Cabaldon bill to unite Yolo schools in one community college district advances in Senate

Sacramento (April 23, 2025) Back in 1975, Woodland Community College was assigned by the state to the Yuba Community College District despite an 83 percent no vote by residents.

Winters was placed in the Solano Community College District. Clarksburg went to the San Joaquin Delta district. And Davis and West Sacramento went to Sacramento-based Los Rios.

Today, that historic division means many students in Yolo County wind up taking classes across multiple districts, and they have more difficulty navigating transfer agreements to UC Davis and Sacramento State, the primary four-year universities serving the greater Sacramento region.

Sen. Christopher Cabaldon is working to unite all of Yolo County’s schools into one community college district with SB 226, which passed the Senate Education Committee Wednesday on a 5-0 vote.

“Today (four) different community colleges serve Yolo’s five school districts,” said Garth Lewis, Yolo County Superintendent of Schools. “That means no single community college district is fully accountable to the needs of our students or positioned to partner with us to partner on long-term planning.”

SB 226 would create a process for the Community Colleges Board of Governors to transfer Woodland and/or Winters into Los Rios Community College District or consolidate the county into a single new district. The legislation will now move to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Yolo County education leaders turned out Wednesday in force to support SB 226. They included former Woodland Mayor Marlan “Skip” Davies; Yolo Superintendent Lewis: Woodland Joint Unified Superintendent Elodia Lampkin-Ortega; Woodland Joint Unified School Board President Deborah Bautista Zavala; Yuba Community College District Trustee Dr. Jesse Ortiz; Yolo County supervisors Angel Barajas and Lucas Frerichs; Former Woodland Joint Unified Trustee Karen Rosenkilde Bayne; Woodland City Councilmember Vicky Fernandez; and Jake Whitaker, former president and trustee of  Woodland Joint Unified.