Community Colleges’ Funding to Change

The Board of Trustees of the Ventura County Community College District has voted to develop a new funding plan that would distribute dollars more equitably among the district’s three colleges.

“There has been an allocation process in place, but it hasn’t always been satisfactory for the colleges,” said Barbara Buttner, district spokeswoman. “There were also concerns that too many services were centralized at the district level.”

The new plan, which is to be developed by November, affirms the district’s commitment to funding all three colleges, Buttner said. The colleges in Moorpark, Oxnard and Ventura serve nearly 28,000 students.

Oxnard College’s interim President Judith Valles, a retired Huntington Beach community college president, said similar allocation models are being developed at other districts with several colleges.

“In many multi-college districts, colleges feel they have to compete for dollars,” Valles said.

The new allocation model will come before the board for final approval late this year before the district begins the lengthy budget process for the 1997-98 fiscal year.