Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : $21.1-Million Tentative College Budget OKd : Education: The board backs suspending competition in two sports and not filling 15 vacant positions.

Antelope Valley College will have 15 fewer faculty and staff positions next year, in spite of an expected enrollment increase, under a $21.1-million tentative budget adopted this week.

And golf and tennis may be sports of the past at the community college in Lancaster.

Besides not filling vacant staff positions, including eight faculty slots, and suspending the two competitive intercollegiate sports, the budget also requires a reduction in the number of part-time hourly employees, spending cuts on everything from consultants to books, and suspension of mining classes. The budget cuts will leave 225 faculty and staff positions at the college.

The cuts at Antelope Valley College may go deeper if the state takes away more funding than administrators anticipated in the budget. Gov. Pete Wilson proposed reducing community college funding by 11% in the 1993-94 fiscal year, which begins July 1, although the Senate and Assembly suggested that funding levels remain the same as the current year.

Antelope Valley College, with an enrollment of about 10,750 students, based its tentative budget on a decrease of about 5.7% in state funding. College President Allan Kurki said the budget was based on the best information the district had at the time, but noted that the state’s financial situation remains in flux.

“We don’t even know such basic fundamental things as the cost of tuition,” Kurki said. The college will adopt a final budget by Sept. 1.

“Even under the best-case scenario, the college would still be deficit spending,” according to the 13-member budget committee that developed the spending plan.

The tentative budget calls for the college to reduce its reserves from nearly $1.6 million this year, equal to 7.3% of expenditures, to slightly more than $1 million, just 4.8% of expenditures, next year.

Salaries and benefits will account for the majority of the college’s expenses next year, amounting to nearly $18.9 million of the $21.1-million budget.

The college may see its allocation for books and supplies drop 25% to $330,392 if the budget is not changed.

Nearly 25% less would be spent on capital outlay and equipment in the coming year as well, with $315,270 earmarked.

Kurki said it is hoped that the cuts will have little or no impact on students.

In the case of the eight faculty positions that will go unfilled, Kurki said part-time adjunct instructors could be brought in as needed.

And others will have to pick up the workload from the two administrative positions--a dean of admissions and records and a math/science dean--that will be left vacant, he said.

The tennis and golf teams were selected for elimination because they have the least number of participants, Kurki said.

In a related matter, trustees approved an early retirement package Monday for employees other than teachers that is expected to save the college money, although the figure is based on the number of people who take advantage of it.

The program is available to all except teachers and administrators age 55 or more who have been employed by the college district for at least 10 years.

Through the program, which is only being offered this summer, the early retirees would receive a $15,000 bonus, paid over three years, in addition to the standard retirement benefits that the college provides.

Antelope Valley College began offering a “golden handshake” incentive package to its faculty this spring.

Six professors opted to participate in the program this year.