The Community College Initiative, Proposition 92, will appear on the Feb. 5 ballot.
The main benefits to community colleges under Proposition 92 are that it not only lowers and stabilizes fees, but also separates community colleges from the all-too-frequent budget battles between the Democrats and Republicans.
This proposed change to California’s Constitution is highly beneficial to everyone in our state’s community colleges.
We urge all students to vote “yes” on Proposition 92 because of the tremendous benefit not only to the students, but the community college system as well.
It would lower fees from $20 to $15 per unit, and stabilize them by only allowing the state to raise them to reflect an increase in California’s cost of living.
This increase would not be allowed to exceed 10 percent of the current unit price.
In the 2003-2004 school year, the California legislature doubled fees for community college students.
One might assume that the major fee increase provided a larger funding source for community colleges; however, during the same year, the state’s funding for community colleges was decreased by an equal amount, leaving no extra money.
This action simply took the funding burden off of the state and placed it on the students.
As a result, there was a 305,000-student enrollment drop-off in the affected colleges.
Under Proposition 98, approved by voters in 1988, the state sets a minimum budget annually for K-14 schools (which includes community colleges) based on enrollment rates, the current economy and the previous year’s minimum budget.
The problem with this is that current funding is determined by enrollment in grades K-12, which means our minimum level of state funding is dependent on the fluctuation of their enrollment rates, regardless of the enrollment rates of California’s community colleges.
This means that, as K-12 enrollment plummets, community colleges lose funding, even if our enrollment numbers rise during that time.
Proposition 92 would provide community colleges with funding based on our own enrollment numbers, and would guarantee we receive no less than 10.46 percent of all Proposition 98 funding.
It’s as if, when Proposition 98 was passed, our senators believed they were the Nostradamuses of the 21st century, equipped with the ability to predict stable birth rates. Either that or worse, they knew that when the largest concentration of students reached community colleges, they could short-change us by gauging our funds on the lower enrollment rates of K-12 schools.
The only real opposition to the Community College Initiative comes from the California Teachers Association.
Although they are the largest professional-employee organization in California, a majority of their 340,000 members are K-12 educators.
Knowing this makes it easier to understand their opposition.
If Proposition 92 passes, K-12 will only receive funding based on their own enrollment numbers, giving them a fair portion of the available funding, rather than the radically unfair piece of the pie that they currently sink their teeth into.
This is why we need to get out there and vote:
We, as community college students, are vital to ensuring the progression of California’s middle class.
Because people with degrees invest more in their communities and make more money, therefore paying more taxes, California gets back $3 for every dollar it invests in its degree-bound students, according research by the Campaign for College Opportunity Study.
Despite this, California ranks 45th in the nation in the amount of funding directed toward full-time students. This is a shameful statistic.
To ensure, and improve upon, the quality of our education and our future, it is imperative that everyone vote “yes” on Proposition 92.
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