Students and faculty of California College of the Arts weren’t the only ones shocked by the abrupt announcement Tuesday that San Francisco’s oldest art school would be closing and its campus taken over by Vanderbilt University.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who caught flak from the press and lawmakers last year after securing $20 million in the state budget for CCA, was also caught off guard.
In text messages reviewed by The Standard, Newsom wrote that he “Had no clue” and was given “no heads up” about the 119-year-old CCA’s dissolution, which was announced in an email to students and faculty by CCA president David Howse.
In an interview on Wednesday, The Standard asked Howse if he had notified the governor about the closure.
“We have been in touch with the governor’s office, and we’ll continue to keep in conversation with him as we go through this transition,” Howse said, adding he had not spoken directly with Newsom.
A spokesperson for CCA said Howse notified the governor’s office of the closure on Monday, the day before the news was announced publicly, and has a meeting scheduled with Newsom’s office next week.
Newsom’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
When Newsom initially proposed providing $20 million to the private arts college, lawmakers balked because of the state’s precarious budget situation. CCA was the only private college to receive state funds this year. In California, funding private colleges is not within the state’s scope of responsibility and has been done very rarely.
All four Democrats on an education finance budget subcommittee voted against the governor’s request. Sen. Scott Wiener backed Newsom’s proposal.
“Given that this was such a tough budget year, it doesn’t make sense to me why we are giving $20 million to a private college,” Assembly Education Chair Al Muratsuchi told Politico (opens in new tab). “I’m sure the California College of the Arts provides worthwhile educational programs, but our first priority should be to support our public universities, especially when the Trump administration is defunding public higher education.”
The Student Aid Commission for California’s nonpartisan legislative analyst’s office also recommended rejecting the grant, noting that California State University campuses were also struggling and pointing to recent state grants and private donations.
“Though we recognize CCA’s difficult financial situation, it is not the only campus in the state facing budget challenges,” read the recommendation. “Given supporting private schools is not part of the state’s core mission, we recommend rejecting this proposal.
Prior to the $20 million grant, the state provided $2.5 million from the general fund in the 2024-25 budget to support CCA, which the school used to fund scholarships to aid enrollment growth.
Shortly after Newsom proposed the $20 million grant, $45 million in donations came in — half from the Jen-Hsun & Lori Huang Foundation and the rest matched by private donors. The contribution by the Nvidia CEO’s foundation was the largest donation in the school’s history by $5 million.
Newsom previously defended his decision to include the additional CCA funding in the state budget.
“At a time when Donald Trump is attacking the humanities, this is a simple choice: let the last remaining nonprofit arts college in San Francisco die, or step in to save it,” Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon told Politico in May. “The governor is choosing to save it — and in doing so, protecting what makes California, California: our creative economy.”
The last time the state gave money to private colleges was $50 million to the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in 2021 to support the construction of a new building that is allowing the university to develop and expand a medical school, and $5 million in 2022 to support an effort by the California Indian Nations College to pursue accreditation.
“Both of those appropriations were for specific purposes that have an obvious statewide interest,” stated a committee staff report (opens in new tab).