Intent on tackling the remaining $15.4 billion state budget deficit, Gov. Jerry Brown spent early April in a continued struggle to gather Republican support for putting a five-year extension of tax increases on the June ballot. Budget planners at the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, however, have given up hope on a June vote and are bracing for a worst-case “all-cuts” scenario on July 1.

While the district waits for Gov. Brown’s May Revision in order to finalize its own 2011-2012 budget, the state legislature has passed two budget bills (SB 69 and SB 70) offsetting $11.2 billion in the deficit, imposed $400 million in cuts to the California Community Colleges and allowed for per-quarter-unit fees to rise from $17 to $24 beginning this fall. 

According to an April 5 budget update by De Anza College President Brian Murphy, this means a minimum of $15 million in losses to the district in the upcoming fiscal year. Loss figures could double if Gov. Brown, faced with declining tax revenue, decides to adopt an all-cuts strategy for balancing the budget.

At the April 7 budget presentation at De Anza, District Vice Chancellor of Business Services Kevin McElroy and De Anza College Vice President of Finance and Educational Resources Letha Jeanpierre led the discussion on preparing the district for nearly $30 million in cuts. A $10 million district-level workload reduction from instruction, encompassing faculty and course offerings, would be accompanied by proportional cutbacks in non-faculty expenditures. “A lot of classified staff and part-timers are going to get affected,” said Jeanpierre.

In addition, District Chancellor Linda Thor said that around 10,000 students would lose out on the district’s services. 

Murphy advised students to “recognize that they are threatened by a significant decrease in their educational opportunities and options — less time to get a degree, less time to transfer and increased competition.” 

On the budget planning table is the option of utilizing the district’s $14 million “stability fund,” which would allow the district to survive financially until December 2011, according to calculations by the chancellor’s office. 

Though a simple stopgap solution, dipping into district reserves would afford the administration a more careful and thoughtful budget process, said Jeanpierre, while at least temporarily lessening the shock of cuts to students.

McElroy said that the district will be “implementing savings where possible” in the upcoming weeks, leaving vacant staff positions unfilled and negotiating with vendors to lower costs. Meanwhile, according to Murphy, De Anza will be determining “essential services” and courses in preparation for a possible 10-15 percent downsizing of the curriculum.

The administration will be looking at demand trends for courses, also taking into account the importance of classes required for transfer and for sequential programs such as nursing.

(LA VOZ WEEKLY)