GILROY
– Gavilan College officials are wary of Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s government reorganization plan that would place
community colleges under the state’s K-12 education umbrella.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – Gavilan College officials are wary of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s government reorganization plan that would place community colleges under the state’s K-12 education umbrella.
In a 2,500-page report released by the California Performance Review Board early this month, a panel of 275 state employees, administration officials and consultants proposed sweeping changes that would eliminate hundreds of state boards and commissions.
The reorganization is expected to save as much as $32 billion over the next five years by consolidating departments and eliminating 12,000 positions.
The California Community College Chancellor’s Office is one of 20 different education entities that would be lumped into one Department of Education and Workforce Preparation, under the governor’s secretary of education.
“A part of that what they’re recommending is that we eliminate the (state) board of governors … which essentially consolidates us under the same organization that oversees the K-12 education,” said Steve Kinsella, Gavilan president.
At the same time, the California State University and University of California systems would keep their boards intact.
“It’s essentially bringing us back 35 years and putting us back where the system was created in 1969,” Kinsella said. “We want to be separate, just like the UC and CSU are. We’ve been struggling for basic respect and equal funding and, just, status within the higher education system ever since.
“The results speak for themselves – I don’t think anyone questions the results.”
The reorganization would not take away Gavilan’s local Board of Trustees. The college still would comply with state-wide policies while its trustees would make decisions directly affecting Gavilan.
“I like the idea of looking at everything, and there’s probably areas where consolidation is probably the best idea for the taxpayers … yet we’re the ones who are constantly having to deal with this.”
The more powerful education secretary that would oversee community colleges and K-12 education would also be charged with ensuring that California’s education programs are effective, and with evaluating the state’s labor market to guarantee a supply of skilled workers.
The plan differs slightly from a proposed master plan for education that’s languishing in the Legislature, which would put the Department of Education under the secretary, instead of the elected superintendent. Under the master plan, the superintendent, would have more of an inspector general role.
Both the master plan and the performance review put the secretary in charge of policy, which both say makes the governor more accountable for public schools’ successes and failures.
In turn, the state would abolish its elected state superintendent of public instruction, who oversees the state Department of Education, and its 11-member governor-appointed board, which sets such state education policy as academic standards.
The report also suggests changing the state constitution to abolish 58 county school superintendents and boards of education and set up 11 regional entities.
“At this point, the intent is that the regional offices would provide the same services,” said Patricia Murphy, Santa Clara County Office of Education spokeswoman. “For us in Santa Clara County it could mean a combination of us, San Benito, Monterey and Santa Cruz.”
Gilroy Unified School District Superintendent Edwin Diaz could not be reached Thursday.
The report’s reform proposals suggest a massive consolidation of state operations by combining 11 agencies and 79 departments into 11 major departments. It also calls for technological leaps inside the state bureaucracy, noting that Schwarzenegger was unable to e-mail state employees collectively to ask their help in the reorganization study.
“These recommendations are not only common sense solutions to the problems facing California, they also promote your vision of a more stable and accessible government,” said Billy Hamilton and Chon Gutierrez, the panel’s co-executive directors, in a preface letter to Gov. Schwarzenegger. “We targeted duplicative and wasteful overhead costs, and found solutions to deliver services more effectively in a governmental structure that will be more responsive and accountable to the public.”
The report’s release will kick off a months-long process that includes five statewide hearings in front of the commission’s 21 members in August and September. Afterward, the state’s government watchdog, the Little Hoover Commission, will make recommendations to the governor and the Legislature.
Schwarzenegger will propose a final version of his plan next year.
All of this is easy posturing, critics said last week.
“It’s very facile and easily glib to say ‘Combine ’em all and save something on personnel,'” said former assemblywoman and now Board of Equalization Chair Carole Migden.
Doug Heller, a consumer advocate with the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, said he doesn’t oppose making government more efficient, but criticized the secrecy behind the report, kept quiet until its release.
“The governor promised that he would make California government more transparent and more accessible to the public. Now he has called for the biggest reorganization and dissolution of government in California history, developed behind closed doors,” Heller said.
To view the report: www.report.cpr.ca.gov.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
