Community Colleges State Aid

A funding crisis has hit all but one of the nine campuses in the Los Angeles Community College District, which has been mired in financial problems for years because of declining enrollment and shrinking state subsidies. Most of the eight campuses affected are facing what officials described as belt-tightening, with cuts representing about 10% of their budgets. But for Mission College in Sylmar the cuts are particularly deep and wide-ranging.

Gov. Gray Davis has restored $32 million--about a third of the amount he vetoed in July--to community colleges' budget for equipment and repairs. Colleges say the money won't go far toward fixing roofs and buying computers on campuses with some of the most neglected facilities. "I'm still in shock that we didn't get more money," said Daniel Castro, president of Los Angeles Trade-Tech College.

Mission College President William E. Norlund, who announced Wednesday that he will retire in June, insisted that he wasn't forced to step down because he lost a $4.7-million state grant last year to expand the campus. Instead, he said, he is leaving because a recent change in the college retirement system offers a more lucrative deal that will increase his package by 20%.

Two Monterey County community colleges are putting their big renovation projects on hold as a result of a $126-million state cut in funding to community colleges. Monterey Peninsula College and Hartnell College are being hit by Gov. Gray Davis' push to balance the state budget in a time of economic slowdown. Peninsula College will receive at least $753,000 less and Hartnell will see $832,000 less.

Controversy over a push to increase funding for building projects at Los Angeles community colleges has heated up with the revelation that the Los Angeles district may not be able to spend all the state funds it has already received. The shabby condition of some community college facilities in Los Angeles has long been the source of complaints among students and faculty in the nine-campus Los Angeles Community College District. SB 1283, now before Gov.

Santa Ana College might not replace the roofs of the men's locker room and the planetarium. Glendale Community College might turn out fewer nurses than it had planned. And at community colleges throughout the region and the rest of the state, students will have to content themselves with older computer equipment and fewer supplies for science labs.

Gov. Gray Davis has restored $32 million--about a third of the amount he vetoed in July--to community colleges' budget for equipment and repairs. Colleges say the money won't go far toward fixing roofs and buying computers on campuses with some of the most neglected facilities. "I'm still in shock that we didn't get more money," said Daniel Castro, president of Los Angeles Trade-Tech College.

An Orange County community college board put an end to plans for an ambitious digital learning center at the closed Tustin Marine base Friday when it took the unusual step of voting to turn down $1 million remaining from a state grant.

A community organization will hold an informational forum Saturday to discuss Mission College's forfeiture of $4.7 million in state funds earmarked for new classroom buildings and parking spaces. The Los Angeles Mission College Collaborative has invited elected officials and college administrators to a two-hour session beginning 10 a.m. in the council chambers at San Fernando City Hall, 117 Macneil St.

California's higher education community expressed its gratitude this week for a second healthy funding increase in as many years--a proposed $848-million boost that would ensure no fee hikes for the 1996-97 school year. But while Gov.

Santa Ana College might not replace the roofs of the men's locker room and the planetarium. Glendale Community College might turn out fewer nurses than it had planned. And at community colleges throughout the region and the rest of the state, students will have to content themselves with older computer equipment and fewer supplies for science labs.

Community colleges that are already lagging on building maintenance and falling behind with technology were blindsided by a $98-million cut in funding for those items in the state budget. California's 108 schools had asked for a $10-million increase in funding to cure a 10-year backlog in maintenance projects that include the repair of leaky roofs, crumbling sidewalks and cracked walls.

An Orange County community college board put an end to plans for an ambitious digital learning center at the closed Tustin Marine base Friday when it took the unusual step of voting to turn down $1 million remaining from a state grant.

In the annual sweepstakes for dollars in Sacramento, the California Community Colleges usually place a distant third behind the Cal State and University of California systems. So the leaders of the 106 community colleges devised a new strategy to get more money: They offered to earn it. How? By showing that more students are completing degrees or transferring to four-year universities. If they cannot demonstrate proof of some progress, then the money could disappear.

As many as 29,000 part-time community college faculty statewide may benefit from a bill signed Friday by Gov. Gray Davis aimed at helping such workers receive health benefits and pay for office hours. The most ambitious portions of the bill, seeking large pay increases for part-timers, were tabled, but the California Postsecondary Education Commission will be asked to study the issue. "It's a partial victory," said David Hawkins, legislative advocate for the Faculty Assn.

Gov. Gray Davis on Monday vetoed a bill that could have provided hundreds of millions of dollars to refurbish aging buildings in the Los Angeles Community College District, bitterly disappointing district leaders who had hoped the measure would reverse years of creeping decline at their nine campuses. Kelly Candaele, president of the Los Angeles board of trustees, called the veto "a very disappointing message." "It was certainly clear that our district . . .

CASH FOR COLLEGE: Compton Community College lost out on additional state funding to improve its aging campus last year. But this year the college was near the top of the money list and has been awarded $14 million as part of the newly approved state budget . Compton's award was second only to the $18 million granted to Allan Hancock Community College in Lompoc.

Students at Saddleback College are feeling the effects of the economic crunch in California, with classes too few and with more enrollments expected by the end of the week, according to school officials. Enrollment is up about 2% from last fall, bringing the total number of students to 21,054, said Gary Stakan, dean of admissions and records. But because of the state's budget crisis, the college was unable to add enough courses to meet students' needs.

Controversy over a push to increase funding for building projects at Los Angeles community colleges has heated up with the revelation that the Los Angeles district may not be able to spend all the state funds it has already received. The shabby condition of some community college facilities in Los Angeles has long been the source of complaints among students and faculty in the nine-campus Los Angeles Community College District. SB 1283, now before Gov.

Community college officials are battling to revive a planned expansion of counseling programs in the wake of Gov. Gray Davis' veto of more than $7 million earmarked for the purpose. College leaders had requested the funds to expand Educational Opportunity Programs and Services, a 30-year-old community college academic counseling program and the largest aimed at disadvantaged students.