Copyright© 2007 by School Services of California, Inc.

                                      Volume 20                   For Publication Date: July 20, 2007             No. 16

Community Colleges Clear First Hurdle On Budget 

BUDGET ALERT !!!!!  The State Assembly passed the 2007-08 Budget Bill and a series of budget trailer bills necessary to implement the state budget. The $103 billion state spending plan adopted by the Assembly was done after Democrats agreed to shift more than $1 billion from local transit agencies. 

The budget package will now make its way to the State Senate.  According to the System Office, it appears that the portion of the package affecting the community colleges is consistent with the Budget Conference Committee version and does not contain additional reductions to community college funding. 

Comments by Assembly Budget Chair John Laird indicated that the overall budget package reduces state General Fund spending, adds to the state’s fiscal reserve, and reduces the ongoing structural deficit. Proposition 98 spending is reduced to the minimum funding level for 2007-08, but without affecting programs or deficiting the COLA. According to Assemblyman Laird, it appears that Proposition 98 spending was accomplished without negatively affecting education by using Public Transportation Account funds to meet some of the costs of the K-12’s Home-to-School Transportation program. Such a funding shift had been considered and rejected earlier in this year’s budget process.

It may be good news that community colleges avoided additional cuts in the final stages of this year’s budget process as revenues lagged, but we will not know for certain until the final version of the Budget is signed by the Governor. As more details become available, we will keep you posted. 

—Jamillah Moore, Ed.D