Dive Brief:
- In a 74-page report, the California state auditor is highly critical of the commission that threatened to revoke City College of San Francisco's accreditation.
- The audit report hints, not subtly, that California could drop the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges and look elsewhere for accreditation of its 112 community colleges, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
- Commission President Barbara Beno wrote a response to the audit, accusing the team behind it of defamation, inaccuracies, lacking competence, and relying on critics who are suing the accrediting body. California State Auditor Elaine Howle wrote a point-by-point refutation of Beno’s arguments.
Dive Insight:
The audit found that the commission, through its sanctions since 2009, has given 15 colleges two years to come into compliance and six colleges more than two years. And not every college that was out of compliance was sanctioned. City College got one year, and was given an extension of its July 31 deadline only after extreme political pressure from lawmakers, city officials, and other advocates. Without accreditation, a college essentially can’t survive because it cannot receive state or federal funding. The commission also renders most of its significant decisions in private sessions, despite the fact that 84% of the colleges it accredits are public schools. The audit also criticized the commission for not allowing colleges to introduce evidence of progress during their appeals.