Copyright© 1999 by School Services of California, Inc.
Los Angeles Community College District Explores
Building High Schools on College Campuses
According to a recent Los Angeles Times article, the Los Angeles Unified School District and community colleges in Los Angeles are edging toward an unusual partnership that could blur the current boundaries between high school and college. L.A. Unified and Los Angeles Community College District officials are discussing the possibility of building four high schools serving as many as 6,000 students on four local college campuses.
The campuses may be designed to offer a combined high school/community college curriculum, allowing students to complete college credits while finishing high school. Although some community college faculty oppose the idea, talks have progressed such that both sides say an agreement to build the first such large scale school for 1,500 or more students at East Los Angeles College may be reached by June 2000.
Many high school students throughout California are already "concurrently" enrolled in community college classes. And, the Middle College High School Program that initially started at L.A. Southwest College was recently expanded in the 1999 State Budget. But this new effort represents an unprecedented level of coordination between the two systems as readers may recall, K-12 boards governed community colleges more than 30 years ago. If the Los Angeles idea works, it could lead to the creation of new types of institutions in which students move seamlessly between high school and college.
The Times article quoted Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, saying "there is nothing magic about the age of 18, this is a powerful and creative idea. One question's why it's taken so long to happen." However, the idea is not without its critics. Some college faculty believe that the new high school concept should be implemented in several selective institutions, rather than a single setting serving a general Los Angeles Unified student body. Students targeted would be those interested in transferring to four-year institutions and those with a technical field's focus.
Another impetus for this idea is the need for new high schools in Los Angeles due to increased enrollments. Nine new high schools have been proposed to handle those growing enrollments, the college-oriented schools could help fill that need. But finding large parcels of land for new high schools - parcels free from toxic contamination - has not been easy. The L.A. community colleges, by contrast, have seen enrollments shrink from historic highs and have some space. What they lack is money. Funds for capital construction are tied to State Bond measures, which are inadequate to meet the facility needs of community colleges - and potentially those with fewer enrollments.
The partnership between the districts could allow the school district to use school bond money to build a parking structure for college students, something the college has almost no chance of getting with state funds. The college would also have the use of the high school classrooms at night.
Community colleges throughout California will be keeping an eye on Los Angeles to see if this concept is more than just a pipe dream and whether the districts can work together to make it a reality.
-- Arnold Bray