State community colleges might have to cut their budgets if a request for more state funding to cover higher enrollment is not approved by the Legislature Emergency Funding board.
Representatives from Oregon’s 17 community colleges came before the emergency board with a request for a $16 million increase in their budget to cover a 4-percent growth in enrollment. After the request was made, the board chose to defer its decision until June.
Lane Community College President Jerry Moskus said the financial situation for his school, and the rest of the state’s community colleges, is precarious.
“We’re suffering from a lack of funds, and the emergency board could have helped us,” he said.
Moskus said LCC had to cut $1.6 million from this year’s school budget. The school eliminated some programs from the adult high school, and the student day-care center was closed for a period before other funds could be found. LCC’s budget is stable now, but Moskus said the school faces a $3.5 million deficit next year. Unless the state provides additional funding, more cuts will have to be made, he said.
Community colleges are facing deficits, Moskus said, because the community college is the “middle child” of state schools that doesn’t get the attention of its older and younger siblings: higher education and K-12.
Rep. Leslie Lewis, R-Newberg, the chairwoman of the education subcommittee for the emergency board, explained why the board deferred until June. She said K-12 schools had a more immediate need for funding than community colleges, and some of the $12 million that has been placed in reserve for K-12 schools may be opened up for community colleges if the K-12 schools don’t need it.
Lewis also said the fundamental reason the emergency board had never previously raised funding for enrollment was because it is the responsibility of each school system’s administrative board.
“To fund for enrollment growth would be a big policy change,” she said.
Currently Oregon’s three school system’s budgets are provided by the state Legislature in lump sums that are determined by the current rate of inflation and the average cost of living. Each school system’s administrative board then divides the lump sum for each school based on its enrollment. According to information released by the Oregon Community College Association (OCCA), the Oregon University System received $748.7 million, K-12 schools received $4.8 billion and community colleges received $431.2 million for 1999 to 2001. Moskus said community colleges might need as much as $80 million more in their budget in coming years to cover their expected growth.
Vickie Chamberlain, the executive director for the OCCA, said the 4-percent rise in enrollment this year translated into about 3,500 new full-time students attending community colleges, but she said this amount is not accurate because it does not include part-time students. Without the budget increase, Chamberlain said, 12 schools had to make budget cuts, even though she believed there were “more than enough funds” available in the emergency fund.
Chamberlain said community colleges may not get the $16 million requested because they don’t carry as much political clout as K-12 schools, which received a $9.7 million increase in their budget for this year from the emergency board and were given $12 million in reserve for next year. Politicians, she said, are more inclined to listen to K-12 schools’ funding requests because doing so garners more votes than supporting community colleges.
“It is very political because the Legislature knows that K-12 is a much sexier issue,” Chamberlain said.
When the emergency board makes its final decision concerning the request in June, Lewis said, community colleges might receive some additional funding. She said if the schools did find themselves in serious financial straits, they could receive some money, but they shouldn’t expect much if the board does decide to grant some additional funding.
“I’ll be honest,” she said, “It won’t be $16 million.”