Another budget cut looms on the horizon if Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax increase initiative, Proposition 30, fails to pass during the November elections, EC’s president said.
“If it fails (Proposition 30), we have been told in no unequivocal terms, that we will lose 7.3 percent of our revenue, which comes to about $7.3 million,” Tom Fallo, president, said. “The impact would basically be we will be cutting classes.”
Proposition 30 would “increase the state’s sales and use tax by a quarter-cent for four years and increase personal income tax rates on income above $250,000 for seven years,” with 89 percent of the revenue going to K-12 schools and 11 percent going to community colleges, according to a University of California fact sheet.
If Proposition 30 passes, the community college system is projected to receive $213 million in additional funding for the 2012-2013 academic year with a funding “increase of at least 4 percent for fiscal years 2013-14 through 2015-16,” according to the California Community College Chancellor’s Office.
If voters don’t pass the initiative, the community college system will have to endure an additional 7.5 percent budget cut, Jack Scott, former California Community Colleges Chancellor, said in a press release.
“This hit would further impair our ability to educate the workforce that California’s economy needs and push some colleges to the brink financially,” Scott said.
“On the other hand, passage of the tax measure would stop the bleeding and help point us in a better direction.”
Fallo said that EC administrators are planning ahead for the possible budget cut by looking at some cuts to classes now so that if major cuts come later they will be less harsh.
It was still uncertain where cuts in class sections would be made, Fallo said.
“We will probably try to keep the winter inter-session,” Fallo said. “We could be cutting spring slightly; we could be cutting summer slightly. We just don’t know.”
Fallo said that if Proposition 30 fails he could again recommend winter session be cut, although that was extreme and he wasn’t sure he would do that.
“Right now it’s scheduled, the board has approved it, and we have appropriated money for it,” Fallo said. “But if we have a 7.3 percent reduction something has got to go.”
An initiative to endorse Proposition 30 was originally scheduled to be voted upon Tuesday, but the board of trustees agreed to table the initiative until the next board meeting on December 17.
