Front-Line Solutions

Bing Inocencio has the right idea. As the Los Angeles Community College District wrestled with a projected $13.1-million budget deficit last week, the Pierce College president convened groups of the school’s faculty and administrators to brainstorm ways out of the mess. Sounds like common sense, but the meetings were firsts in a troubled district where common sense seems scarce.

Some of the 100 or so who attended the two meetings called for the dismantling of the district, the raising of student fees, the cancellation of programs and extra work for instructors. Others suggested ways to use Pierce’s land holdings to help raise money. Still others demanded that the community college district more fairly allocate money among its campuses. For instance, both Pierce and Valley colleges take in more money through student fees every year than they receive back from the district.

All the ideas are preliminary, but they are a start. Clearly, potential solutions to the district’s financial mess lie in meetings such as the ones last week. For instance, supporters of developing some of the land around Pierce make a strong case that saving a few dozen math or English classes is worth the price of losing a few acres of farmland to development. Yet proposals to build on the property get bogged down by neighbors concerned more about peace and quiet than about the education of kids. A smart project can preserve both.

The district’s fiscal crisis demands new ways of thinking, something Inocencio has been saying for a long time. Others on the campus, as well as at the San Fernando Valley’s two other community colleges--Mission and Valley--are joining in the chorus. Is anyone downtown listening?