Los Rios Chancellor Brice Harris spoke to students, faculty and staff at Cosumnes River College on April 10 about the budget crisis facing Los Rios community colleges, saying that the crisis is “by far the worst and by far the longest.”
The forum was one of four meetings being held at each of the Los Rios colleges. Harris opened the forum by addressing the severity of the budget crisis.
“Most experts, not just me, will tell you that it is the worst in modern history,” Harris said.
Since the 2009-2010 academic year, the Los Rios district has dealt with a $77 million budget deficit, cutting 1,430 class sections, according to the chancellor’s presentation.
Harris presented three budget scenarios for the next two academic years: best case, mid-range and worst case. These decisions depend on Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax initiative passing in November.
Under the best case scenario, Brown’s tax initiative gets on the ballot in November and passes.
The revenue from the initiative would generate approximately $218 million in funding for California community colleges, which could mean $7.6 million for Los Rios colleges.
Under the mid-range scenario, the tax initiative gets on the ballot in November and passes, but the governor would use the $218 million to pay down part of the $900 million debt for California community colleges.
Under the worst case scenario, Brown’s tax initiative doesn’t make it to the ballot or doesn’t pass, resulting in a $264 million cut in funding for California community colleges. This would result in a $12 million cut for Los Rios colleges.
If the worst scenario occurs, the district will have to cut 830 class sections in the next two academic years. Employees will also take a 6 percent cut in their salaries.
With all the decisions to increase fees at California’s public colleges, Harris said it is likely that many more students will start attending out-of-state colleges.
“We’re seeing a brain-drain of this state that people refuse to acknowledge on the one hand, and they don’t understand the ramifications of that over the long haul,” Harris said. “So it’s not a good time to be a student in the state of California.”
Victoria Turney, an 18-year-old undeclared major, said she is thinking about transferring to a college outside the state.
“It’s a bit ridiculous, but out-of-state is going to actually cost me less than to go in my own state,” Turney said.
History professor Jason Newman noticed many faculty coming together to deal with the budget issues.
“I think that there’s a shared misery going on,” Newman said. “And in some ways, faculty differences disappear when we’re all in the same boat of budget decline.”
English professor Linda Sneed said the realization of all the numbers was overwhelming.
“I quite literally nearly cried twice,” Sneed said. “Not so much because this is new information to me. It’s really not. It’s just like anything that’s this big and this seemingly insurmountable. It’s shocking when you encounter it in its fullness.”
Sneed appreciated the budget forum and stressed the importance of understanding “how we got here,” saying that there is a move towards privatization.
“This is nothing new,” Sneed said. “There’s been an assault on the idea of public institutions and public service for a long time.”