The Santa Barbara City College Board of Trustees formed an ad hoc committee on Thursday to determine how to use the remaining $13 million from the largest-ever single donation to the school.

The new committee comes after the Santa Barbara City College Foundation announced that money from the $20 million MacKenzie Scott donation was used to fund the SBCC Promise program without proper authorization.

The SBCC Promise program began in 2016 to pay for tuition, supplies and other costs of eligible local high school graduates, and has been in a deficit since 2018. Money from the Scott gift has been used to cover the deficit since 2021 without being authorized by the foundation board, the Board of Trustees or the college.

Board of Trustees President Jonathan Abboud said the college’s ongoing investigation of the spending means the board cannot answer questions about the issue.

“Unfortunately, for this reason, our focus tonight is only on the future utilization of the Scott money,” Abboud said at the Thursday board meeting, “which is an exciting prospect on its own.”

There was no official agreement on how to approve using donation funds when the gift was received in 2021. Abboud said Thursday that the foundation and the trustees will need to establish an agreement on how the money is spent.

Abboud said the ad hoc committee would be able to meet with people who have proposals for how the remaining money should be spent and report back to the board for further discussion.

The trustees chosen by Abboud for the committee were Jett Black-Maertz and Kyle Richards. Abboud also placed himself on the committee.

Ideas for the remaining $13 million ranged from using it to benefit marginalized students, for student housing, or putting a portion aside to generate revenue for other programs.  

Trustee Charlotte Gullap-Moore suggested that a portion of the money be put aside in an endowment to benefit Umoja program students, which includes Black and African American students at SBCC.

Black-Maertz recommended that the money be used to support housing for students. An idea by Trustee Ellen Stoddard was to help students aging out of the foster system.

Another suggestion by Trustee Marsha Croninger was to use the interest from the $13 million to support other college programs.

A 5% return on the $13 million would generate $650,000 for the college per year, according to Abboud.

Abboud also proposed using the money to continue supporting the SBCC Promise.

“I know that is not new,” Abboud said, “but it is something everybody in our community loves and can get behind.”

In addition, the board discussed an internal grant program that would be available to SBCC departments looking to fund or expand programs.

Bobbi Abram, CEO of the SBCC Foundation, was in attendance during the discussion but did not speak. She expressed support for all of the ideas suggested by the board.

Celeste Barber spoke during public comment, asking the trustees to be transparent and use an outside law firm for the investigation into the funds.  

“It’s nothing against your attorneys, but they’re there to look out for your best interest, and we need someone who is neutral — who will get to the truth,” Barber said.

Barber also asked that any committee formed by the board include members of the community, college faculty and former members of the foundation.

The law firm Griffith & Thornburgh LLP is leading the investigation, according to college spokesman Jordan Killebrew.