Local Colleges Won’t Get Extra State Aid

In the wake of stock and bond losses and an energy crisis that has sapped state coffers, the county’s community college district has been told it will not receive additional funding for more full-time teachers, classes, maintenance and equipment in the fall.

“Given the fiscal condition of the state, there are things we had hoped to be able to provide for all districts that we can’t,” said Patrick Lenz, executive vice chancellor for California Community Colleges.

Lenz said the state lost millions of dollars in stock market investments and must spend millions more on the energy bailout. Because of that, the governor won’t fund a request for $100 million for the Partnership for Excellence program.

That program provides funding for California’s 106 community colleges based on transfer rates to four-year universities, work force training and other benchmarks. Districts use the money to hire additional full-time teachers and add classes.

The state’s financial losses mean the Ventura County Community College District will not receive its cut of the $100 million, or about $4.7 million, said Mike Gregoryk, the district’s deputy chancellor. The sum would have increased the amount of money the district receives for each of its full-time students, Gregoryk said.

Besides being unable to hire more full-time faculty members, the Ventura County district will be unable to offer enough sections of core classes such as English and math during the day, district spokeswoman Pat Kistler said. This forces students to rearrange their schedules to attend night classes or wait entire semesters to jockey for coveted daytime seats, she said.

A total of 775 part-time faculty members--including many who work day jobs and teach at night--are employed at the district’s campuses in Moorpark, Ventura and Oxnard, compared with 420 full-time members, Kistler said.

“It’s been a first-come, first-served situation for too long for students trying to get those prime daytime spots, and everybody is getting tired of it,” Kistler said. “We had really hoped that this would be the year things changed.”

Lenz acknowledged recently the changes do nothing to improve per-student funding and that such money is crucial to student success.

“When there is a greater investment in full-time students, more of them transfer [to four-year universities] and more of them successfully complete courses,” Lenz said.

Ventura County’s share of community college funding has remained stagnant at $3,324 per full-time student, Kistler said. The district has about 30,000 students.

The amount was set in 1978, with the passage of Proposition 13, based on property tax values.

Of the 71 community college districts in the state, Ventura County ranks 59th in funds per full-time student.

The state average is $3,463 and the national average about $4,700.

Calling the inequity in funding horrible, Gregoryk said the state is sending a message that Ventura County is “less deserving” than other community colleges.

The disparity in per-student funding is due to the difference in the amount of property taxes collected by each district at the time Proposition 13 was passed. The Kern County district, for instance, was taking in more property tax from working oil fields and funneling the money to education.

“This has been a problem for the last five years and it will be a problem for the next five years until the governor and the Legislature get off the dime,” Gregoryk said.

Lenz did point out that the governor has offered $397.4 million for the community college system in his revised budget, an increase of more than $22 million over January’s proposed budget.

In addition to the loss of the Partnership for Excellence funding, Lenz said the governor eliminated $20 million for additional maintenance and equipment.

That equates to about a $400,000 loss for the county’s community colleges.