In September 2023, the Virginia Secretary of Education (Secretary) was directed by the Virginia General Assembly to evaluate a new governance model for Richard Bland College (Richard Bland), a public two-year institution of higher education in the Commonwealth of Virginia, as part of the effort to review the creation of a regional partnership or other strategies to improve education attainment, alternative delivery methods, enhanced efficiencies and economic and community development for the region and state. The Secretary and her team, supported by the Boston Consulting Group, interviewed 28 stakeholders and examined a range of data inputs, including a comprehensive set of metrics from the recently completed biennial six-year planning process, to learn more about Richard Bland’s history and current governance model and to identify areas of strength and challenges.

Richard Bland is currently governed by The College of William and Mary in Virginia (William & Mary) Board of Visitors, with a standing committee of William & Mary’s Board of Visitors devoted to Richard Bland. For the past several years, Richard Bland has been seeking independent governance from William & Mary, with these efforts accelerating since January 2023. Interviewees were in consensus that the current partnership with William & Mary is not meeting the needs of either institution. However, when considering the alternative of independence, they also expressed concerns about the performance and sustainability of Richard Bland across several dimensions, including its identity and viability as a small, independent public junior college in a challenging higher education market in which few if any similar institutions have been able to endure and succeed.

This evaluation considered five potential governance options for Richard Bland: (1) Continue to be governed by the William & Mary Board of Visitors (i.e., maintain the status quo), (2) Report to the Board of Visitors of a different Virginia public higher education institution, (3) Join the Virginia Community College System, (4) Integrate with a Virginia public four-year institution, combining management under a single existing Board of Visitors, and (5) Create a newly constituted Board of Visitors to govern Richard Bland. Option 1 was deemed unattractive given the unanimous consensus that the status quo is not working, and Option 2 was also inadvisable given it is likely to encounter the same challenges as the current governance model. Options 3, 4, and 5 all present substantial potential benefits and similarly substantial potential drawbacks, as well as interrelated strategic questions around Richard Bland‘s identity and positioning. As a result, both the governance and strategic implications are considered for these options.

Although this analysis was focused on Richard Bland, it is important to acknowledge that other public higher education institutions in the Commonwealth face their own challenges in this environment. The Secretary recommends that leadership and boards of all institutions take a similar look at their respective= institutions’ performance and identify a set of key metrics to transparently monitor on an ongoing basis and a series of strategic action steps to explore.