Copyright© 2000 by School Services of California, Inc.

Volume 13                    For Publication Date: August 18, 2000                   No. 18

Consultation Council Reviews Work of The BCP Task Force

After two months of work the Chancellor’s Office Budget Change Proposal (BCP) Task Force has completed its review and revision of the community college system’s budget proposals for the 2001-02 fiscal year. The budget proposals have now been forwarded to the Consultation Council for their review and revision before Chancellor Nussbaum submits the proposal to the Board of Governors for their approval. The Board of Governors is then required to submit the system’s BCP request to the Department of Finance by September 18, 2000. The Department of Finance will consider the community college BCP request for inclusion in the Governor’s proposed 2001 State Budget.

Even though the Board of Governors must submit a BCP request to the Department of Finance in September, the Board will not adopt a final budget proposal until their November 2000 meeting. While the Board may have a feel for the level of support needed in the requested augmentations even in November there will still be considerable uncertainty as to how much new money will be available.

Attachment "A" is a description of the BCP request that is being considered. The BCP request totals $864,990,000 in ongoing local assistance. The budget proposal also contains a request for $134,972,000 in one-time funding. You may recall that the system’s BCP request for 2000-01 totaled more than $602 million and final action by the Governor provided the colleges with a little more than $498 million in ongoing funding.

During the Consultation Council’s discussion of the system’s BCP request, Chancellor Nussbaum expressed reservations about the total amount of the increase being requested (almost one billion in new ongoing and one-time funds). The Chancellor’s believes that a more appropriate budget augmentation request would be in the neighborhood of $700 to $750 million (ongoing funds). He has acknowledged that the system is currently receiving approximately $4,500 per FTES, $2,000 below the national average of $6,500. If the California Community Colleges are to achieve the national average over a five-year period the system will need an infusion of at least $500 million per year in new funding.

Most members of the Consultation Council supported maintaining the BCP request at the $800 million level. Members also expressed interest in evaluating each budget item in hopes of developing a comprehensive package that is prioritized based on need.

At the September meeting of the Board of Governors, Chancellor Nussbaum will advise the Board that the 2001-02 budget continues to be a work in progress and that two task forces will be reconvened to develop further details regarding equalization funding and equity for part-time faculty.

After almost four hours of discussion the Consultation Council did not come to closure on the majority of items in the BCP request, nor did they provide the Chancellor with definitive advice on the budget, except to indicate more discussion is needed. Welcome to "shared governance."