Board provisionally approves California Baptist—s hygiene program, backs program changes and forms education task force

The Dental Hygiene Board of California voted March 22 to provisionally approve a bachelor—s degree dental hygiene program at California Baptist University and to take three related education actions: approve a changed cohort schedule for Cabrillo College, disapprove Concord Career College—s schedule request for being under the minimum term length, and create a task force to draft penalty rubrics for noncompliant dental hygiene educational programs.

Why it matters: the decisions affect program approvals and the pace of new graduates entering local workforces. The newly formed task force will draft standardized penalties and procedures that could affect future program compliance and enforcement.

Provisional approval: Michael Long, chair of the Education Committee, reported that the committee reviewed California Baptist University—s feasibility study and recommended provisional approval. The full board then voted to accept the committee—s recommendation. The university representative thanked the board for the review.

Cabrillo College: the board accepted the Education Committee recommendation to allow Cabrillo College to admit cohorts of 20 students every other year beginning with the 2026 cohort. The committee said the change would adjust Cabrillo—s enrollment pattern; the board approved the request.

Concord Career College: the Education Committee found Concord Career College—s current academic term schedule (nine weeks of instruction per term) violated California law and the board voted to disapprove the request, directing Concord to meet the minimum of ten weeks per term used statewide.

Education program task force: staff asked for volunteers to form a task force to draft a penalty rubric for dental hygiene educational programs (DHEPs) that fail to meet legal or regulatory requirements. Julie Elginer, a public board member, and Joanne Pacheco, a licensee and board member, volunteered. The board approved forming the task force and asked staff to add three subject‑matter experts to participate; the task force will present draft language to the Education Committee for public consideration.

Votes and roll calls: board members recorded roll call votes for each motion. For the California Baptist University provisional approval motion, the roll call in the transcript recorded the following votes as "Aye": Julie Algener; Sonia P. Hansen; Sherman King; Michael Long; Justin Matthews; Joanne Pacheco; Sridevi Panala; Holly Agarwal. The motions to approve Cabrillo—s enrollment pattern change and to disapprove Concord Career—s schedule also passed on roll calls recorded in the meeting materials.

The board also received a report summarizing site visits and program compliance statuses for several programs and asked staff to continue scheduling site visits and provide updates at future meetings.

No legislation or new regulations were enacted; the actions were board approvals and assignments to staff and the new task force.