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Read the entire letter below.
A message from california’s top homeland security advisor and chancellor of California Community Colleges
No words can adequately express the overwhelming grief that we are all feeling after the violent tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. Our hearts are heavy with the loss of innocent lives and the valiant efforts of students, teachers, school leaders and public safety professionals to protect them. We are continuing to keep the families and loved ones of those lost in our prayers.
In the wake of every tragedy, there is an opportunity for reflection and growth. As leaders for California’s public instruction and homeland security, we want to reassure everyone in our education community that the safety of our students, faculty and staff remains our highest priority.
We are writing to you today to again emphasize the importance of taking the time to talk with your staff and leadership about school safety in light of this tragic event. Regardless of what motivated the shooting in Florida, it’s important for all of us to take another close look at the safety plans and security procedures we have in place to reduce the risks on our campuses, housing facilities and in our workplaces.
We know that many of you are already working closely with your school leadership, safety teams and local, state or federal law enforcement agencies to ensure that you are maintaining the safest learning environments possible. We deeply thank you for keeping safety a top priority. Through your combined efforts, many of you are exemplary leaders of safety planning and preparedness. Also, remember to share any best practices you’ve established or experiences with your colleagues in the education community.
Whether it’s a review of your security procedures or special outreach to teachers, faculty, parents and staff, any steps you can take now to be prepared for any emergency are extremely important.
The need for continual communication, coordination and review of emergency procedures and facilitating exercises cannot be overstated. Some of the most shocking plots to do harm to our schools and communities have been thwarted by simple actions of alert and prepared individuals.
The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) has compiled a wide range of federal, state and local resources to help you. These are starting points to help find best practices in school safety and preparedness. You can find these resources at www.oesnews.com/safeschools or on the Cal OES website at www.caloes.ca.gov.
Thank you for your continued dedication to educational excellence and the safety of all California’s staff, students and parents.
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Borrower defense is the process by which students who have been defrauded by their schools can have their federal student loans discharged.
For example, after the collapse of Corinthian Colleges in 2015, the California Attorney General assisted the department in developing streamlined procedures to provide critical loan relief to tens of thousands of defrauded students around the country.
In the letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the attorneys general underscore that the department’s recent proposals are a major step backwards. They do nothing to protect students and taxpayers from deceptive practices and fraud.
The letter goes on to urge the Department to address the serious concerns of the attorneys general before publishing any rules for public comment.
“We're calling on the Secretary of Education to do her job and protect students, not fraudulent for-profit colleges,” said Attorney General Becerra. “So far, the Department has drafted borrower defense rules that do little to protect student borrowers. Instead, these rules would allow unscrupulous, for-profit sham colleges to rip off students and often the U.S. taxpayer with little worry about paying a legal penalty. As a Member of Congress, I supported reforms to the student lending system and defended regulations that protect student loan borrowers. As Attorney General, I will do everything in my power to ensure that all who seek a higher education can do so without having to worry about the motives of for-profit schools.”
In the letter, the attorneys general highlight some of the most glaring issues with the Department’s proposals:
– The department proposes a “federal standard” applicable to borrower-defense claims that is wholly inadequate and would serve only to limit defrauded students’ access to critical loan relief;
– The department proposes a borrower-defense process that excludes any role for state attorneys general;
– The department proposes imposing a three-year statute of limitations on borrower-defense claims. The imposition of any statute of limitations on these claims is patently unfair;
– The department proposes preserving mandatory arbitration, which suppresses students from bringing meritorious claims and prevents information about the few disputes that are brought from ever coming to light; and
– The department fails to propose a streamlined process to discharge groups of similar borrower-defense claims.
The department’s recent rulemaking comes on the heels of its decision to throw out its borrower-defense regulations promulgated in November 2016, which were the result of a rulemaking committee in which the California Attorney General’s Office served as the lead negotiator for state attorneys general.
These regulations went a tremendous distance to achieving the department’s then-stated goal of giving defrauded borrowers access to a consistent, clear, fair, and transparent process to seek debt relief.
The department, however, has unlawfully delayed implementation of these rules and decided to draft new rules from scratch. A coalition of state attorneys general, including California, have sued the department over this unlawful delay.
Attorney General Becerra has been a leader when it comes to holding the Department and Secretary of Education accountable.
Not only has he challenged the department for unlawfully delaying its 2016 borrower-defense regulations, he has also sued the department for delaying implementation of its gainful-employment rules – rules that help weed out vocational programs that do not adequately prepare their students for jobs.
