Not Making the Grade

California’s 106 community colleges are the ugly ducklings of higher education. Sacramento gives them a smidgen of the per-pupil funding awarded their more politically powerful cousins, the University of California and Cal State systems. In their communities they are often known only by their sports teams.

Part of the problem is that many community colleges have been shrinking violets when it comes to publicizing their academic offerings. A study released earlier this week by the Little Hoover Commission shows that state leaders are not doing enough to push local colleges to teach the courses that are in high demand for jobs in the new economy.

In his budget for the coming fiscal year, Gov. Gray Davis said he would not increase state Community College Chancellor Thomas Nussbaum’s discretionary budget until he sharpens his outmoded funding system. The most glaring glitch ties state funding of local colleges to a single performance measure: the number of seats occupied on a given day early in the semester.

At a minimum, that system should reward colleges not just when students show up in the first days of classes, but when they stay through a semester and complete degree programs. This and other programs need Nussbaum’s attention--for instance, the funding mechanism that gives community colleges the same amount for inexpensive courses, like physical education, as it does for expensive courses, like nursing and electronics. The state clearly needs more nurses than it does coaches. Yet the outmoded funding formulas, the Little Hoover Commission shows, deliver more P.E. courses than ever, and nursing classes are few and far between.

The colleges’ main tool for assessing regional economic needs is a program called the Economic Development Network, a link between community colleges and small businesses intended to train workers in skills that the free market was not delivering. The idea behind the network was to encourage programs like Gateway Cities Partnership in the South Bay, where former gang members and other at-risk youth are being trained to fill the 15,000 well-paying machinist jobs that are expected to open up in the South Bay in the next decade.

However, one $55,000 state grant under the program went to help Santa Monica College develop a public relations campaign for the large, privately owned Santa Monica Place mall. State officials said the promotion would bring more customers to the mall and thus provide jobs for those on public assistance--one goal of the economic development networks. Aside from the fact that the mall could afford its own campaign, the link between community college offerings and good jobs was almost nonexistent. The program needs tightening, with better understanding of local needs.

The report covers other critical areas, such as teacher quality and the muddled governing structure of the colleges. Yet the real key to improvement is the per-student allocation. The state’s funding formula for community colleges now encourages a failing status quo; what it could and should be is a lever for modernization and growth.