L.A. Community Colleges to Get More Fiscal Freedom

Seeking to reverse years of declining fortunes, the Los Angeles Community College District board Wednesday night passed a reform plan that will give its nine campuses more power to control their finances and, it is hoped, their destinies.

The reform stems from a philosophy that more autonomy and accountability on the campus level will spark creativity and growth that has been stifled by dependence on a central bureaucracy.

Spearheaded by the nine colleges’ presidents, the outlines of the plan were hammered out this summer in marathon meetings. Chancellor James Heinselman said it was the first time in his 25 years with the district that the sprawling system had dissected how it operates.

The district’s perilous finances last year, part of a decade of money crises that brought rebukes from the state community college chancellor and the college accreditation commission, were the impetus for the reform.

The plan, which the trustees had already approved in concept, passed without comment.

But, illustrating the difficulty of reform, a dispute erupted later in the meeting over the budget for the district headquarters. Originally set at $13 million, it had been ordered cut to $11 million. But at Wednesday’s meeting, it was once again $13 million.

Board President Elizabeth Garfield said that raising the figure “disturbed” her because it was “the old way of doing things. I’m really scared that it will be just too comfortable putting money back into the district office.”

Faculty union President Carl Friedlander complained that the committee working on the budget had not agreed to restoring the $13-million plan.

But several college presidents disagreed and defended the increase, saying $11 million was not enough to keep district headquarters running.

The lower budget was “so far from reality it’s totally impossible to achieve,” said West Los Angeles College President Evelyn Wong.

On another budget matter, board member Gloria Romero objected to a new financial formula under which campus debts to the district would be forgiven. Trustees were debating the budget late Wednesday night, and Romero said she would vote against it because of the new provision.

“We forgive and we forget,” Romero said. “This provides no incentives for us to tighten our belts.”

She recalled how one campus minded its finances carefully last year, only to be penalized under the new proposed budget.

East Los Angeles College, which stayed within its budget last year, lacks air conditioning, Romero said. Other campuses, already in debt, spent money to install it.

She said faculty members at East Los Angeles asked their president this week, “Why didn’t you just bust your budget and get air conditioning?”

The total district budget for the 1998-99 fiscal year is $467 million, which includes $349.7 million for the general fund, some of which is money earmarked for special projects.