County College District OKs Use of Reserve Funds

Ventura County community college officials have cut their district’s reserve fund by $1 million -- an unusual move that they say has been forced by draconian state budget cuts.

The district’s board unanimously approved the action Thursday night, despite warnings that it would drain the fund to a point state officials see as risky.

“It’s not the kind of thing I’ve supported in the past,” said Allan Jacobs, a board member since 1991. “I’ve been very conservative and protective of our reserves. But now we’re in great trouble.”

The board’s move came after officials learned the district would lose even more money to state funding cuts than it had anticipated.

Community college districts across the state have been walloped by Gov. Gray Davis’ budget plans. With more than 10% of its state funding for 2003-04 in jeopardy, Ventura County’s district -- with campuses in Ventura, Moorpark and Oxnard -- has trimmed classes, canceled a month of its summer sessions and warned the faculty of layoffs.

“The governor has been very unkind to community college districts throughout the state,” Jacobs said, sounding a theme that will be hammered home at a Sacramento rally expected to draw thousands on Monday.

Thomas J. Nussbaum, chancellor of the state’s community college system, said the cuts would have “a devastating impact” on the state’s 108 two-year colleges.

“How is it in the people’s interest that we incapacitate the state’s largest workforce provider?” he asked at a state Senate hearing earlier this month. “What does it say about our values and California’s future that we shut off access and opportunity for Californians who are the most poor and disadvantaged?”

Statewide, community colleges will face a 26% drop in revenue from the state’s general fund, while cuts at the University of California and California State University systems will be about 4%, Nussbaum said.

With its reserves now at $2.8 million and below 3% of its budget, the Ventura County district will be placed on the state community colleges’ watch list of districts with precarious finances.

Because of the state’s fiscal crisis, a number of other districts also will dip into their reserves and make the list, according to Fred Harris, director of finance and facilities for the state chancellor’s office. The listing is supposed to trigger intense fiscal monitoring by the state. However, Harris acknowledged that his staff has been so reduced that it will be tough to keep up with the workload.

Ventura County’s five-member board knew it would run afoul of state fiscal guidelines with its vote Thursday night. However, it decided that that was preferable to “laying off more people, cutting more programs and making things worse than they are now,” said district spokeswoman Pat Kistler.

“The board didn’t want to take this out on the backs of students,” she said.

The administration and faculty members are negotiating early retirement packages as one way to cut jobs. Even so, both administrators and faculty members predict a grim autumn.

“There will be students standing in the hallways crying because they can’t get into the classes they need to graduate or transfer,” said Larry O. Miller, a Moorpark College biology instructor who heads the union representing faculty members. “Everyone will feel the pain.”