COLLEGE MAY FACE PENALTY COURSES FOR HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETES AT ISSUE.

Byline: Eugene Tong  Staff Writer

VALENCIA - College of the Canyons may have improperly claimed as much as $62,000 in state funding last year for classes that provided college credit to high school students, primarily athletes, a report said.

In the preliminary report, authors from the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office said the 495 dual-enrollment courses offered in the Santa Clarita Community College District met minimum content requirements for state funding. But they raised questions about public access - a key criterion for funding - in at least 95 college-credit physical-education courses offered last year. The authors recommend additional review.

``It's one of the more prevalent problems that we found,'' said Kirsten Macintyre, a chancellor's spokeswoman. ``In some (colleges), they were not advertising the classes properly. For example, (they) don't put it into the college catalog. Instead (they) post it in high school. That's not OK.''

If state officials conclude there was any wrongdoing, College of the Canyons may have to reimburse up to $62,000 that was received from Sacramento. College spokesman John McElwain said school officials have been cooperating with investigators.

``It's a matter of producing the information that's necessary,'' he said. ``If we did something wrong, we need to look at it.''

Investigators found that 97 percent of the 3,076 enrolled in the questioned physical-education classes were high school students. Also, they said, designations such as ``V,'' ``J.V.'' and ``F'' accompanied the course descriptions - corresponding to high school sports designations of ``varsity,'' ``junior varsity'' and ``freshman.''

The report authors said such designations would ``probably discourage enrollment by regular community college students.''

In athletics ranging from football to cheerleading, local high school coaches and other instructors encourage students to enroll in the summer programs, which are offered at the college and the individual high school campuses. Coaches and other instructors say this gives them a preseason chance to evaluate potential team members.

Barry Gribbons, vice president of institutional development at the college, insisted that the courses have always been open to everyone.

``We did give specific instructions to everyone involved in the program that it's open to the public,'' he said. ``They can't deny anyone from enrolling. That's been true from day one.''

The college began offering summer physical-education classes to high school students in 2001 after taking over the program from the city of Santa Clarita's Department of Parks and Recreation. Students initially paid about $11 per class, but that fee rose to $95 this year - to compensate for potentially lost state funding - the chancellor's inquiry began.

``We learned of the fact that people in high places were wondering if it would be appropriate,'' McElwain said. ``We shifted them this year to community-extension (status), which makes them self-supporting.''

The investigation is part of a statewide probe. The preliminary report said as much as $36 million was improperly claimed by community colleges last year through concurrent enrollment programs.

The chancellor's inquiry came after news media reports last year critical of coaches and administrators who operated college-level physical-education classes for high school athletes.

Eugene Tong, [phone]

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com