RE: Question 1: Who's in charge?

I'm Senior Vice President for University Affairs at the University of California and I participated in the deliberations of the Governance Work Group. I think the draft Master Plan does a good job of addressing the issues of education governance in California. We believe that the higher education model of governance--an independent lay governing board that appoints a chief executive--has worked well for California. Both UC and CSU follow this model and the University supports recommendation 37 that seeks to strengthen this approach at the California Community Colleges. Every Master Plan review since 1960 has sought to reinforce the original Master Plan vision that the community colleges move away from their K-12 origins (under the State Board of Education) and function as a full partner in higher education. We believe we could make significant improvements in areas such as transfer and course articulation with a strengthened CCC Board of Governors.

However, we are somewhat concerned about recommendation 39 that would replace the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) with a new California Education Commission that would have responsibility for policy and fiscal advice on issues of pre-K, K-12 and higher education. Attention to higher education issues might be lost in a commission that also has responsibilities for the K-12 system, whose issues and state budget dwarfs that of the colleges and universities. Higher education needs a body to conduct discussions and policy analyses of major higher education issues as well as to coordinate new higher education programs and campuses. A commission that also has a K-12 focus will probably not be able to devote significant time, attention, and resources to key issues of higher education. That's not to say that we wouldn't support an examination of how to strengthen CPEC, but we think there is a structural need for an independent and effective higher education commission.

Higher education and K-12 should coordinate more--we wholeheartedly agree that a reciprocal relationship between the two sectors is essential to the health of each. By focusing on coordination within each sector, we have a better chance of coordinating more effectively across sectors.