California’s 112 community colleges took yet another blow on Feb. 16 in the form of an additional $149 million cut to their allocations in the current fiscal year.

The cuts amount to an additional reduction of $135 per student and could lead to more reduction in classes, services and staff.

For the State Center Community College District, this means an additional slash of approximately $3.5 million from its funding. The district had faced cuts of approximately $ 2.5 million in January “trigger” cuts and $7.7 million in Enacted Budget Cut, for a total of $13.8 million in one academic year.

“As a state, we need to recognize the lasting damage that the disinvestment in higher education is having and commit to properly funding our colleges and universities,” Jack Scott, Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, stated in a news release on Feb. 21. “This will result in colleges further reducing course sections, additional borrowing and staff reductions.”

The most recent cut is another in a number of cuts sustained by the California community Colleges system.  When the state enacted its 2011-12 Budget, the community colleges’ funds were reduced by $313 million. In Jan. 2012, an additional $102 million was cut as part of the “budget triggers.” Altogether, the cuts for the 2011-12 fiscal year add up to $564 million, which translates to a reduction in enrollment by nearly 284,000.

“This $149 million reduction is unexpected and even larger than the mid-year trigger cut that the community college system has already endured,” Chancellor Scott explained. “The new 2.75 percent budget decrease is effectively doubled because colleges only have a half year to try to find savings.”

Scott also said that unless voters approve the governor’s tax plan to increase tax rates on higher income earners, an automatic cut of $5.4 billion will follow, and, of these, $4.8 billion would be to Proposition 98 funding for schools and community colleges.   SCCCD is expected to lose $6,374,309 if the tax plan fails.
In a Jan. 27 budget presentation at the Department Chair meeting, Janell Mendoza, acting vice president for Administrative Services at Fresno City College, said more cuts were expected.

“We may not be done with cuts.  There is no guarantee savings will come back to the community colleges in the future,” Mendoza said. “The state is also making deferred allocations, that the state will reimburse the college a percentage of their money at a later date.  Increase or money made from budget may cover the deferral, but may not be a dollar for dollar match.”

According to various news reports as well as information on the website of the State Chancellor for California Community Colleges, this most recent cut in funding is directly attributed to the sluggish economy.

“We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of students receiving the California Community Colleges Board of Governors’ Fee Waiver. This alone accounts for $107 million of the added shortfall,” Scott said in his news release.  Property tax revenues were also lower than expected while revenue from state-determined student enrollment fees was $106 million below projections.

Chancellor Scot said that the next step is to convince the legislature and governor to restore funding for the current fiscal year.

He commended President Obama’s proposed 2012-13 national budget which recommends focusing $8 billion on training and employing two million workers in technical and skilled manufacturing jobs through a three-year expanded partnerships between community colleges and the business community.

“An $8 billion investment represents the president’s strong confidence in the ability of our nation’s community colleges to train a workforce that can compete in both the local and global marketplace,” Scot stated. “President Obama continues to see the value of community colleges as the cornerstone in creating a strong and educated workforce to fuel our nation’s economic recovery and train and place millions of workers in middle-skills jobs.”

Mendoza said during her presentation that she is confident the SCCCD leaders have dealt with this budget crisis effectively. “Our direction is to have no layoffs, provide student access, and not to cut programs,” she said. “The Board of Trustees is working on assumptions for next year.”