Use of Public Funds for Private Contracts

Spring
1998
Resolution Number
06.01
 
Contact
Assigned to
Unassigned
Category
State and Legislative Issues
Status
Ongoing
Status Report

So far, such action has been forestalled, but proposals continue to be made by the Chancellor.

Whereas the mission of the California Community Colleges now includes economic development that has led to an expansion of contract education statewide and a renewed emphasis on public/private partnerships, and the commitment to contract education is intended to contribute to the state's economic vitality but is not intended to divert funds from public education, and

Whereas gifts of public funds are not allowed and the current Education Code specifies that the costs of contract education (including administrative overhead) are to be borne by the contracting companies or public agencies and that the college district is to recover an amount equal to, but not less than, the actual costs of the programs, and

Whereas the 2005 Policy under discussion at the State level contains proposals that would allow the use of apportionment dollars to match private funding for contract education classes closed to the public, and

Whereas chronic underfunding of the California community colleges has contributed to increasingly constricted access to public higher education for California residents,

Resolved that the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges oppose any new funding mechanism that would divert public funds to directly subsidize the costs of private, for-profit business activities, and

Resolved that the Academic Senate work with the Chancellor and the Board of Governors to protect those statutes and regulations that prohibit use of public funds for private profit.