Copyright© 2000 by School Services of California, Inc.
By the Way . . .
Board of Governors Approve $245 Million Budget Hike. The California
Community College Board of Governors has approved a 2001-02 budget request
that would provide the system with $245 million more in funding than it received
for the 2000-01 fiscal year. The community college system received $498 million
in on-going local assistance in the current budget year, the system's request
for 2001-02 is $743 million. The system requested $602,765,000 in the 2000-01
budget, this year's request is more than $141 million above that amount.
The recent forecast by the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) predicts that the state could achieve a $10 billion dollar surplus over the next fiscal cycle (2001-02). This bodes well for the community colleges if they can expect to have any hope of attaining their budget request.
Coincidentally, the University of California Regents approved a $245 million budget hike for the UC system. One UC Regent stated that it was a good start but not enough. Included in UC's request is $4 million to bolster by nearly 6% its efforts to increase the number of students who transfer from community colleges-as required in an agreement with the Governor.