By Sam Mantros : sfstandard – excerpt

State lawmakers criticized the governor for earmarking millions for the private art school amid a budget deficit.

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 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 that he had not spoken directly with Newsom.

A spokesperson for CCA said Howse notified the governor’s office of the closure Monday, the day before the news was announced publicly, and has a meeting scheduled with Newsom’s office next week…

All four Democrats on an education finance budget subcommittee voted against the governor’s request. Sen. Scott Wiener backed Newsom’s proposal.

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…(more)

More bad news for Newsom at a bad time for Newsom.