Report 2022-113 Recommendation 7 Responses

Report 2022-113: California Community Colleges: Increasing Full-Time Faculty and Diversity Remains a Challenge (Release Date: February 2023)

Recommendation #7 To: Community Colleges Chancellor's Office

To improve faculty diversity at all districts, the Chancellor's Office should, beginning in fiscal year 2023-24, require districts to implement all of the multiple methods to receive EEO funding, and it should create a process to verify proper implementation of a selection of the methods to ensure compliance and consistency.

6-Month Agency Response

New requirements in the Education Code supersede this recommendation. SB 117 (2023) amended Education Code section 87102 to require districts to implement strategies from the Multiple Methods identified by the Chancellor's Office as a condition of receiving equal employment opportunity funds. While the CSA recommendation is for the Chancellor's Office to require districts to implement all of the Multiple Methods to receive EEO funding, the Legislature's amendment does not require that all the Multiple Methods be implemented. Nevertheless, the Chancellor's Office has, and will continue to, encourage districts to implement strategies from all of the Multiple Methods as recommended. Additionally, SB 117 also requires the Chancellor's Office to create a process by January 1, 2024 to verify each participating community college district's proper implementation of strategies from the Multiple Methods. The Chancellor's Office is in the process of formulating and implementing such a process.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: No Action Taken

Although SB 117 does not prohibit the Chancellor's Office from requiring districts to implement all of the multiple methods, the Chancellor's Office's response provides no indication that it will implement this recommendation.

60-Day Agency Response

The Chancellor's Office provided an update on the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Integration Plan at the March 20, 2023 Board of Governor's Meeting and March 16, 2023 Consultation Council. The update included discussion of recent revisions to regulation, the 2022 EEO/Diversity Best Practices Handbook, revised standards for employee evaluation and tenure review, Pipelines to Possibilities Program, ALIVE Academy, Aspiring Radical Leaders Institute, and additional state resources made available by the Legislature since the Board of Governors adopted the DEIA Integration Plan in 2019. Also shared were upcoming statewide efforts to promote equal employment opportunities through targeted professional development, district grants, and promising practices showcases. In 2023, the Chancellor's Office will continue to present the Representation Matters Webinar Series, host Communities of Practice to support EEO related efforts, support professional development efforts related to culturally responsive pedagogy and practices, and create learning opportunities for all employee classifications through a needs assessment, and host a two-day event in Fall of 2023 to showcase and celebrate the momentum of DEIA and promising campus practices.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Will Not Implement

To supplement its response, the Chancellor's Office provided its memo to Community College Districts on the transition to a new EEO program model. This memo states that the requirement that districts must meet seven of the nine multiple methods will not change. Based on this statement, our current assessment is that the Chancellor's Office does not intend to implement this recommendation. Implementation of this recommendation would be to require districts to implement all of the multiple methods to receive EEO funding, and to create a process to verify proper implementation of a selection of the methods.

All Recommendations in 2022-113

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.