Funding for Community Colleges Could Be Cut off, Controller Warns

By Oliver Lukacs
Staff Writer

July 24 -- A “partisan” deadlock in Sacramento has delayed the State budget by three weeks, freezing nearly half the funds for community colleges statewide and triggering fee hikes and potential shutdowns of entire schools, California State Controller Steve Westly said Thursday at a press conference at Santa Monica College.

Speaking at the grassy foot of the picturesque Life Science building before a group of school officials, students and TV cameras, Westly, a former community college student and professor, said the delayed budget is “adding insult to injury” and is “going to cause real pain for California students.”

“Our colleges need every penny and they need it now, or you will see community colleges around the state shutting down,” Westly said, noting that state funds account for roughly 40 percent of community colleges' budgets.

“Without a budget my hands are tied," said Westly, who issues the checks to schools statewide. "I cannot pay the more than $200 million that goes out every month. Next Tuesday that first check will not be sent out. All state funding for community colleges will be cut off immediately at that time.”

The budget deadlock will force SMC to hike fees and borrow $4.5 million from Los Angeles County to fill the looming budget gap, said college President Dr. Piedad F. Robertson. It also will hamper SMC's ability to plan its curriculum.

The deadlock, however, will not result in further downsizing at the local campus, Robertson said.

"This has nothing to do with cutting programs,” Robertson told The Lookout after the conference. She added, “We all know something to be true: there is no such thing as a free lunch, and the budget will never be on time.”

Without a budget, Westly said, financial aid, fee-waivers and Cal Grants also will be forced to withhold funds from needy students. The students will be left "in limbo," not knowing if and how much money they will get and what, if any, classes will be available.

The situation is worsened by a recent State Supreme Court ruling barring the controller from disbursing funds without a budget in place, as was done in the past, Westly said.

“It’s a poor policy in my opinion, but that’s the law and I have to follow it," he said. "I am doing everything I can. The state capitol is paralyzed by partisan politics, and lawmakers are stalled, but they have to move forward.”

Westly added that the current movement to recall Governor Gray Davis is not helping the "partisan stalemate."

“I think the recall is a horrible partisan distraction… It’s political theatre," Westly said. "The legislature should be focused on one thing and one thing only right now, and that’s the budget.”

Westly urged everybody to contact their representatives to tell them to “rise above the partisan politics now.” Noting that the percentage of students voting has been on a steady slide for the past quarter century, he urged them to get off their “rear end” and hit the ballot box.

“I want to see you making your voice heard,” Westly said.

Speaking for the entire L.A. community college district, the largest in the nation serving 120,000 student a year, Dr. Audre Levy, president of Los Angeles Southwest College warned that downsizing or closing schools will only hurt the state in the long run.

“Our demands have increased," Levy said. "There are more individuals out there in the world looking for opportunities to get retrained… If our doors are closed we are not helping the economy of the state.”

Without a set curriculum and financial aid in the air “how can students plan their lives?” SMC President Robertson asked.

“This is time for the legislature and everyone to look at the budget from the perspective of the student and the impact it has on their lives," Robertson said. "They are the ones who don’t have a voice in Sacramento.”

Melvon George, SMC student trustee, provided that student perspective. “Being in limbo is the worst part of being a student right now, because you don’t know what classes are going to be available, and you don’t know how much money you’re going to have.”

George said withholding fee waivers means that some students have to pay between $100 and $200 dollars to enroll, and while they would be eventually reimbursed, “for students who don’t have the money, that can be a deterrent from registering in classes and getting what they need.”

George said it was “really upsetting” that “you pay taxes every time you get something to eat, or something to drink, property taxes, the DMV, parking tickets -- those moneys are all going to the state and we’re not getting provided the services that we’re paying for.