“Vision for Success: Strengthening the California Community
Colleges for California’s Success” has provided our state’s
community colleges with a framework to achieve some very
specific and bold goals by the year 2025.
• Increase by at least 20 percent the number of CCC
students annually who acquire associate’s degrees,
credentials, certificates, or specific skill sets that
prepare them for an in-demand job.
• Increase by 35 percent the number of CCC students
system-wide transferring annually to a UC or CSU.
• Decrease the average number of units accumulated
by CCC students earning associate’s degrees, from
approximately 87 total units (the most recent system-
wide average) to 79 total units.
• Increase the percent of exiting CTE (Career Technical
Education) students who report being employed in
their field of study, from 60 percent to an improved
rate of 69 percent.
• Reduce equity gaps across all of the above measures.
• Reduce regional achievement gaps across all of the
above measures.
Dr. Kathleen Rose, President, Gavilan College
Gavilan: The Rise of Community Colleges
The U.S. Bureau of Labor reports a huge gap between U.S.
skilled job creation and the pool of graduates qualified to fill
those jobs.
With over 100 community colleges serving 2.1 million
students, the California Community College system (CCC)
stands to play a vital role in closing this gap. . .if they can
evolve to meet the need.
In a 2017 report published by the National Student
Clearinghouse, the overall completion rate for community
colleges was an “unimpressive” 38 percent. A generally low
and slow completion rate, coupled with the fact that the
state’s LCFF funding formula is changing to completion-
based funding, has sparked California’s community college
leaders to reimagine their vision for success.
As Gavilan College President Dr. Kathleen Rose put it,
“We’re not the sleepy little colleges people used to talk
about.” She described how, under the Chancellor’s direc-
tion, the Foundation for California Community Colleges
published a manifesto of sorts that is a game-changer.
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GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
“For too long, community colleges have been operating
with an ‘open unit’ mentality that hasn’t benefitted students,”
Rose said. “This needs to change. Now we have a relentless
focus on students reaching their education goals, on time.”
The California Promise Program is “a big win for
California’s Community College system,” Rose said. “First-
time, full-time students can now attend school for free their
first year. In his new budget, Governor Newsom proposed
additional funding for a second year of free education for
students who are on track (i.e. carrying a full course load
and a decent GPA).”
“We award roughly $80,000 or more annually in student
scholarships, thanks to our generous community partners.
We continue to seek out additional partners through the
Gavilan Foundation.”
In 2018, voters passed Measure X, a $248M bond for
Gavilan College capital improvements. A Citizen’s Bond
Oversight Committee is being formed to meet quarterly and
review expenditures. Campus improvement and expansion
projects at the Gilroy and San Benito County locations
include classrooms, a new library and resource center, a
STEM center, a central HVAC facility on the Gilroy campus,
and renovations to its performing arts center there.
“We’re introducing new programs and services over
the next several years,” Rose said. “It can be a challenge to
navigate the complex funding formulas from Sacramento.
But it’s not insurmountable.”
april/may 2019
gmhtoday.com
COLLEGE,
be more critical than ever. It’s like we are in a recession when
you realize the true impact of declining enrollment.”
Another initiative coming up for vote in 2020 is the Split
Roll Initiative.
The “split roll” would tax business and commercial
properties at fair-market value rather than the purchase price
with limited inflation (under Prop 13 law). Residential, ag,
and certain small business properties would be exempt.
Estimates are the initiative would raise $6 billion to $10
billion annually. Most of that revenue would go to local
governments with 40 percent going to K-12 schools and
community colleges (to supplement, not replace, the state’s
minimum-funding guarantee to schools). The initiative is
expected to face some strong opposition.