COUNTYWIDE : Colleges Hard Hit by Funding Crisis

Since the start of the spring semester, more than 4,000 students at Coastline, Golden West and Orange Coast colleges have mailed postcards to Gov. Pete Wilson to protest against a shortage of needed classes.

Each four-sentence note states that the student was denied a requested class because the school involved “is not receiving the funds to serve all of the students wishing to attend.” The card concludes: “Please tell me what I should do now.”

The statewide education-funding crisis has hit community colleges particularly hard, triggering unprecedented reductions in course offerings, which leads to overcrowding in the remaining classes, officials said.

All eight of Orange County’s community colleges report that they have been refusing many students’ class requests because the schools cannot afford to offer enough course sections. Budget constraints have forced some of the local colleges to eliminate some classes planned for the current semester, and schools expect to make deeper scheduling cuts during upcoming summer sessions.

Although local community colleges actually have received more money from the state this year than previously, officials said, funding levels have not kept pace with enrollment.

Throughout the county, community college enrollments during the 1990-’91 school year have ballooned by anywhere from 3% to 18%. The growth levels have exceeded state funding caps for each college, so each school is accepting hundreds or thousands of students more than state funding would normally permit.

For example, Rancho Santiago College’s two campuses have enrolled about 2,400 more students this year than last. But since state-funding limits are based upon the growth rate of each college’s surrounding community, the state only compensates the college for 314 new students each year, said Carter Doran, Rancho’s vice chancellor of academic affairs.

The state reimburses colleges $1,500 to $3,200 for each student. So serving 2,000 students without state compensation translates into a funding shortfall of more than $3 million.

Countywide, required courses in English, math and science are not available for many students. Enrollment in English-as-a-second-language courses has shot up along with a burgeoning population of residents who speak limited English. Officials say that all of the county’s community college ESL classes are filled this semester.

The result is that for the first time ever, California community colleges, whose stated mission is to provide affordable education for any adult who wants it, are no longer able to fulfill that goal, officials said.