California’s Community Colleges Seek a New Accreditor

The Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges voted on Monday to oust the controversial commission that accredits the system’s colleges, according to reports by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times.

The board unanimously approved a resolution that calls on the system’s chancellor, Brice W. Harris, to report back in March with details and a timeline for improving the accreditation process, including finding a new agency to replace the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.

The system and the accrediting agency recently fought a court battle over the agency’s threat to shut down City College of San Francisco. Severing the colleges’ ties with the commission, however, is a process that could take years and will probably require approval by the U.S. Department of Education, officials said. And it is not expected to derail the commission’s efforts to require City College to comply with numerous standards or lose accreditation.

The board’s vote followed the release in August of a report of a task force commissioned by the 113-college system that recommended seeking a new accreditor for the colleges.