Plan Provides More Funds for College District

A proposal aimed at turning around the troubled Los Angeles Community College District by giving more autonomy and money to the nine campuses was presented to the board of trustees Wednesday.

The plan, which calls for cutting the district headquarters budget by $2 million and decentralizing some of its functions, was drawn up by administrators and the college presidents at the request of the board.

The proposal will be voted on by the board at its July 8 meeting. It is expected to be approved because the trustees voted in favor of a tentative 1998-99 district budget of $391.9 million Wednesday that was based on a decentralized district.

Under the proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, Mission College in Sylmar would get $600,000 more than it did this year. Pierce College in Woodland Hills would benefit by $1.1 million from the new funding formula, and Valley College in Valley Glen would gain $2.4 million.

The formula ties funding to performance, which is why booming East Los Angeles College would get the largest increase of all the nine campuses, $4.8 million.

In another boon to the colleges, the deficits that most of the campuses have incurred after several years of overspending budgets will be forgiven by the district.

Valley College President Tyree Wieder said this is the first proposed budget in her three years at the helm that was not between $1 million and $3 million below her fixed costs.

The district had other good news to report Wednesday. District Vice Chancellor Bonnie James announced the $13.1 million projected deficit for this year has been eliminated through a combination of spending cuts and larger than expected tax revenues. James now projects a $2.3 million general fund surplus.

Also, an office building at 4050 Wilshire Blvd. that had been bought for district headquarters but never occupied has been sold, though at a substantial loss. The district paid $12.5 million for the building and has accepted an offer of $5.9 million.