Policies vs. Regulations
What's The Difference and
Does It Matter?

The Legal Services department regularly receives inquiries regarding official MCCCD rules, such as "What's the policy for "X?" or "Do we have a policy for "Y?"

There are actually two formal doctrines that govern the District's operations: Policies and Administrative Regulations. The major distinctions between the two are the level of authority for the language, and the types of issues that fall within the doctrines. "Policy" is reserved for principles adopted by the Governing Board, while "administrative regulations" are rules adopted by the Chancellor.

The policies adopted by the Board generally outline how the Board will guide its operations and the Chancellor's management of the District. Moreover, Board policies reflect those areas that the Board must by law approve such as budgets, curriculum, degrees, certificates and diplomas, and tuition and fees. Employee group policies also fall under the jurisdiction of the Governing Board.

The regulations adopted by the Chancellor are more administrative in nature, dealing with day to day operations of the District, and cover such areas as fiscal management, students, instruction, and equal employment opportunity and affirmative action.

Both Policies and Administrative Regulations go through a formal approval process and any amendments to either must be submitted to the Board or the Chancellor for review and consideration of approval.

Once adopted, the Policies and Administrative Regulations provide a system of accountability for the Board and the Chancellor where they can focus on specific areas of operation.

While the Board and the Chancellor adopt formal language to govern and administer the operations of MCCCD, individual divisions or departments often develop their own processes and procedures to reflect specific programs or the management of unique college matters. Such language may serve to supplement rules that the Board and Chancellor have adopted, but may not be in conflict with them.

For instance, if a policy or regulation prohibits an action, divisional or department language may not be enacted to allow for such an action. Also, divisional or department language may not circumvent what has been prescribed via Governing Board-approved policy or Chancellor-approved regulations. An example would include signature authority for contracts where the Board has delegated authority to the Vice Chancellor for Business Services, who in turn has designated the attorney that handles business law issues as the signatory. No other party within the District has the general authority to sign contracts, except as identified by the Vice Chancellor.

When establishing division- or department-specific language, parties must be mindful to identify it as such, versus presenting the language as "Governing Board-" or "Chancellor-approved," and should also avoid using the terms "policies" and "administrative regulations" to describe it. These terms relate to official authority and responsibility as outlined in the Maricopa Governance model.

Policies and Administrative Regulations are available on the Web at: www.dist.maricopa.edu/gvpolicy

Published in the Winter 2002 Edition of In Brief