Copyright© 2007 by School Services of California, Inc.

                                      Volume 20                   For Publication Date: January 19, 2007             No. 2

Board of Governors Adopts 2007 Legislative Agenda 

At its January 2007 meeting, the Board of Governors adopted its 2007 State Legislative Program. According to the System Office it solicited legislative proposals from the system to develop the State Legislative Program and Federal Priorities for 2007. Forty proposals and concepts were received and reviewed by a task force in November 2006, which provided feedback and recommendations to the Chancellor. 

State Priorities 

The Governmental and External Relations Division presented issue areas for the board to approve. The board adopted legislative proposals in the following issue areas: 

College Awareness and Access

§            Support efforts that enhance student financial aid 

Support Improvement to Student Governance

§            Remove “California Student Association for Community Colleges” from the Education Code, and amend statute to provide for representation by the Student Senate 

Resource Development

§            Advocate for sufficient funding for the community college system 

System Effectiveness

§            Enable college districts to use their capital outlay, infrastructure bonds, and property management funds more efficiently 

Enable the System Office to support the districts and provide regulatory oversight

§            Modify the Education Code with respect to the Fifty Percent (50%) Law to enable System Office staff to review compliance beyond one fiscal year

§            Support for inmate education programs

§            Open meetings requirement for the Foundation for California Community Colleges 

Federal Programs 

§            Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act

§            Reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act

§            Affordability and student aid issues

§            TANF/CalWORKs

§            Child care issues

 The Board indicated that it would be supportive of legislation that contained the issue areas listed above. Actual bills and authors have not yet been established, and we will provide that information once it becomes available.

—Jamillah Moore, Ed.D.