The State Center Community College District and Fresno City College face grim prospects if Proposition 30, the Governor Jerry Brown’s ballot initiative does not pass on election day.
Deborah Blue, SCCCD chancellor, said the district is already planning for a $16 million deficit in the event the ballot initiative fails. This will not be the case if the proposition passes.
“If Proposition 30 were to pass that, deficit would be more like $8 million,” Blue said. “So we have to plan for the worst because there would be too much work to do if we planned for the best.”
Failure of Proposition 30 could impact SCCCD in many ways, including in the number of classes offered, in the size of classes and in workforce reduction.
An immediate impact of a “No” vote on the proposition is a reduction in the number of students it can serve, about 1,824 fewer students. According to Dr. Ed Eng, vice chancellor for finance at the district, the district will be funded for 23,064 students instead of 24,888. The district strives to serve more students and will increase student intake by 3.8 percent to a total of 23,958 if it fails and 25,386 if voters pass the ballot initiative.
Interim Vice President of Instruction, Kelly Fowler, explained that FCC has braced and will continue to brace for the cuts. The real effects of these possibilities are on the available classes.
“For our college, we are looking at approximately 50 to 60 sections that may be impacted if the proposition fails,” said Fowler.
She said that there is a plan among the division deans on where those potential cuts could come from.
“While we are not certain of the outcome of the proposition, we do have a plan to address if the proposition passes or fails. Once the course sections have been identified, section enrollment of these courses will be reduced to zero and the waitlist maximum will be raised to meet the initial section enrollment of the course,” Fowler said.
Students can expect better news if the proposition passes. “We can roll over the waitlisted students into the class. If it fails, then we will notify the students on the waitlist that these classes have been cancelled,” said Fowler.
Ed Eng, vice chancellor for finance, explained that the creating more access for students is directly related to the level of state funding that the district receives.
“We get our money from the state and then we calculate how many students we can serve based off of that. So that’s $338.6 million. So that’s a statewide number. The impact to us is $8.3 million,” said Eng. The district, however, tries to meet demands for classes by serving more students than it is funded for is proving to be difficult, Blue said.
“There are many more students that need classes, and we attempt to meet that need by serving at least 2-4 percent more students than we are funded for but it is difficult,” said Blue.
While the district attempts to accommodate students, the greater difficulty lies with the lack of funding said Ed Eng, detailing the potential deficit.
“If Proposition 30 fails, we will have a $16.1 million, almost $16.2 million, deficit. If the tax initiative passes, it is about a $7.2 million deficit,” said Eng.
With the deficit would come workload reduction, according to Eng. The total workload reduction would be 7.3 percent.
Eng also explained that part of the issue with the deficit lies in the deferrals given to the districts and colleges. The state sometimes does not pay colleges for the services already rendered to students on time. Institutions are often paid for the first six months of service while withholding what is owed for the second half of the year.
The impact that this has on the district is $28 million of deferred payment. This money, if the proposition passes, would be given to the district in July and October. That would be after the fiscal year is over and after the services have been provided to students. If the proposition passes, what would have been a deferral will be paid in on time.
“If the tax initiative passes, approximately $160 million will be paid to us sooner than the July and October date. That amounts to $4.7 million. It’s not additional money. It’s money that comes to us from the state sooner,” said Eng.
While the district budget is heavily impacted by the decision on Proposition 30, so is FCC’s. Making up over half of the budget, FCC is directly affected. The college will either share in bulk the triumph of the proposition or it’s failure.
“Every dollar they give to the district is reflected in our budget as well. We represent in general about 53 percent of the budget,” said Cheryl Sullivan, vice president of Administrative Services, describing FCC’s share in the budget and cuts.
With that number, FCC benefits or loses about 50 percent of the projections. Sullivan said, if the district gets more money as a result of the budget passage, FCC’s share will represent half of the allocation of the tax revenue.
“With Prop 30 failing, we are preparing for a workload reduction which translates into FTES,” said Fowler. FCC is preparing for the workload reduction in the worst case scenario.
FCC President Tony Cantu describes the potential passage of Proposition 30 as giving the college leverage and a healthier budget. The workload reduction numbers would be reduced, and there would be more options for students.
“So it would allow us, in essence, to probably add a few more classes including the summer session,” said Cantu.
With the mood over this proposition impacting the various administrative officials, there is a cloud of doubt over the outcome. The community college system has been experiencing cuts for so long that Cantu expects that the budget situation “will continue, at least for the next three or four years.”
Blue is concerned about the impact these cuts have had on students and describes that as the worst part.
“I think that’s probably the worst thing of all — that we have to reduce the number of classes that students need to graduate. It takes them longer to finish and it just impedes student progress,” said Blue.
