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California governor Gavin Newsom on Sunday vetoed a bill that would have allowed community college students to retake credit courses they already passed up to two times in certain fields of study, including humanities and English as a second language, “for enrichment or skill-building purposes.”
Newsom wrote in a veto message to the State Assembly that the legislation, Assembly Bill 811, aims to help increase enrollment in the California Community College system, a goal he shares.
But it “also creates a fiscal incentive for community colleges to encourage repeating certain credit courses,” he wrote. “This bill moves us away from our shared, stated goals.”
Rachel Ruffalo, senior director of strategic advocacy at the Education Trust–West, an education research and advocacy organization, applauded the move. She wrote in a statement that her organization advocated for the veto because allowing community college students who plan to transfer to universities to take additional courses unnecessarily “can prolong their efforts to earn transfer credit and lead to greater attrition.”
“What’s more, retaking courses adds to the cost of college, sucking up limited financial aid resources and increasing the likelihood of student debt for a population already disproportionately burdened,” she said. “Put simply, AB 811 was bad for students.”
