Given the bleak outlook for higher education funding in this state, and given how little authority the titular head of the California Community Colleges system actually has, the position of chancellor could truly be called one of California's thankless jobs. But here's something to be grateful for: Mark Drummond, a proven leader with an impressive track record as president of the greatly improved Los Angeles Community College District, has agreed to assume the post.

It will require energy and creativity to succeed at the helm of an unwieldy, 108-college system that isn't really even governed from the top. The colleges' budgets are set by the governor and Legislature, and they won't be pretty come January. The bulk of the spending decisions are made by local college presidents and their elected boards of trustees.

That might seem to leave Drummond without much to do, but the reality is far different. He is the public face of a system that has long been the forgotten workhorse of the California economy. Task No. 1 should be to make sure the colleges are remembered when budget time comes by the people who count.
Former Gov. Gray Davis never seemed to have much use for the Community Colleges, focusing his speeches and resources instead on the more prestigious -- and more politically influential -- University of California and California State University systems. And no one would deny the importance of the universities to the state.

But if California is to come out of its economic slump, the community colleges' capacity for worker training and retraining, and their responsiveness to business needs, will have to play a role. Drummond's most important job may be to get Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to recognize that.