Peralta college district placed on probation
Accrediting commission cites ongoing fiscal troubles
Accreditation officials said Friday that they have placed the Peralta Community College District’s four East Bay colleges on probation, a severe sanction meaning the schools are out of compliance with a number of required standards and must repair the problems or be further penalized.
The accreditors imposed the ninemonth probationary period, with a deadline of Nov. 1, because the colleges and the district failed to address ongoing financial problems, including a structural deficit, lack of adherence to policies and procedures, poor financial controls and growing pension obligations, they told district
officials.
The new timelimit for repairs is the latest in a series of troubles for Peralta, whose four colleges are Berkeley City College, the College of Alameda, and Laney and Merritt in Oakland. The campuses serve as a leg up into the middle class for some 50,000 students, many of whom are the first in their families to attend college.
In July, the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team warned that the Peralta district was at high risk of insolvency after years of mismanagement that had administrators regularly breaking their own rules.
Earlier, the state assigned a fiscal monitor to keep an eye on Peralta. And last February, Peralta’s Chancellor Jowel Laguerre resigned under pressure. He had dismissed allegations in a whistleblower’s report in 2018, exposing deep problems with management of the district.
A new chancellor, Regina Stanback Stroud, began work in October. On Monday, she alerted the district trustees and the four college presidents of the decision by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.
“The news is disappointing but I am certain we will be able to address the issues raised,” Stanback Stroud wrote.
“My impression is that the (accrediting) commission remains concerned that we are willing to make some of the hard decisions that need to be made,” the chancellor acknowledged in her letter to the board.
But she ended her message on a positive note: “We can and will address the concerns, repair the practices, processes and policies of the district, and make the very hard decisions ... to restore the fiscal integrity of Peralta.”
Stanback Stroud told The Chronicle that she had spoken with Stephanie Droker, presidentelect of the accrediting commission, and said Droker “believes that Peralta is on the right path in correcting the financial challenges.”
Accrediting officials declined to comment.
Asked how Peralta got into such trouble, Julina Bonilla, president of the district’s Board of Trustees, said the problems are the result of years of repeated management mistakes.
“This didn’t happen in two, five or even 10 years. We’re talking about decadeslong issues,” she said, noting that Peralta’s high turnover in leadership positions exacerbated the management problems.
Bonilla has served on the board for six years. She praised the current board for requesting help from the state’s fiscal crisis team last year, and hiring other consultants to help untangle the mess.
Peralta has posted a financial plan, taking it through 2024.
Bonilla and the chancellor emphasized that Peralta and each of its colleges remain fully accredited.
Stanback Stroud added: “While this is not good news, it could have been worse.”
Probation is the middle of three possible sanctions. In 2018, the accrediting commission placed Peralta on warning, the mildest sanction.
Peralta was not given the most egregious sanction, “show cause,” as City College of San Francisco was in 2012, forcing it to demonstrate why it should not have to close. It took five years for City College to emerge from its crisis.
“This didn’t happen in two, five or even 10 years. We’re talking about decadeslong issues.”
Julina Bonilla, Board of Trustees president
The Peralta colleges will have until Nov. 1 to repair their problems or risk the stronger sanction.
“We are aware of the issues raised by the commission, and our fiscal monitor is working with the new district leadership as it works to improve its fiscal health,” said Paul Feist, a spokesman for state Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley.
“We have the utmost confidence in Chancellor Regina Stanback Stroud’s leadership and ability to guide the district as it works together to resolve these issues,” he said.