Bill to unite Yolo County’s community colleges in the same district passes Senate

SACRAMENTO--Community colleges in Yolo County could finally unite in the same district under SB 226, a bill by Sen. Christopher Cabaldon that passed the state Senate on a bipartisan vote.

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

Back in 1975, the largely Latino community of Woodland was assigned by the state to the Yuba Community College District despite an 83 percent no vote by residents.  Residents of Winters were assigned to the Solano Community College District. Clarksburg went to the San Joaquin Delta district. And Davis and West Sacramento went to Sacramento-based Los Rios.

“This bill simply creates the path forward for that injustice in 1975 to be undone and for the people of Yolo County – all of its people of all racial backgrounds – to be united in a single community college district,” Sen Cabaldon said while presenting the bill on the Senate floor.

Yolo educators say Yolo students today often 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.

Speaking at an April hearing of the Senate Education Committee, Yolo County Superintendent of Schools Garth Lewis urged committee members to approve the legislation. “Today (four) different community college districts serve Yolo schools,” he said. “That means no single community college district is fully accountable to the needs of our students or positioned to partner with us on long-term planning.”

The bill is supported by Yolo County, the Yolo County Office of Education, the City of Woodland, the Winters Joint Unified School District, the City of West Sacramento, the Mexican American Concilio of Yolo County, the Esparto Unified School District, and La Cooperativa Campesina de California. 

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Senator Christopher Cabaldon represents the 3rd Senate District which includes the cities of Oakley and Brentwood in Contra Costa County; American Canyon, Calistoga, Napa, Yountville, and St. Helena in Napa County; Benicia, Dixon, Fairfield, Rio Vista, Suisun City, Vacaville, and Vallejo, in Solano County; Cotati, Rohnert Park, and Sonoma in Sonoma County; Davis, West Sacramento, Winters, and Woodland in Yolo County; as well as Isleton in Sacramento County.