Budget crisis remains

Sydney Grossman, Coburn Palmer / Roundup

The California Community College (CCC) system is facing a major budget crisis for the 2011-12 school year.

California is facing a $26 billion budget shortfall. Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed extending the tax on vehicle sales, sales tax and income tax. The tax extension would add an estimated $11 billon to the budget.

In order to extend the tax increase, Gov. Brown is attempting to put the issue before the public during a special election.

Needing a quorum of two-thirds, Gov. Brown is currently short five Republican votes.

Current budget plans call for a $400 million cut to the CCC budget and a $10 fee increase, according to the CCC Chancellor’s Office.

This is assuming voters approve the governor’s ballot measure, which is by no means certain and remains unknown for at least one more week.

According to Joy McCaslin, Pierce College’s interim president, this scenario is favorable.

“We are planning for the best situation,” McCaslin said. “We want the class offerings to stay the same. Instead, we have been cutting back on supplies.”

If the proposal does not reach the voters because of Republican holdouts, or if the electorate does not approve the tax extension, the outcome will result in severe budget cuts for the CCC.

In that case $685 million will need to be cut from the CCC budget. This amounts to a displacement of approximately 400,000 students from the CCC system.

“Each department will have to contribute,” said Fernando Oleas, chair of the modern languages department.

Pierce is currently planning for both contingencies, but both McCaslin and Kathleen Burke-Kelley, president, have more of a focus on creating a guideline for the best situation.

“We’re cutting back on other expenses and not cutting classes,” said McCaslin. “Kathleen and I speak on the phone and plan out what to do next.”

Under the worst case scenario a 15 percent reduction in Pierce’s budget could result in the displacement of 6000 students and would force the admissions office to reassess all the registered students.

“We have a unique budget situation and we just don’t have answers and can’t move forward yet,” McCaslin said. “We want students to have classes and Pierce has a good reputation for maintaining what we offer.”

Unfortunately, there seems to be a slim chance of new hires for the fall semester. Full time faculty will be given full classes and adjunct professors, since not permanent, can be let go.

“We don’t want to let them go,” McCaslin said. “We are trying not to replace anyone.” sgrossman.roundupnews@gmail.com

There are several options the chancellors office is considering, including a 90-unit cap on each students subsidized credits, a fee increase to $66 per unit, eliminating funding for athletics, repetition of PE and fine arts classes.

“Every community college is in a giant struggle,” said McCaslin.