Community colleges ask state for nearly $200 million to support AI adoption

Tarini Mehta, The Sacramento Bee on Sep 24, 2026

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The California Community Colleges system is requesting nearly $200 million from the state to support the adoption of artificial intelligence across its 116 colleges. If granted, these funds will be spent on building technological infrastructure, training faculty and staff in the use of AI and providing grants for local innovations.

As higher education institutions nationwide grapple with the entry of this new technology into their classrooms, boardrooms and systems, the California Community Colleges system has identified artificial intelligence as one of its major budget priorities for next year. Its goal, officials said, is to prepare students and faculty to effectively participate in a changing economy while ensuring colleges across the state have equal and secure access to artificial intelligence.

“Our approach is guided by one simple principle: Access to AI opportunity should not depend on which college a student attends,” said Craig Hayward, vice chancellor of AI strategy and digital transformation, at a board of governors meeting earlier this month.

“Without coordinated investment, colleges will adopt AI at different speeds with varying levels of capacity. This inevitably creates inequities across student access, workforce preparation, cybersecurity and institutional effectiveness. A statewide strategy is critical to ensure that all 116 colleges can participate in this transformation regardless of local resources.”

Planned AI initiatives

In its 2027-28 budget request, the community college system is asking for a $100 million grant to be distributed among individual districts so they can meet their software, hardware, cloud services, cybersecurity and data infrastructure needs. This will also be used to connect local systems to existing statewide infrastructure like the career passport, a digital tool designed to connect workers with employers based on their skills.

The system’s leadership hopes to get $40 million to launch AI professional development and literacy efforts for the staff and faculty so they can integrate AI into teaching, learning and student services. The funds will be used to create a centralized learning portal with AI literacy modules and comprehensive guidance on how to use the technology, per the budget request document.

Another $25 million will be spent setting up the Artificial Intelligence Innovation Fund, which will provide competitive grants to individual districts to pilot projects that may improve teaching and learning, and $9 million on incorporating agentic AI into the system’s statewide technology ecosystem. This includes the career passport and common cloud data platform, for example.

The system’s fifth and final AI request is $21 million to establish a partnership with UC San Diego, the San Diego Supercomputer Center and the Corporation For Education Network Initiatives In California to gain access to the CENIC AI Resource for all colleges. With this supercomputing infrastructure, the community colleges aim to avoid contracting with an external AI vendor that may come with a higher price tag and data privacy concerns.

This project would replace the current system in which individual colleges are left to rely on commercial platforms. The California Community Colleges’ major AI initiatives so far have included professional development opportunities for staff and faculty and a course assistant to help students understand class expectations and assignments. It is also providing access to Google AI tools across colleges.

Budget process

In addition to this nearly $200 million request for AI initiatives, the community colleges system is also asking the state for $135 million to support enrollment growth as it recovers from a pandemic-induced decline and more than $90 million for equity programs including the African American Male Education Network and Development and veterans resource centers. Other budget priorities include investing in partnerships with school districts, strengthening transfer pathways, workforce programs and increased staffing in the chancellor’s office.

All together, the community colleges system is asking the state for $351.5 million in one-time and $298.2 million in ongoing funds over and above its base budget. Approved by the board of governors this month, the California Community Colleges system will now lobby in Sacramento to get the Legislature and incoming governor to support its requests.

The system’s total budget in 2026-27 is nearly $20 billion. More than 70% of this amount comes from Proposition 98 funds. Under Proposition 98, the state calculates an annual “minimum guarantee” for school and community college funding based on factors like annual state revenues. This annual guarantee, sourced from the general fund and local property taxes, covers main operations. The rest of the system’s budget comes from fees and other local sources like facility rentals and community programs.

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