Board of Trustees reallocates reserve funds to colleges District divides $10 million among the nine colleges to keep colleges running

some of the programs that we had cut back on in the pre-Proposition 30 days,” Abu-Ghazaleh said.

The Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees approved a nearly $10 million increase in funding for its nine schools at its Wednesday meeting.The funds will account for 2.5 percent of the LACCD’s Contingency reserve, according to the meeting’s agenda, according to the meetings agenda.

Mona Field, former president of the Board, said she is cautiously optimistic.

“You can safely say things are getting better, but I don’t think it’s enough yet,” Field said.

Nabil Abu-Ghazaleh, president of West Los Angeles College, said this fiscal adjustment will allow the colleges to again offer services that were cut back.

“This will allow the colleges now to start growing our offerings and to start rebuilding

Although Proposition 30 passed last Nov. and kept school’s state funding from plummeting, the Board’s Second Vice President Nancy Pearlman said the reallocation of funds isn’t directly connected.

“Proposition 30 gave us enough money so that we didn’t have to make more drastic cuts. It is not a long-term solution,” Pearlman said.

Proposition 30 was a relatively close call at the polls, and Abu-Ghazaleh said the LACCD put away some money before the votes were tallied.

“Last year, we were in very difficult fiscal times,” Abu-Ghazaleh said. “The Board chose to increase our budget reserves at the district level to make sure that, if Proposition 30 did not pass, there would be sufficient reserves to keep our colleges operating.”

Field said that the Board’s goal is to get as much money as possible to the colleges.

“These funds will basically help us operate at a manageable level,” said Abu-Ghazaleh. “It also means that we can start looking at some of the students success programs, and maintenance issues that we have been skimping on.”

LACCD schools are also looking into hiring full-time faculty, according to AbuGhazaleh.

“There will be more student access when it comes to classes, and student services like counseling, tutoring, financial aid and staff,” said Field. “All the things that they were squeezing and cutting back, we can now enhance again hopefully to enough.”

The conservative approach the Board took to addressing the budget cuts helped the District get through some difficult years, according to Abu-Ghazaleh.

“Our colleges are always in need of dollars, and we don’t want to cut classes,” Pearlman said. We want to be sure that people can get the classes they need to get through the programs fast and efficiently. “We need to be able to do proper maintenance and operations.”

[See FUNDS, Page 3]

A free tax-preparation service will be hosted twice a week on Pierce’s campus until two days before the mid-April tax-filing deadline.

As a member of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program, Pierce welcomes anyone who makes $51,000 or less to receive help preparing their income tax returns from the volunteerbased service, according irs.gov.

The service, hosted by the Pierce College Business Administration Department, is offered twice a week in Business 3218 until April 13.

“It’s free. The state provides state materials and the IRS provides the federal stuff,” Assistant Professor of Business Administration Robert Foster said. “It’s ideal for single moms and students.”

The Business Department, the IRS, and the California Franchise Tax Board have worked together for nearly 40 years to provide this service to LA residents.

To get your taxes prepared for free:

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance is offering free tax preparation to families with annual incomes of $50,000 or less every Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m. in BUS 3218. Services end on April 13.

For more info:

Robert Foster: 818-710-4397

David Braun: 818-719-6479

California State University, Northridge’s Business Department is also a VITA member, but the program limits its volunteers to university business students.

Foster and his team of IRScertified tax-preparers includes students studying tax preparation as well as community volunteers working together to ensure that clients’ taxes are prepared by the April 15 deadline.

Some of the preparers were in the beginning stages of preparing their taxes, but there were also preparers who had volunteered themselves, some having years of experience with VITA.

“Once the student prepares the taxes, they get the tax return checked by one of our experienced volunteers,” Business Department Chair David Braun said. “They check to make sure that the student has done everything exactly the way it needs to be done”

Clients are asked to bring their W-2s and supply personal information so the preparers can thoroughly coach their clients through all of the details to ensure the largest refund possible.

[See TAX, Page 3]