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Schools

Thousands Of Students Could Be Turned Away From Grossmont and Cuyamaca Colleges In 2011-12

California's community colleges are expecting to lose $800 million in state funding next academic year, which will mean massive course cuts in the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District.

About 5,000 students could be turned away next academic year at Grossmont and Cuyamaca colleges because of anticipated severe state funding cuts.

The Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District had been bracing for a state funding reduction of $4.6 million. It is looking more like an $8.1 million now and that means deeper cuts have to be planned.

The East County district plans to eliminate about 800 classes in 2011-2012, which begins near fall. Summer school will be reduced to a bare minimum. The district's Governing Board will vote on proposed reductions in June.

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Across the state, community college officials are warning students about disruptions to their education. Statewide, 400,000 students could be denied access to classes because of the looming cuts.

“Bottom line: it will take longer—perhaps much, much longer—for students to get the classes they need to transfer or train for a new career,” Grossmont-Cuyamaca Chancellor Cindy Miles said in an April 1 memo to district staff members.

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Miles said the district plans no layoffs. However, “should we be forced to move into our worst-case scenario, we will begin talking with employee groups about solutions to help cut costs,” she said.

The dire scenario is due the state’s budget crisis. California is facing a $26.6 billion budget deficit over an 18-month period, which Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed to close with a combination of cuts and a raise in revenues through the temporary extension of increases on income, sales and car taxes. The Democractic governor has been unable to win any Republican support in the Legislature to get enough support to place a measure on the June ballot.  Brown has discussed the possibility of placing a measure on the November ballot.

State funding for community colleges will be reduced by $800 million without the tax extensions.

Community colleges may take a deeper hit if state lawmakers decide to suspend Proposition 98, a voter-approved measure that requires at least 40 percent of the state budget to be set aside for K-12 public schools and community colleges. Grossmont-Cuyamaca could face a reduction of $12.9 million if that happens, Miles said.

“That would be a true budget Armageddon,” Miles said in a press release this week. “We would have to cut 1,000 classes…We’d have to freeze programs and cut more full-time employees,” she said.

The state budget crisis will affect all community college students one way or another. Students will be paying $36 per credit unit, a $10 increase.

Miles, in her message to district staff members, said the anticipated cuts will be in addition to millions cut over the past two years. Class sections have been cut nearly 20 percent during that time. Sixty full-time positions remain unfilled. The district has also cut 645 part-time employees.

“The tough times we are facing are unprecedented for our district,” Miles said in the memo to staff members, which she called “the shoe has dropped.”

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