Copyright© 1999 by School Services of California, Inc.
Governor's January Budget May Include Only COLA
and Growth Funds for Community Colleges
Rumors are circulating in Sacramento that when Governor Davis releases his proposed 2000-01 State Budget on January 10, 2000, it may contain little more than funding for inflation and statutory growth for community colleges.
Even though the State's economy is doing well and budget surpluses are expected to increase significantly during 2000, you can expect the Governor to release a conservative budget in January. Community colleges are requesting more than $500 million in budget augmentations for 2000-01 - it is likely that the Governor will not take a serious look at that request until the "May Revise."
Cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) based on current inflation data projections indicate that the statutory COLA will be somewhere around 2.6% for 2000-01. Furthermore, the K-12 and community college statutory COLA is projected to remain at about 2.6% for each year through 2004-05.
Statutory growth funding will probably be less than 2%, based on growth in adult population. The system is requesting a 4% augmentation for growth. It appears that the 4% growth request is a number that will be easily achievable during 2000-01, as enrollments are at an all time high - 1,548,289 for fall 1999. Enrollments for fall 2000 are projected to be at 1,596,000 students. Expect the Governor to only fund statutory growth in January, but perhaps increasing that amount in the "May Revise."
Community college representatives will have a lot of work to do between January 2000 and the "May Revise," primarily because faculty organizations have made it clear they cannot support the full budget package as adopted by the Board of Governors. Trying to maximize the amount of new funds received by the system will be difficult if we are all not on the same page.
-- Arnold Bray