Not Enough to Go Around

Referring to the article Feb. 23 (“Valley College Calls for Halt to Sharing Its District Funds”), there are no favorites being played in the Los Angeles Community College District’s proposed 1992 budget.

The district is made up of nine colleges and it is the district’s responsibility to meet the needs of each of the communities served by those colleges.

The problem we face is not the distribution of monies to the colleges, but the state’s failure to adequately fund community college growth.

A major impediment is the growth cap. In recent years our enrollment has been expanding at a rate of 4% to 5% a year, while growth in state support has been limited to 1%. Even though state lawmakers increased this year’s figure to 2.27%, it is still well below the amount we need for the number of students the district educates.

Valley College’s enrollment was the first to stabilize after the enrollment decline of the 1980s. Enrollment at two of our nine colleges is now outpacing Valley’s growth. Southwest College added the equivalent of 836 full-time students in 1990-91, while Valley added 230. Fast-growing colleges like Southwest and Mission will become more cost-effective as they grow, but until they reach that point, the district must support them.

The budget allocation formula is intended to reward performance. Until sufficient funds become available for high-revenue-generating schools without jeopardizing the quality of education offered by other district colleges, changes must be gradual.

Valley College is complaining at a time when the LACCD’s proposed new formula singles out this college to receive more money than in the current year.

DONALD G. PHELPS

Phelps is chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District