Spring Break
Schwarzenegger Threatens to Slice College Budget
Joe LaFleur
Issue date: 11/26/08 Section: News
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in an attempt to correct the current budget deficit, has proposed budget cuts of $332.2 million from the state's community colleges, $66 million from the University of California and another $66 million from the California State Universities. If enacted, these cuts would come on top of the $290 million reduction to the community colleges included in the 2008-09 State Budget.
Should the mid-year budget proposal pass, California community colleges would be forced to turn away 262,845 students, according to Scott Lay, president and chief executive officer of the Community College League of California.
"These proposed budget cuts come at the worst possible time for the community colleges, as they struggle to serve a flood of displaced workers seeking to upgrade their job skills," said Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, Diane Woodruff, in a statement issued Nov. 7. "With California's unemployment rate rising to [8.2] percent, the colleges are experiencing a 10.2 percent increase in enrollments, roughly 100,000 full-time students beyond the level for which the colleges are funded. Our colleges always step up when the economy is in a down turn and this time is no different, however it will require additional resources to sustain this effort."
The California Community College system is comprised of 110 colleges, which service a combined 2.7 million students annually, making it the largest system of higher education in the nation. Seventy percent of California nurses and 80 percent of the state's firefighters, law enforcement officers and emergency medical technicians are educated and trained in the California Community College's, according to the California Community College System Offices.
The Los Angeles Community College District, which serviced 144,293 students in the spring of 2008, will face the largest budget cut of all 72 districts in the state, $29.9 million, according to the CCLC.
Valley College has begun to prepare for such budget cuts by taking precautionary measures and reducing the number of classes being offered during the spring 2009 semester.
Should the mid-year budget proposal pass, California community colleges would be forced to turn away 262,845 students, according to Scott Lay, president and chief executive officer of the Community College League of California.
"These proposed budget cuts come at the worst possible time for the community colleges, as they struggle to serve a flood of displaced workers seeking to upgrade their job skills," said Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, Diane Woodruff, in a statement issued Nov. 7. "With California's unemployment rate rising to [8.2] percent, the colleges are experiencing a 10.2 percent increase in enrollments, roughly 100,000 full-time students beyond the level for which the colleges are funded. Our colleges always step up when the economy is in a down turn and this time is no different, however it will require additional resources to sustain this effort."
The California Community College system is comprised of 110 colleges, which service a combined 2.7 million students annually, making it the largest system of higher education in the nation. Seventy percent of California nurses and 80 percent of the state's firefighters, law enforcement officers and emergency medical technicians are educated and trained in the California Community College's, according to the California Community College System Offices.
The Los Angeles Community College District, which serviced 144,293 students in the spring of 2008, will face the largest budget cut of all 72 districts in the state, $29.9 million, according to the CCLC.
Valley College has begun to prepare for such budget cuts by taking precautionary measures and reducing the number of classes being offered during the spring 2009 semester.
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