BY HANK REICHMAN

Calbright College, California’s totally online community college, a target of withering faculty criticism from its inception by former Gov. Jerry Brown, may be just a few steps from a well-deserved demise.  Last week the California Legislature agreed on a state budget for 2020-21 that will eliminate all funding for the school.  The budget would defund and redirect more than $100 million to support other needs in the 115-campus community college system.

“I want to see the most bang for our buck, and we certainly weren’t getting that from Calbright,” said Assemblyman Jose Medina, who is chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee.  “And given the economic crisis from the coronavirus, the state doesn’t have the money.  It’s time to shut that program down completely … The money saved can be better used in other places.”  The college had suffered from administrative turmoil almost from the start.  Heather Hiles, its first president, suddenly resigned in January.  She had previously met criticism for having pushed approval of a no-bid contract for a friend and politically connected recruiter, whose job was to bring in key executives over two months.

As of May 1, Calbright had enrolled just 523 people, with 61 of them completing the entry-level course and participating in one of the college’s three programs.  A Legislative Analyst’s report on the governor’s May budget revision estimated that eliminating Calbright would save about $137 million, including $20 million in operating costs for next year and taking back $117 million in unspent funds. The study called for abandoning the project, noting that the school “has a very high cost per student, is currently unaccredited and largely duplicates programs at other colleges.”

“The community colleges can provide the types of courses Calbright says they are doing and we can do them cheaper,” California Federation of Teachers President Jeff Freitas added.  CFT represents 30,000 community college faculty members.  In a statement on the budget, the Faculty Association of the California Community Collleges (FACCC) “commend[ed] the Legislature’s decision to eliminate Calbright College and use those funds for
apportionment funding, a basic needs/learning loss/COVID-19 block grant, and supporting part-time faculty.”

According to an Assembly report on the proposed budget, the state Board of Governors for Community Colleges, which functions as Calbright’s board, would have to develop a closure plan by December.

The legislature also would:

• Redirect $75 million from Calbright to support a “basic needs/learning loss/Covid-19 response block grant” to the other 114 community colleges to support mental health services, housing and food insecurity, re-engagement for students who left college this spring, technology and online course development.
• Redirect approximately $10.6 million from Calbright to compensate part-time faculty at the other community colleges for office hours.

These are sensible and long-overdue moves, made even more imperative by the pandemic crisis.  Sadly, however, both Governor Gavin Newsom’s office and community colleges chancellor Eloy Oakley, a booster of the project from its inception, expressed opposition to the Legislature’s move, which Oakley called “shortsighted.”  “I don’t believe that it is wise to cannibalize one college to support the others,” he said.  Newsom’s May budget revision, which he sent to the Legislature, had maintained funding for Calbright amid widespread cuts elsewhere in response to the economic consequences of pandemic shutdowns.  “The importance of distance learning opportunities in the current Covid-19 environment makes an even more compelling case for continuing support,” said a representative of the Department of Finance.

Oakley expressed faith that Newsom and the legislature will work out a final budget deal that includes continued support for Calbright.  “We will make our case clear and ensure that the governor and the legislature have the information they need to see why we think it’s a priority,” he said.

But even before the current crisis support for Calbright in the legislature had been declining.  Last year it was included in the budget only after Newsom exerted pressure.  This time there is at least reason to be hopeful that common sense will prevail and that this ill-conceived, stumbling, and wasteful effort will meet an early end.