De Anza Student Government went over the first draft of its $1.93 million budget at its general senate meeting in the Student Council Chambers last Wednesday, Feb. 4.

The budget, made up of an over $80,000 limited fund, Fund 46, and an over $1.85 million general fund, Fund 41, supports programs on campus, academic divisions and DASG’s own projects, including its bike program, legal advice and subsidized movie tickets.

Chair of Finance Alan Ma, 19, electrical engineering and computer science major, said that while past student governments funded college services, that wasn’t its responsibility.

“The purpose of DASG funding is for ancillary services, not things that are central to the college’s function,” Ma said. “We used to fund referees, but we broke off from that.”

The finance committee recommended that DASG hold $431,000 in “special allocations,” meaning next year’s senate would hold on to the money and either allocate it throughout the year or roll it over.

This amount comes on top of its $400,000 in Fund 41 reserves and $20,000 in Fund 46 reserves, separate from special allocations as the finance code outlines, effectively leaving next year’s senate with $850,000 at its discretion.

For programs to get special allocations, they would need to present to that year’s finance committee and senate over that money, rather than DASG disbursing it at the start of the financial year.

Over the last decade, special allocations stayed relatively small, with senators disbursing money earlier rather than having programs come to it next year — until 2024-25, DASG did not budget more than $30,000 in special allocations since the 2014-15 school year.

DASG’s 2024-25 finance committee gave it its first six-figure special allocations budget, with the senate approving $176,342 on top of reserves. Last year’s senate dialed it back slightly, budgeting $80,011 in special allocations, a number this year’s finance committee seeks to more than quintuple.

Budget Analyst Thin Thida Soe, 18, business administration and management major, said that while the budget grew, “most of the requested amounts didn’t.”

“The special allocation budget is significantly larger than the previous year because we had a total of $1.8 million to allocate this year (in Fund 41),” Soe said. “Some programs asked for way more than they requested in previous years. Those programs are mostly the ones that are institutional.”

Soe said programs that received “institutional support” are the college administration’s responsibility to keep afloat, not student government’s.

“In this context, it (institutional) means that it (the program) is essential and necessary to the operations of the college. Therefore, the specific program is supposed to be funded by the college, not DASG,” Soe said. “If the program isn’t a mandatory service, that program can be funded by DASG.”

For example, while the athletics department requested $45,000 for conferences and travel, the finance committee recommended $0.

Budget Analyst Jacob Kao, 26, data science major, said DASG can only realistically use half of Fund 46 because it has to send the other half of its revenue to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.

“Fund 46 is a smaller fund we use for very specific reasons, like student rights and advocacy,” Kao said.

Kao said the committee wants to pull the majority of DASG’s conference funds from the general fund because items eligible for the limited fund can pull from the general fund.

“We don’t have the capacity; $40,000 is already more than we can allocate (from fund 46) in total,” Kao said. “That is why we only put $7,200 here (in this fund).”

The Student Senate for California Community Colleges, which meets at Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport from March 27-29, passed resolution S25.14.02 last year to raise the Student Representation Fee (the optional fee Fund 46 draws from) from $2 to $6.

Budget Analyst Kyle Krawez, 19, business administration major, said he didn’t account for the increase because California didn’t raise the fee yet.

“We wouldn’t budget that out until that got passed (at the state level),” Krawez said.

The California state legislature introduced the fee in 1988, standardizing the $2 fee for all community colleges in the state in 2013 and mandating the hike in 2019. Any changes, including this fee hike, would need to go through the state legislature again, as it would change the Education Code.

“That amount would still be in Fund 46,” DASG Secretary and 2022-23 DASG President Amy Huang said. “In the case that (the fee increase) does pass, it would stay the same, just a difference in dollar amount.”

The remainder of DASG’s conference funds would come from the general fund. The finance committee recommended that DASG pull $12,000 of its conference fund from the general fund, giving it $19,200 total rather than the initial $40,000 request.

The senate pointed out the Office of Equity and Guided Pathways, which asked for $84,406 and $96,545 each. The finance committee recommended only giving the programs $5,600 and $25,905 respectively.

“This coming year, the school will be able to hire one full-time staff for it (Guided Pathways),” Kao said. “They (the Office of Equity) are also supported by the college and have funds outside of DASG they could potentially use on these (food and professional services).”

The De Anza Developers Program, responsible for putting on the college’s semiannual hackathon, DAHacks, broke its precedent of asking for special allocations and requested next year’s funds upfront.

Additionally, the Basic Needs Hub, which DASG has not historically funded, asked for $8,200 — the finance committee recommended $4,300.

Ma said he hoped some senators pay more attention in the following meetings, where the senate will vote to finalize its budget, and that tuning out budget analysts gave “zero respect.”

“I understand we all have homework, but you might want to look up at the senators here from time to time,” Ma said. “These things affect the wider De Anza community. It’s not our money to do what we want with, it’s our constituents’ money.”

The senate will hold its first of two budget meetings tonight, Feb. 11, at 4 p.m. Each program will have up to two minutes to plead its case.

Tonight’s meeting will run until 9 p.m. and the Office of College Life will cater with Home Eats.