Up-by-the-Bootstraps Students Get Raw Deal in Davis’ Cuts

Gov. Gray Davis wants you to believe that when he whacked the budgets of all those community colleges, it was simply fair. It was their time.

If you won’t buy that, his spin patrol insists, just blame it on some quibbling among numbers crunchers. All very innocent.

But please, they implore, don’t assume what practically everyone in the Capitol who doesn’t work for the governor assumes: that Davis is an education elitist who looks down on the commoner two-year schools, when he notices them at all.

Unlike millions of Californians, Davis never has personally benefited from any of the 108 community colleges. For high school, he attended a private military academy. He got his BA from Stanford University.

He mingles at fund-raisers with political VIPs who are University of California grads. Another education institution--unionized K-12 teachers--has enormous clout through campaign contributions. Community colleges don’t play in these leagues.

“The problem we’ve got is that Gray knows very little about community colleges,” says Senate leader John Burton (D-San Francisco). “That’s where working people live and go.”

Community colleges are the core constituency of the Democratic Party--as any Democratic governor should know. They’re poor kids who must live at home, high school goof-offs looking for a second chance, immigrants learning English, fired adults seeking new job skills.

And, OK, I’ll admit it: As a onetime sports editor of the Ventura College Pirate Press, I’m definitely biased.

Basic facts: We’re talking 1.6 million students statewide. The L.A. Community College District alone enrolls four times as many African Americans and nearly three times as many Latinos as all UC campuses combined. Of the UC students who receive BA degrees, 30% transfer from a community college; for the California State University system, it’s 60%.

“They’re the people with the lowest incomes and littlest clout,” says Sen. Bruce McPherson (R-Santa Cruz), one of many lawmakers trying to get the cuts restored. “But they’re the foundation of our higher education system. What the governor did was a shock.”

Here’s what Davis did: Expecting $3 billion less in revenue this fiscal year than last, he vetoed $554 million in spending from the $103-billion state budget. Community colleges were smacked for the biggest single cut: $126 million.

Of that amount, $98 million really smarts, the colleges say; $49 million was for deferred maintenance and $49 million for instructional supplies.

The Davis spin: Despite that, community colleges still got a 6% funding increase. And UC and CSU were dinged with similar cuts in May.

But the nonpartisan legislative analyst disputes the 6% figure and calculates the funding increase at only 3.2%, significantly less than the boost for UC, CSU or K-12 schools.

Backup spin: It’s just a numbers-crunching debate; people counting apples and not oranges. No mugging intended.

“Just a real slap in the face,” says Assemblyman Robert Pacheco (R-Walnut), an East L.A. grad.

Here’s some perspective: Community colleges suffered much more than their fair share of budget vetoes. They receive only 3.5% of the state general fund, but got slashed with 23% of the cuts.

Add that to this backdrop: The state spends twice as much on a student at CSU as it does on one attending community college, and five times as much on a UC kid.

“Unfortunately, there’s still a lot of classism in our facilities,” says Silvia Scott Hayes, president of the L.A. Community College District. “We need equitable funding.”

If Davis was the summer bully, he’s now trying to back off gracefully. He has learned that while community colleges may look like easy marks, they have strong, broad-based support. A survey by pollster John Fairbank found that 86% of voters think the entire $126 million should be restored.

Davis has offered $40 million. Community college interests privately say they won’t settle for less than $50 million and are pushing for $60 million. Some lawmakers are hoping for more than $90 million. Negotiations are dragging.

The two Democratic leaders--Sen. Burton and Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks)--fired a warning shot at Davis Wednesday. They proposed legislation to restore the $98 million, plus add $55 million in other education goodies.

Compromise, or watch this bigger bill drop on your desk, governor.

Whatever Davis was thinking when he rolled the community colleges, he should give back the money and be grateful for the political lesson.