Budget and Finance

Budget Analysis and Accountability

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has previously approved a resolution requesting accountability of budget allocations to individual districts;

Whereas, This accountability has not been implemented;

Whereas, Many local academic senates remain unaware of funds such as staff development, academic senate support, Telecommunications and Technology Infrastructure Program (TTIP), and others; and

Whereas, Monitoring such funding entails considerable time and effort;

Reimbursement for or Elimination of Waiver of Student Health Fees

Whereas, The Board of Governors waives registration fees for some students and reimburses colleges for that lost revenue;

Whereas, The Board of Governors waives student health fees for some students but does not reimburse colleges for that lost revenue;

Whereas, For many students, the only access to health care is the college's student health center; and

Whereas, The Board of Governors' practice of waiving health fees for those students places an unfair burden on the students who pay those fees to support the health center;

Elimination of Faculty Positions in CalWORKS and Matriculation

Whereas, The January budget proposed for 2002-2003 by the Governor and the Department of Finance includes $130 million in cuts from the California Community Colleges' base funding;

Whereas, The proposed cuts include $58 million from CalWORKs and $26.8 million from matriculation;

Whereas, Some local boards of trustees have prematurely reacted to the proposed cuts by deciding not to rehire faculty in affected areas, such as workforce development and counseling; and

Staff Development Funds

Whereas, AB 1725 established the importance of 0.5-2% of fiscal year revenues for California Community Colleges being invested in staff development; and

Whereas, Since 1991 Staff Development funding has remained at approximately the same level, $5.2 million, which is less than 0.1% of the current California Community Colleges budget;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate reaffirm Resolution12.02 F01 calling for increases in professional development funds.

Matriculation Funding

Whereas, Community colleges are open-entry institutions that serve the entire spectrum of the student population from the most gifted to the most at-risk, and this population is in need of a wide range of services to reach their educational goals;

Whereas, Title 5 55520 identifies those services as including, but not limited to, assessment, orientation advisement, counseling, student follow-up, coordination and training, research and pre- and co-requisite enforcement, as well as establishes the mandatory minimum levels of these services;

Real Cost of Instruction

Whereas, A single funding formula for various types of instruction is a continuing matter of concern; and

Whereas, Programs such as science, art, nursing, vocational education, journalism, and numerous others bear a higher per-student cost than traditional lecture courses;

Matriculation Funding

Whereas, Matriculation is intended to assure all students access to higher education opportunities;

Whereas, The Governor's proposed budget cuts would result in a loss of $26.8 million in matriculation funds for California community colleges and would severely impact the ability of colleges to provide essential direct services to students, such as admissions, orientation, counseling, assessment, and support services, and would also severely limit the colleges' ability to support transfer and articulation functions;

Restoration of Telecommunications and Technology Infrastructure Project (TTIP) Funds

Whereas, Telecommunications and Technology Infrastructure Project (TTIP) funds have provided the only augmentation to faculty and staff development funds in the last five years;

Whereas, TTIP funds have enabled faculty to upgrade their technology skills in order to provide students with the guidance needed to use technology effectively in pursuit of their educational goals;

Whereas, TTIP funds have enabled training staff to implement, operate and maintain the data management systems needed to provide system accountability data; and

Faculty Professional Development Funding

Whereas, Faculty professional development is a central force in directing the future of each California community college and its educational programs;

Whereas, Faculty professional development is a method of unifying the faculty in creating a strong academic community and enables colleges to integrate and prepare a large number of new faculty members to teach effectively, meet their shared governance obligations, further their cultural awareness, and ensure the safety of students and colleagues;

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