Whereas, In 2001 legislation was passed and ongoing categorical funding set aside to reduce the inequities between full-time and part-time faculty compensation by providing additional funding to districts exclusively to enhance part-time faculty salaries;
Whereas, California Community College enrollments are expected to increase and will be further impacted by the enrollment limitations and caps in place at UC and CSU, and Matriculation student support services must be expanded to meet growing student demands;
Whereas, The Matriculation process is complex and contributes, as research has repeatedly demonstrated, to every element of student success, significantly increasing student retention, academic success and the completion of student education goals;
Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has long supported categorical funding as an appropriate mechanism to guarantee important activities and standards within our system;
Whereas, The California Community College system is not burdened by excessive numbers of categorical funding streams as in the K-12 system;
Whereas, Partnership for Excellence funds, on the other hand, can be best used locally to serve diverse student needs by including those funds in base funding; and
Whereas, The budget allocation model for California Community Colleges is overly complicated and has resulted in severe and long-standing disparities and inequities;
Whereas, A unified position will allow the Academic Senate to effectively address the more pertinent issues of funding allocations in California's education budget, such as the Real Cost of Education; and
Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has long supported the concept of equalization to provide equal opportunities for access and success for students in every college and district;
Whereas, The current budget and political situation suggests that an equalization plan is likely to be adopted this year; and
Whereas, A plan based solely on FTES raises significant quality concerns by abandoning the previously established standards long associated with the program-based funding model;
Whereas, Successful passage and implementation of any equalization proposal will be dependent upon comprehensible formulae in several related budget areas and consistent definitions of terms such as "growth;"
Whereas, Calculating district growth figures has long been a complex task predicated on competing definitions and faulty assumptions;
Whereas, Historical inequities in growth calculations and resulting over-cap enrollment problems undermine systemwide faith in any funding allocation model; and
Resolved that the Academic Senate endorse the following position statement on the proposed amendment to Title 5 regarding the granting of waivers. (See Appendix C)
Whereas many community college faculty are only now gaining a major voice in matriculation and related processes, and
Whereas many of the requirements that created the funding have not been fulfilled due to administrative intervention,
Resolved that the Academic Senate urge the legislature to continue categorical funding for matriculation, at least until the 1995-96 school year.
Whereas the fiscal crisis in California has imposed severe pressure on community college education delivery efforts across the state, and
Whereas military base closures and corporate relocations have added to these pressures and are threatening the very existence of educational opportunities for all Californians,
Whereas the state fiscal situation creates local challenges in serving our increasing student population, and
Whereas the local foundations may provide valuable information about available resources, and
Whereas the community and the colleges need to unite in their effort to maintain a quality level of educational delivery,
Resolved that the Academic Senate urge local senate presidents and local governing boards to develop a list of available local funding sources for the development and implementation of student equity.