Pierce College is struggling under the state’s fiscal crisis and has created two different budget plans while they wait for the state of California to determine how to fund community colleges.
The best case scenario for California’s community colleges would be a five percent budget cut, which would mean the loss of $2.5 million dollars for Pierce, according to the Pierce College Council (PCC).
The worst case scenario would mean a 15 percent budget cut resulting in an ‘all cuts budget’ that would cost Pierce approximately $7 million, also according to the PCC.
A five percent cut to Pierce would translate to a loss of $1,057,012 for available classes; with each section costing the college roughly $5,000, that is equivalent to approximately 211 separate classes.
The looming possibility of an ‘all cuts budget’ would entail a loss of $2.8 million, which would in turn eliminate 560 classes.
“Most of the LACCD colleges spend beyond their current year’s budget allocation,” said Ken Takeda, vice president of administrative services.
This year, Pierce College has overspent its budget by approximately $1.5 million, according to Takeda.
The District Fiscal Policy Review Committee (FPRC) has offered their campuses a way to help ease the blow of the budget cuts, however, it won’t help Pierce.
In order to receive extra funding from the district, colleges must meet several criteria including first exhausting their reserve funds. However, only Pierce and East Los Angeles College have reserve funds large enough to make this feasible. The other seven colleges have little or no reserve funds, thus making them instantly eligible for extra district funding.
“In order to balance to reduced state funding for 2011-12, the colleges and district must cut their spending, not just their budgets,” said Takeda.
The state is considering many drastic cost saving measures including cutting funding for athletics entirely, cutting courses, freezing purchases, not employing part-time instructors and freezing classified labor (non-teaching positions) at their current levels.
Governor Brown is trying to bring in more money to the state by extending the tax increases but has thus far been stymied by Republicans who would rather cut social programs.
The budget Pierce will present to the state by the May 13 deadline will more than likely be a combination of the two proposals, according to Takeda.
“This is the group that votes on these things and gives recommendations to the president,” said Joy McCaslin, president of Pierce College.
