2-Year Colleges Ask 11% Hike Over Budget

Advocates for community colleges, hoping to reverse what they claim is a decline in the two-year schools caused by tight budgeting, called Wednesday for an 11%, or $182 million, increase in Gov. George Deukmejian’s proposed 1985-86 budget.

“We have witnessed a steady erosion of purchasing power which has damaged our ability to offer vitally necessary programs,” said David Mertes, chancellor of Los Rios Community College District in Sacramento and chairman of a lobbying group called Californians for Community Colleges.

Mertes and other members of the group, representing organizations composed of administrators, students and teachers, said state support of community colleges has not kept pace with inflation--or with funding going to other segments that make up California’s system of public education.

The group released figures showing that when adjusted for inflation, spending for community colleges rose 34% between 1978 and 1985, compared to 96.8% for the University of California, 73% for the California State University system and 60% for public schools attended by students from kindergarten through high school.

Officials said that state spending on each elementary and high school pupil was once about the same as that spent for community college students but that now there is about a 20% difference--$2,592 per student in community colleges and $3,065 for the lower grades.

“There is no question that this has led to a deterioration in some areas of instruction, such as class size and equipment, and that that has contributed to a decline in enrollment,” said Patrick McCallum, director of the Faculty Assn. of California Community Colleges.

The colleges are reeling from a steady decline in student enrollment over the last three years. Fall enrollment dropped from a high of 1.4 million students in 1981 to 1.1 million students this year.

Fee Shares Blame

Fred Dawkins, director of the Sacramento Urban League who appeared with Mertes at a news conference, said a $50-a-semester student fee imposed last year contributed substantially to the drop in enrollment, particularly among black students.

He cited a study showing black enrollment dropping 17%, and in some individual colleges 20% or more, well ahead of the statewide average.

Legislative leaders indicated support for the fund increase. Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) has said he supports more money for community colleges, and a Senate budget subcommittee last week added more than $185 million to the community colleges budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) said Senate Democrats take the position that community colleges should be on “at least an equal footing” with other segments of higher education.

Deukmejian spokesman Kevin Brett defended the governor’s budget proposal, saying it represents an 8.9% increase for community colleges. The proposed budget contains $137 million in new spending, for a total of $1.7 billion.

Community college officials say the increase for the upcoming year is actually only 4.4% because Deukmejian is counting on spending $36 million in funds from the long-delayed state lottery and a one-time increase of $31.7 million to help offset declining enrollments.