Whereas, The 1960 California Master Plan for Higher Education expressed the intent that access and affordability are the principles on which California public education stands;
Whereas, Based on these principles the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has a long-standing position against fees for public higher education, a position that unfortunately has not been upheld by the Legislature;
Add a second resolved:
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges work with Assembly member Anderson as AB 2400 moves forward to perfect the legislation and protect faculty primacy in curriculum and program development.
MSR Disposition: Referred to the Executive Committee to do with as the Executive Committee sees fit.
Whereas, Due to current economic realities and high unemployment rates in the state, tens of thousands of unemployed or underemployed Californians are entering or returning to college to improve job skills or train for new careers;
Whereas, SB 1143 (Liu, 2010) calls for the Board of Governors to develop a plan to promote and improve student success and examine specified best practices and models for accomplishing student success;
Whereas, The Chancellor’s Office is developing a task force to begin developing these plans, and they are examining a number of existing student success projects such as Completion by Design, Complete to Compete, Complete College America, and the American Diploma Project; and
Whereas, Local implementation of some of these models and activities is already occurring;
Whereas, AB 2400 (Anderson, March 2010) seeks to authorize selected districts to offer baccalaureate degrees in specific areas; and
Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges formulates its positions based upon research and careful consideration of the pros and cons of an issue;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges study the issues of California community colleges potentially offering baccalaureate degrees and, based upon that analysis, develop a white paper for the body’s consideration no later than Spring 2011.
Whereas, Categorical programs support students who are underserved, are disadvantaged economically, educationally and by language, and often are the first generation to attend college;
Whereas, Many programs such as Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS), Disabled Student Programs and Services (DSPS), and CalWORKs have been extraordinarily successful as widely acknowledged by state educators and legislators;
Whereas, Categorical monies were intended to be reserved to fund categorical programs in ways mandated by Title 5; and
Whereas, The Governor’s January 2010 budget and subsequent proposals by the Legislative Analyst’s Office and other legislative processes contain recommendations that could negatively impact community college programs and educational efforts;
Whereas, As of March 27, 2010 these recommendations include:
Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has passed resolutions that acknowledge the primacy of Early Childhood/Child Development faculty in developing the Early Childhood Education/Child Development major (19.04 S06), and that “support the Early Childhood/Child Development Curriculum Alignment Project by endorsing . . .
Whereas, The Basic Skills Initiative (BSI) funding supports a majority of our student populations and a higher degree of diversity by serving students who are typically underserved, from lower socioeconomic populations, and students of color;
Whereas, A memo dated January 22, 2010 with the subject “Avocational, Recreational, and Personal Development Courses … Some Suggestions” was distributed by the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office and sought to offer guidance to colleges seeking to comply with language in the 2009-2010 Budget Act, directing that community colleges, to “the greatest extent possible, shall implement any necessary workload reductions in areas other than basic skills, workforce training, and transfer”;