Students, staff and faculty crammed into the Fireside Room to learn how thebudget cuts would affect De Anza College at the budget town hall meeting Thursday.

“The school system will advocate vigorously to reduce the impact of cuts on community college, but it will take a village,” Kevin McElroy, vice chancellor of Business Services, said.

De Anza is working with a little over a $1 million deficit and could be facing up to $25 million in cuts.

McElroy told the crowd of faculty, staff and students if the state’s tax extensions were not approved then California schools would face $500 million in reduced state funding in order to achieve a balanced budget. 

For De Anza, this could result in a possible fee increase of $7 toward enrollment fees, from $17 per quarter unit to $24 per quarter unit. 

McElroy acknowledged that the cuts are inevitable, but the amount of budget deficit for the college will depend on what the state legislator and voters decide. 

The prospect of cuts all depends on the June tax package and Proposition 98.  If the package is approved then the district will only have to absorb $11 million in cuts. Proposition 98 guarantees a minimum amount of funding to K-12 and community colleges if passed.  According to McElroy, in the event that the package fails and Prop 98 is suspended, then community colleges will suffer a devastating cut of $25 million.

“We can’t just say to spare community colleges, we need to offer solutions of other places to cut. We need to work together, it’s more important than ever,” McElroy said. 

“I am proud to be at De Anza because they are trying their best to stop the budget cuts. In order to stop budget cuts, students and staff have to do their part, too,” said psychology major, Cui Ting. 

Hannah Longrie, psychology major said, “It’s time to start brainstorming effective ways to let our legislature know that we do care about our education, and find other ways to bring in revenue to help balance the state budget …”

McElroy stated that the next step to increase De Anza’s funding is to restore more full time students into the system. 

The greater amount of full-time students, the more funding the school receives; it is critical to close the gap. The Foothill-De Anza Community College District projects a deficit of $5 million for the 2011-2012 school year before state cuts if there isn’t an increase in full-time students. 

“The state continues to cut funding and is expecting us to do more with less, its getting beyond humanly possible … access is what we are about and we want to serve more students,” McElroy said.

President of De Anza College, Brian Murphy, spoke about the cuts at the meeting, encouraging faculty, staff and students to educate others about what is happening with the budget. 

“The student walk-in about the budget showed that students had discipline, focus, intelligence and thought in how to organize, but not enough faculty thought it was important enough to send their classes … Not enough people know the specifics of what is happening. We all need to work in this weird duality together … plan as if we will not win, because we have to. We need to fight in our own defense. What can you give up? Give support to the students who want to be a part of political rallies and budget meetings, reschedule the midterm if you have to … engage,” said Murphy.

De Anza has been planning for the drastic slash in money. About $10 million is saved in the stability fund, which was set aside to help with budget fluctuations. 

Stacey Cook, Vice President of Student Services said, “Even though the budget picture looks dire, I am confident that we will work together to do what is best to serve the students.”  

Sometime between June and September, Gov. Jerry Brown will sign a new state budget for the 2011-2012 school year. De Anza administrators will then know what the future holds for community college education funding.

Faculty, staff and students crowd the Fireside room to listens to the guest speakers. (Brittany Sims/La Voz Weekly)