Copyright© 2007 by School Services of California, Inc.

                                      Volume 20                   For Publication Date: April 27, 2007             No. 10

Community College Initiative Qualifies for February Ballot 

On Wednesday, April 25, 2007, Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced that the Community College Funding initiative has qualified for the February, 5, 2008, Primary Election after collecting almost 620,000 valid signatures. 

The initiative, supported by a broad coalition of community college groups, including the Faculty Association of California’s Community Colleges, the Community College League, California School Employees Association, and the California Federation of Teachers, would set community college fees at $15 per unit and limit future fee increases to 10% or the percentage change in per capita person income of California residents, whichever is less. The initiative also includes several local and statewide governance changes. 

However, the biggest change would be in Proposition 98, the education funding initiative passed in the late 1980s. If passed, the community college initiative would split K-12 funding from community college funding, thereby providing a more stable and predictable source of funding for the community college system.  

The Legislative Analyst’s Office, the nonpartisan agency tasked to provide fiscal and budget information to the Legislature, estimates that this initiative, if passed, could potentially increase the total funding for K-14 education by about $135 million in the 2007-08 fiscal year, with subsequent years seeing additional funding increases. 

Additionally, this initiative would dedicate 10.46% of the maintenance factor to community colleges and would spread any loss in revenue due to a decline in FTES evenly over a three-year period for the community colleges.  

The initiative is a joint advocacy effort of the Californians for Community Colleges, sponsored by the Faculty Association of Community College (FACCC), the Community College League of California, the Los Angeles Colleges Faculty Guild, and the California Federation of Teachers

For additional information on the initiative contact: 

Californians for Improving Community Colleges
c/o Rix-Bradford Consultants
512 N Larchmont Blvd
Los Angeles , CA 90004
FPPC ID 1282453 

http://www.faccc.org/Initiative.htm

 —Dave Heckler and Jamillah Moore