is attending the California Community College, we must serve the needs that they have – regardless of their age, time out of high school or their prior academic history;
  2. The total cost of attendance includes costs of tuition, fees, housing, transportation, food, books, and supplies. We must link a student’s financial aid to the total cost of attendance – not just the tuition and fees they pay directly to the colleges; and
  3. Students come to California Community Colleges with many educational goals – not necessarily to earn degrees or transfer, and student with other goals should receive financial support to allow them to achieve those goals. California’s future – and its economy – requires that commitment.

Chancellor Oakley stated in a letter to system CEOs, “This is an important step to provide better financial support as we continue to combat the food and housing insecurity crises that so severely impacts our students.”

The new grant proposed by the Board of Governors and the California Community College Chancellor’s Office would reduce the price students pay to attend California Community Colleges.  Unlike current financial aid formulas, the new grant would consider the total cost of attendance including tuition and fees, books, supplies, transportation, and other personal expenses, minus expected family contribution, any existing grants (Pell Grant, Cal Grant, Existing CC Promise Grant, and CCC Student Success Completion Grant) and reasonable contribution from student earnings or other resources. The formula would result in additional grant funds awarded to the student through the new grant.

District Newsletter

The District Newsletter is intended to share updates from various participatory District-wide decision-making groups, Board Policies and Administrative Procedures, updates from Cabinet, District Services, Fiscal Services, Information Technology, M&O, and Human Resources. The December 2018 District Newsletter is available here: December 3, 2018 District Newsletter

Legislative Update
Bills of Interest

The Legislature was sworn in on December 3, 2018 and were provided with the opportunity to introduce bills along with other procedural matters.  A few of the first bills introduced were:

AB 2 (Santiago) – This bill provides a second year of the California Community College Promise authorizing community colleges to buy out a second year of fees for all full-time students that complete the FASFA or the California Dream Application.

AB 6 (Reyes) – This bill would establish in the Department of Education the Office of Early Childhood Education in order to ensure a holistic implementation of early childhood education programs and universal preschool. The bill would require the office to have specified responsibilities, including the responsibility of coordinating services with the State Department of Social Services and the California Health and Human Services Agency, to ensure that social and health services are provided to children in early childhood education programs and to identify families eligible for early childhood education financial assistance.

AB 30 (Holden) – This bill would make a number of changes to dual enrollment College and Career Access Pathways partnership agreements as well as eliminate the sunset date of January 1, 2022 on the program. Changes that the bill would make include:

  • Eliminate the requirement that the dual enrollment partnership agreement be presented as an informational item once prior to being heard as an action item at a subsequent hearing.
  • Allow for units completed in a CCAP partnership agreement to count towards determining a pupil’s registration priority for enrollment and course registration at a community college.
  • Require a plan to ensure that a CC course offered for college credit at the partnering high school campus does not reduce access to the same course offered at the partnering CC campus, a CC course that is oversubscribed or has a waiting list shall not be offered in the CCAP partnership, and pupils participating in a CCP partnership will not lead to enrollment displacement of otherwise eligible adults in the CC.
  • Move up the required report from the State Chancellor’s Office from January 1, 2021 to January 1, 2020 and every five years after.
  • Allow student participating in the CCAP program to complete one application for the duration of their attendance at a community college as a special part-time student participating in a CCAP partnership agreement.

AB 48 (O’Donnell) – This bill states the intent of the Legislature to place a K-14 education facilities bond on the 2020 ballot.

AB 130 (Low) – This bill would establish the Office of Higher Education Performance and Accountability as the statewide postsecondary education coordination and planning entity. The bill would provide for the appointment by the Governor, subject to confirmation by a majority of the membership of the Senate, of an executive director of the office.  The bill would establish an 8-member advisory board for the purpose of examining, and making recommendations to, the office regarding the functions and operations of the office and reviewing and commenting on any recommendation made by the office of the Governor and the Legislature.

SB 3 (Allen) – This bill would establish the Office of Higher Education Coordination, Accountability, and Performance. The bill would give the office specified functions and responsibilities for purposes of statewide postsecondary education planning, oversight, data collection, and coordination.

SB 2 (Glazer) – This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to establish the Statewide Longitudinal Student Database to collect and store data regarding individual students as they matriculate through P-20 and into the workforce. The bill would require the California Postsecondary Education Commission to convene a review committee for purposes of advising the commission on the establishment, implementation, funding, and ongoing administration of the database.

The Legislature can introduce bills through the deadline of February 22, 2019.  The Governor’s January budget proposal is slated to be released on January 10th and some of the legislation that has been introduced, such as the two-year promise program, could be included in the Governor’s budget proposal.

The Public Policy Institute of California released a report examining California’s investment in higher education capital facilities projects.  The report notes that California is in need of adequate higher education facilities to serve next generation of higher education students.  According to a recent survey, two-thirds of adult Californians favor a potential state bond measure for higher education construction projects.  You can download the report in its entirety at the PPIC website here: http://bit.ly/PPICReport

Chancellor’s Calendar
DECEMBER

December 10 – CEO Funding Formula Workgroup monthly call
December 11 – Chancellor’s Cabinet
December 11 – IEPI Visit planning call
December 11 – CEO Academy planning call
December 12 – District Management Council (DMC)
December 12 – Meeting with ACCCA Board President and Executive Director
December 13 – New Trustee Orientation Session #1 (Trustees Alves and Ortiz)
December 13 – Meeting with Trustee Teagarden
December 14 – District Services Staff Holiday Potluck luncheon
December 18 – Chancellor’s Cabinet
December 19 – Meeting with Trustee Hastey
December 20 – Lunch Meeting with YC President and CSU Chico President & Provost (Yuba College)
December 20 – Meeting with Trustee Savarese
December 20 – Organizational and Regular Meetings of the Governing Board
December 21 – Tentative Vacation Day
December 24 to Jan 1 – Winter Break

Happy Holidays in script with shining green, red and gold lights with snowflakes in the background