President's Report
My message at the CCFT luncheon was two fold. First, this semester feels far from the start of last semester. With the failure of Prop 30, we were facing salary concessions plus the continued reduction in the number of students we serve and a commensurate reduction in employees. Now we’re looking at an increase in funding next year. To what that funding will be allocated has yet to be determined, but an almost 4% increase in funding floated this early in the process is good news. Yet it’s not just the budget. As a faculty member said to me, it’s a whole bunch of things. The college feels very different this semester.
As I mentioned in my recent history of finances at Cabrillo, the development of the budget has its own ebbs and flows. It is still very early in the process, and I worry of generating too much optimism. Increases in funding will be heavily dependent upon the tax the revenue the state generates. By late April, the state should have a clear idea of how much revenue they’ll have. Historically, estimates have been optimistic, almost always assuming a normal amount of growth. I believe we’re still running below average. In May, we get the governor’s revised budget. With Democrats possessing a super-majority, passing the budget should be on time in late June.
by Paul Harvell
| "Increases in funding will be heavily dependent upon the tax the revenue the state generates. By late April, the state should have a clear idea of how much revenue they’ll have. Historically, estimates have been optimistic, almost always assuming a normal amount of growth. I believe we’re still running below average." |
By June, hopefully we’ll have many of the big questions in governor’s budget answered although I believe it might be wise for the legislature to postpone some implementation, such as moving Adult Education to the community colleges. Major restructuring of government such as that needs broader discussion and a clear timeline for realization.
Whatever happens with funding the budget proposal, one thing should be clear: it’s unlikely that Sacramento will drop its pressure towards student success. One of the wisest things I’ve heard about student success was said by HASS’s dean, Isabel O’Conner, at our division flex activity. She said that Cabrillo needs to find the intersection between what the politicians mean by success and what we think of success and drive for that. Second, we need to get our stories out. I think too much of conversation is dominated by a few statistics and a lot of anecdotes.
My theme has been that we live in interesting times. I might need to make a revision to that: we live in evolving, changing times.