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For Immediate Release 03/25/08
Community Colleges Experience Surprise $84.4 Million Mid-Year Budget Cut, Effecting Largest Higher Education Segment
Community colleges across California learned late last week of a statewide cut of $84.4 million that has left community college officials scrambling to balance their budgets. With only three months left in the fiscal year, the impact of the cuts is magnified. The cut reduces general support by $72 per full-time student, or about 1.5% of the colleges’ general per student funding.
“The impact on San Joaquin Delta College will be over $1.2 million,” says Dr. Kathy Hart, Delta’s Vice President of Instructional Services. “With only three months left in the fiscal year, we will likely see a reduction in program services for our students.”
The cuts are in addition to the $31 million cut from the community college budget by the Legislature during February budget-balancing actions. Some colleges intend to use state-required reserve funds to backfill the drop in property taxes.
John Romo, board chair of the Community College League of California (League) and President of Santa Barbara City College says unlike the midyear cuts the Legislature acted on earlier this year, this is truly a tree-quarter year cut. “This cut significantly limits our options to keep the impact away from students.” Romo’s college was informed of a $1.1 million cut.
The surprise is primarily due to a drop in property tax revenue, which was announced by the state last Thursday (03/20/08). The annual state-approved community college budget includes a mix of the state’s General Fund and expected local property tax revenues. A similar shortfall is expected to occur for K-12 schools by the state’s General Fund, but not to community colleges.
“We will continue to seek equitable treatment with legislation to ensure that student access and success is maintained,” said Scot Lay, President and Chief Executive Officer of the League. “In previous years, the Legislature has stepped up and agreed to fulfill the budgetary promise made at the beginning of the year. We hope they will do it again.”
“The property tax situation could actually get worse with the April payment deadline approaching,” said Theresa Tena, Director of Fiscal Policy for the League. “If it does and the Legislature doesn’t act to offset the cuts, summer school classes will likely be cut and important student support services will be reduced.”
The $84.4 million dollar cuts are expected to exacerbate the impact of proposed cuts for the 2008-09 fiscal year.
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