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CCA Vice President Lynette Nyaggah, Treasurer Jim Weir stand with President Ron Norton Reel at CTA’s State Council meeting. |
By Ron Norton Reel
CCA President
As if California’s community colleges didn’t have enough challenges, the news that the state is facing a $16 billion budget shortfall casts a long, dark shadow over our previous woes.
As a result of the state budget crisis, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency in January and proposed a 10 percent across-the-board cut for all state services, including public education. That proposed cut equates to a $4.8 billion decrease in funding to the state’s K-12 public schools, with an additional $440 million in cuts to our community colleges.
Don’t erode Prop. 98
This plan would seriously erode Prop. 98, the constitutional law passed by voters that guarantees a minimum funding level for schools. As faculty, we may complain that we haven’t received the promised 11 percent of the funding from Proposition 98, but the current budget proposal would eviscerate funding to K- 12 and community colleges alike.
Initially, the governor had proposed mid-year cuts of $40 million from community colleges.
By working with the Legislature, CCA/CTA were able to reduce that amount to $31 million, and keep it away from the students. Instead, the cuts will come from unallocated funds from the Chancellor’s Office.
Although CCA/CTA was successful in preventing mid-year cuts, the Legislature is now turning to the budget for 2008-09. CCA and the entire Education Coalition will continue to oppose cuts to education, and infringements on Proposition 98.
No cuts to classes
Meanwhile, at its January meeting, the Community College Board of Governors discussed cutting class sections in the districts to solve the budget problem. As I testified at that meeting, we must be careful about asking our colleges to cut classes. Canceling classes would scare away our students and send the wrong message to the community. Community colleges are funded by the amount of students in the class and canceling classes cuts income.
Make no mistake, California’s budget crisis is real, but we must stand together to resist these drastic cuts to education. It is equally important that we stand together with our K-12 colleagues who will be more seriously impacted by these cuts. Remember, the elementary and high school students affected today will be our students tomorrow.
The current budget proposals coming out of the governor’s office are not a solution to the chronic funding problems that affect our schools and colleges – not by a long shot. Instead, we must have a plan that addresses the inadequate and unstable revenue sources for education.
Stand up for colleges
As CCA members, we must stand up for our colleges. The California Community College system is the largest higher education system in the world, and we do much more than prepare our students to transfer to four-year colleges and universities. We provide training for those entering the job market, and re-training for those who require it; we provide English language skills for non-English speaking students; second chances for those who didn’t previously succeed in school; and continuing education and personal development classes for the community. We do it all and we do it on a shoestring.
And, despite criticism last year by one think tank study, the number of our students transferring to four-year institutions is outstanding. According to Fast Facts 2007 , a report by the Community College League of California, in 2005-06 we transferred 13,462 to the University of California (UC) system; 52,642 to California State University (CSU); and 28,304 to private schools. Two thirds of CSU and one-third of UC graduates begin at the community college, and their grade point averages are as good as those students who started at the four-year colleges.
The real problem with our transfer system is that we have more students ready to transfer each year than these institutions can accommodate.
As for our enrollment, did you know that more than 70 percent of students taking college classes in California are at the community college level? According to the Fast Facts report: the 10 UC campuses have an enrollment of 159,066; the 23 CSU campuses have 331,563 students; and the 109 community colleges have 2,549,421 students.
And our state funding? Take a look at the comparisons below. State Funding per Full Time Equivalent (FTES):
UC $18, 203
CSU $11,624
CC $ 5,461
Even K-12 earns more at: $8,133 per FTES.
Playing a vital role
Yet, for every dollar spent educating these students, the state gets back $3 in return on that investment. Community colleges have always played a crucial role in providing the training and education for the people who run this state – the nurses, the firefighters, the police officers, the technicians, the business leaders – yes, even our governor! And, if California’s economy continues to plunge, community colleges will play a vital role in helping to bringing it back.
California’s community colleges have been there for all of us. Now we must be there for our community colleges.