Learn more about the San Mateo County Community College District…

The Master Plan for Higher Education passed in 1960 was a visionary document. The idea was to facilitate access to higher education by providing space for the top 12.5% of California’s high school graduates a place at the University of California which would also pursue pure research and grant doctorates. The top 33% of high school grads were to have a seat at the CSU which would also lead teacher training and other professional education. 

EVERY high school graduate in California was promised access to the Community Colleges whose mission was threefold:

  1. Provide lower division work for students who could then transfer to UC/CSU as juniors;

  2. Provide trade, technical and vocational education for those headed directly to the workforce;

  3. Provide community building and life-long learning opportunities including English-language training for new Californians and avocational opportunities for retirees.

It was an expansive and comprehensive vision. Unfortunately, too many Californians do not take advantage of the amazing, affordable, incredible opportunity that is right before them. I pledge my energy and skills to make San Mateo Community Colleges the engine for economic and social equity that was included in the original Master Plan. I want every kid, especially those from disadvantaged communities and first-generation college families to have the same experience I had. At SMCCCD we will Create Opportunity, Enable Equity and Demand Transparency.

 
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California Community Colleges (statewide)

  • There are 115 community colleges that serve 1.2 million students every year. One in every four Californians aged 18-24 is enrolled in a California Community College. Every year 80,000 California Community College students transfer to UC/CSU.  30% of UC graduates and 50% of CSU graduates started at a California Community College.  

  • The vastness of the California Community College system enables it to play a material role in enabling affordable access to higher education and therefore upward economic mobility for millions of Californians, especially those from disadvantaged communities and first-general college families. In fact, 75% of California Community College students are people of color, 45% are Latino.

  • The California Community Colleges also train 80% of our law enforcement officers. Proper training and screening of these cadets is a first step in developing police and sheriff forces free of implicit bias and well-prepared to better manage conflict with non-violent techniques.

San Mateo County Community College District (SMCCCD)

SMCCCD is comprised of 3 separate colleges. Cañada College in Redwood City, College of San Mateo in San Mateo, and Skyline College in San Bruno.

The District serves 45,000 students annually in the first two years of college-level instruction in a wide variety of transfer programs as well as more than 90 vocational-technical programs. In 2019 there were 2,900 Associates Degrees and almost 1,800 certificates were awarded.  Of these, 130 veterans and almost 120 DACA/Dreamer students earned degrees or certificates. Nearly 1,600 graduates were first generation college families.  In total, about 1,700 SMCCCD students transferred to UC or CSU in 2019.

The District spends over $450 million annually and over the past 20 years voters in San Mateo County have entrusted the District with over $1 billion in bond authorization. The District does many things well.  However, as the below headlines and new articles call out, the District needs to return its focus on creating opportunity by improving student outcomes, facilitating economic and social mobility by recruiting local students and offering courses that improve earning potential by providing skills for jobs of the future, and dramatically increasing the transparency of its operations and openness to the community.

 

Below are web links to learn more about the District and our three Colleges as well as various news articles about the District’s past management. Clearly SMCCCD needs board members willing to pay closer attention to the District’s operations.

SMCCD Resources

SMCCCD Website
SMCCCD Budget
College Of San Mateo Website
Cañada College Website
Skyline College Website

If you want to help aspiring kids from disadvantaged communities and first generation college families, then please consider donating to the Peninsula College Fund

Little accountability in the San Mateo County Community College District
Dave Price | Daily Post | July 10, 2017
https://padailypost.com/2017/07/10/little-accountability-in-the-san-mateo-county-community-college-district/

Secrecy surrounding KCSM-TV sale slammed
Emily Mibach | Daily Post | September 15, 2017
https://padailypost.com/2017/09/15/secrecy-surrounding-kcsm-tv-sale-slammed/

Chancellor’s emeritus role the San Mateo County Community College District to pay $467K: Community college officials to consider administrative contract and role for former district chief
Austin Walsh | Daily Journal | Aug 20, 2019
https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/chancellor-s-emeritus-role-the-san-mateo-county-community-college/article_65735aa2-c303-11e9-aebc-939183dd6ec6.html

Opinion: College district stuck with two very expensive chancellors
Dave Price | Daily Post | August 20, 2019
https://padailypost.com/2019/08/20/opinion-college-district-stuck-with-two-very-expensive-chancellors/?unapproved=8456&moderation-hash=9e98c78f0639da092cbd57ceb2adc793#comment-8456

DA executes search warrants in case involving former college chancellor
Emily Mibach | Daily Post | Aug 24, 2019
https://padailypost.com/2019/09/29/da-executes-search-warrants-in-case-involving-former-college-chancellor/amp/