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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.

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 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 [http://www.cccco.edu/executive/consultation/consultation.htm 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.

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. In 1917 the Junior College Act was passed, 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.

Districts

A-K

L-R

S-Z

Colleges

A - C

D - L

M - R

S - Z

  • Colleges marked with an asterisk (*) provide on-campus housing for students.

External links

Education in California | Universities and colleges in California | California Community Colleges system

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "California Community Colleges system".

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