Most recently, Attorney General Becerra urged Secretary DeVos to expedite loan forgiveness for students defrauded by Corinthian Colleges and then sued over her failure to process these applications. Attorney General Becerra’s lawsuit was subsequently joined by former Corinthian students represented by Housing and Economic Rights Advocates and the Harvard Law School Legal Services Center.
Finally, Attorney General Becerra also announced a settlement with Aequitas Capital Management providing more than $51 million in debt relief for Californians who attended schools owned by Corinthian.
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The deadline for Tri Counties Bank scholarship applications has been extended to March 14, originally March 7.
Students throughout 26 counties in Northern California can apply for two separate scholarships: merit and income-based.
Merit award winners will receive a $1,000 scholarship, while income-based winners will be awarded scholarships between $1,000 and $2,500.
“In achieving its mission to help improve people’s lives, Tri Counties Bank has a very long history of providing scholarships to students,” said Rick Smith, president and CEO of Tri Counties Bank.
“This is the third year of our bank-wide scholarship program. We’re proud to continue the tradition to help deserving students, in all the regions we serve, to achieve their post-secondary education goals.”
Students can apply for the scholarship program at www.shastarcf.org/scholarships. For more information about the scholarship program, contact Miriam Leal at Shasta Regional Community Foundation at 530-244-1219.
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“I am thrilled Executive Vice Chancellor Ton-Quinlivan has taken an increased role in our agency. She is unparalleled in her expertise in workforce development and we are beyond fortunate to have someone with her know-how working on behalf of our students,” said California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley. “I’m equally delighted to welcome Vice Chancellor Kendall to the Chancellor’s Office. She is a seasoned veteran who brings great experience and knowledge to our team and joins Van in evolving the technology and data architecture for our system in ways that will benefit both our colleges and students.”
Executive Vice Chancellor for Workforce and Digital Futures Van Ton-Quinlivan is charged with ensuring that the agency’s statewide technology and data initiatives help the system’s 114 colleges achieve ambitious student completion and equity goals as defined in the newly adopted Vision for Success.
Ton-Quinlivan’s focus for Digital Futures will build upon insights from the report Charting New Paths to the Future prepared by the Institute for the Future, which looks at the question of how can a large, established, and distributed system keep up and provide innovative solutions for its students in an era of rapid change.
Appointed by the governor in 2011 as vice chancellor of Workforce & Economic Development, Executive Vice Chancellor Ton-Quinlivan is a nationally recognized thought leader in workforce development with a proven track record for implementing large-scale system change.
She spearheaded the groundbreaking Strong Workforce Task Force in California that shifted workforce from an afterthought to a policy priority for the state, which resulted in the governor signing the Strong Workforce Program into law along with a commitment of $200 million in on-going funds for career technical education.
Ton-Quinlivan’s leadership focus on Doing What MATTERS for Jobs and the Economy successfully consolidated California's two apprenticeship programs, integrated the adult education systems comprised of 300+ providers, regionalized the planning of career technical education across the system and delivered on new data tools to increase transparency for colleges and students on the effectiveness of workforce programs.
Prior to joining the Chancellor’s Office, Ton-Quinlivan oversaw workforce development for Pacific Gas & Electric, a large gas and electric utility company in California. She conceived, developed and implemented PowerPathway, a best practice model program in workforce development recognized by the White House and industry.
PowerPathway demonstrates that collaboration between industry, the public workforce system, education and organized labor can effectively help military veterans and members of underserved communities transition into well-paying energy sector jobs.
Vice Chancellor for Digital Innovation and Infrastructure Dr. Catherine Kendall is responsible for maximizing the systemwide benefit to technology-focused initiatives.
She will work closely with Chancellor’s Office staff, community college leadership and staff to improve student experience and outcomes through the innovative application of educational technology and data resources as called for in the Vision for Success.
Her role includes leadership within each of the following functional areas: Management Information Systems, Network Support and Operations, and Telecommunications and Technology Product Management.
Dr. Kendall brings more than 20 years of experience in the information technology field, where her work has focused primarily on the public sector. She will transition from her role as chief information officer for the California Department of Conservation, where she was responsible for developing the mission, vision and 2017 IT strategic plan to enable department business objectives.
Dr. Kendall has deep expertise in the use of big data and analytics to support decision-making optimized operations and improve IT service delivery.
Dr. Kendall earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture and managerial economics, as well as a master’s degree in business and IT management from the University of California, Davis. Her Ed.D., with a focus in education policy analysis, is from Drexel University.
The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation composed of 72 districts and 114 colleges serving 2.1 million students per year.
For more information about the community colleges, please visit http://californiacommunitycolleges.cccco.edu/, https://www.facebook.com/CACommColleges or https://twitter.com/CalCommColleges.