Blogs:

California Postsecondary Education Commission is in existence for the past 38 years and is finally going to close down next month. This commission which hitherto has been playing a major role as a check for higher learning institutions and on the governor is all set to be axed.

Funding for the agency was axed by Gov. Jerry Brown in the latest budget. He vetoed this move stating that while this agency had been a guiding force for higher education policy of the state, it is now very ineffective.

Department of Finance’s deputy director H. D. Palmer endorsed the governor’s move saying that they were staring down at a massive budget deficit and the small amount of commission dollars also makes a difference. At least $927,000 a year will be saved by the state by eliminating CPEC.

Skeptics opine that scrapping the agency is not a good idea as it has been playing a great role in identify trends through student data aggregation, recommending policies and conducting a lot of essential research on programmatic and facility changes at higher learning institutions in California.

Though many are not convinced about the effectiveness of this agency on state leaders, there are some who feel that the agency’s website is a practical treasure trove that features 1.6 billion data records collected meticulously over years.

Bob Shireman is the head of a non-profit organization in California. This group is created to study higher education competitiveness in the state. He has previously served in the Education Department before taking up this post. Shireman opines that the state desperately requires leadership and a strong vision.

According to some experts, axing CPEC is only a first small step towards refining California’s faltering higher education system. CPEC was originally created as a part of the 1960 California higher education master plan to oversee University of California systems, California State and California Community Colleges. 

After its establishment, CPEC was instrumental in initiating various programs such as new degree program reviews, long term planning coordination and state supported universities and colleges budget request evaluation.

As a part of the No Child Left behind Act, CPEC awarded an Improving Teacher Quality Program Grant. After CPEC is closed, the California Department of Education will take over this function.
According to the executive director of CPEC Karen Humphrey, of late, institutions did not follow their recommendations.

She said that the agency was especially created to provide advice and to help educational institutions make informed decisions. They did not dictate or veto. She also said that sometimes their recommendations were over ridden by establishing politics of proposal even before CPEC came into the picture.

For instance, in 2007, CPEC advised University of California at Irvine against opening a law school as the state was already saturated with them. Backed by policy makers, the school was opened anyway. 

So, it looks like the agency is not actually axed due to inefficient performance. It is rather been shown the door by policy makers and educational institutions that wish to act without anyone overseeing them.