Schools dismayed at state budget cuts

Deirdre Newman

Local education officials Friday reacted with dismay to Gov. Gray

Davis’ unveiling his budget proposal for 2003-04.

The recommendations, released Friday, are part of a series of

proposed cuts to attack a whopping state budget deficit of $34.6

billion. They also included changes to his mid-year budget cuts

proposed in December.

Davis’ proposal would devastate the community colleges, said Erin

Cohn, spokeswoman for the Coast Community College District, which

includes Orange Coast College.

Davis suggests $60 million in mid-year reductions for community

colleges statewide, in addition to the $214 million he has previously

recommended. That is basically a 10% reduction in the districts’

budget over last year, Cohn said.

And for 2003-04, Davis proposes a significant increase in the

community college enrollment fee, from $11 per unit to $24 per unit.

Student funding would also be cut by about $700 under the proposal,

and economically disadvantaged and disabled students could expect a

43% cut in their support services, Cohn said .

To combat the loss of funding, a reduction in class offerings

during the school year and the summer would be tough to avoid, Cohn

said.

“We’ll be surprised if we see any summer school this year,” Cohn

said. “This is going to be really tough for us and affect the way we

will provide services. There isn’t any way we can get around [cutting

classes]. We really can’t expect to see the same kind of community

colleges that we have had in the past.”

The proposal would also deal the University of California a

significant blow, a cut of about $300 million for the 2003-04 school

year. The plan does, however, provide funding for schools to increase

their enrollment.

“I’m very concerned at the level of the cuts and how we can manage

to take the increased number of students, which we plan to do, with a

budget which overall is considerably less than we need to do it,”

said Roy Dormaier, UCI’s vice chancellor of planning and budget.

“There will be more students to serve and probably fewer people here

to serve them. Everyone will be asked to work a little harder.”

Fees have already been increased $135 per quarter throughout the

UC system beginning this spring. Under the governor’s budget

proposal, mandatory systemwide fees would increase by another $265

per quarter in 2003-04 for resident undergraduates.

The Board of Regents will discuss budget and fee issues at its

March meeting. It is not expected to take action on 2003-04 student

fee levels until later in the spring.

Other suggested cuts to the UC system for 2003-04 include:

* administration and libraries: $36.5 million

* research: $28.8 million

* student services: $25.3 million

For Newport-Mesa, Davis has proposed slashing $122.2 million in K-12 programs. Davis also suggested mid-year cuts of $2.7 billion --

up from $1.5 billion proposed in December -- through a combination of

fund shifts, natural savings and reductions.

The good news is that Davis proposed increasing per-pupil spending

for 2003-04 by 1.6%, for a total of $6,708 per student.

The mid-year cuts will be considered by a special session of the

state Legislature in the next month or so. The 2003-04 budget has to

be approved by the legislature by June 30.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at [email protected].