Community colleges receive less funding than expected

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- Orange Coast College administrators were still reeling

Thursday over the shock of having nearly $3 million stripped from their

budget, they said.

“If we knew, we could have made some adjustments. The problem is we

were blindsided,” said Jim McIlwain, OCC vice president of administrative

services.

Last-minute cuts by Gov. Gray Davis eliminated $98 million from the

state’s 2001-02 budget. Equal parts were removed from both maintenance

and instructional equipment funding.

It was especially surprising because the areas that were cut had been

receiving funding for the last 15 to 20 years, officials said. McIlwain

said he understands that California has financial problems, but in this

case the governor cut the basics.

“They cut through the fat, into the meat and straight to the bone,”

said Coast Community College District spokeswoman Erin Cohn.

Because of the cuts, OCC will not be able to replace its 50-year-old

sewer system or its 30-year-old air-conditioning system in the business

education building, McIlwain said. The college also lost funding to fix a

leaky roof in the technical center, he said.

“Come fall, our students are going to get wet in the tech building,

hot in the business building, and we don’t even want to think about what

might happen if the sewer system fails,” McIlwain said.

In addition to needed maintenance, the college will not receive its

usual $375,000 for instructional equipment and library materials,

administrators said. Lack of those funds cut to the heart of OCC’s main

educational objective, McIlwain said.

“Even if we were teaching out of tents, we would need books and

educational tools,” he said. “The way these cuts are implemented, we

don’t have funding for either.”

Cohn said the three community colleges that comprise the Coast College

District, in addition to the other 105 in the state, are focused on

getting some of their funding back. They are looking to legislators to

support them.

At least one legislator, Assemblyman John Campbell (R-Irvine), whose

district includes Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, was appalled by the

budget cuts.

“They should get that money not only because it is due to them, but

because they are the main job-producing engine of our entire school and

university system,” he said. “There are many other areas of the budget

where money could have been cut that isn’t nearly as beneficial as the

community college money would have been.”

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 lolita.harper@latimes.comf7 .